Operational Game – The Eavesdropping Operation Codenamed “Gawron” (Rook)

Tygodnik Powszechny, a Catholic weekly published in Cracow from 1945, was one of the most important newspapers aiming at the Polish post-war ‘intelligentsia’  in ‘People’s’ Poland. Founded on the initiative of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Cracow, it was published by the Cracow Metropolitan Curia until 1953.

In the period from 1953–1956, the state authorities seized the newspaper, and published it under the same title, but with a completely changed editorial board. After 1956, the previous board was reinstated, and though published as a Catholic newspaper, the Church was not its publisher. Tygodnik was an important hub of opposition thought, although it was published openly and had – even longer – periods of loyalty towards the PRL authorities. This attitude of conciliation was dictated by the desire to exist in the open publishing market, and the public consciousness tended to record episodes of very strong resistance to the regime.

 The Tygodnik circle was under observation by Cracow SB unit, which managed to plant several secret informants there. From the security service point of view, the advantages of having agents in place were enormous, but the deployment of  operational techniques – for example, eavesdropping devices – gives even greater gains: very precise and unambiguous transcripts of conversations conducted. The planting of bugs in the editorial board’s bureau was a priority for the security police. The person used to plant the devices was Wacław Dębski, aka Ślaski – a former AK and WiN soldier and prisoner of the Stalinist regime (and therefore seen as trustworthy), who had actually been an SB informant from the time he was recruited for clandestine cooperation during his imprisonment. After release from prison, Dębski, aka Ślaski worked for Tygodnik as a distributor, and from the early ’60s, was responsible for technical maintenance and conservation of the newspaper bureau. The bezpieki took advantage of this change. In the summer of 1963, repairs of the electrical network in the Tygodnik bureau were planned, and the person responsible was Dębski, aka Ślaski. His case officer connected him with Division “T” functionaries, and in the following month they assigned him part of his task. The successful operation resulted in the introduction of SB functionaries from the technical-operational unit disguised as a renovation crew, who repaired the electric grid and also planted the eavesdropping devices (which were codenamed “Gawron”). From this moment, the eavesdropping installation was one of the most important sources of information concerning the situation in the paper’s editorial board. The conversations intercepted and the informants’ reports enabled SB functionaries to orientate themselves regarding the atmosphere in the editorial board and its members’ commentaries on current events, as well as to gain information concerning some of the newspaper group’s plans. At the same time, the SB had excellent insight into the financial situation of the weekly, and was able – almost without exception – to put together a list of Tygodnik associates, including those, who – wishing to stay anonymous – were writing under pseudonyms.