POLAND:Poland's prize-winning foreign correspondent Ryszard Kapuscinski, who died last January, was exposed yesterday as having collaborated with the communist-era secret police (SB) for five years.
But Mr Kapuscinski, who reported on 27 coups and befriended Che Guevara during his half-century career, appears to have been as unhelpful as possible to the SB and his file was closed in 1972.
"During his co-operation he has demonstrated a lot of willingness but he has not supplied any significant documents," said an anonymous SB official in a file quoted in Newsweek.
The magazine splashed the late author's face on its front cover but admitted that the file contained no sensational revelations.
"He harmed no one; he did not play any dirty tricks," it wrote.
"Apart from the fact of collaboration with the SB, there's nothing in the files that would damage [ his reputation]."
Yesterday friends of the late author said his signed declaration agreeing to co-operate with the SB, was not surprising.
It was next to impossible to get permission to leave Poland during the communist era without signing such a document, and a high-profile foreign correspondent such as Kapuscinski would have been an interesting target for authorities.
"If he had not agreed to collaboration, there would not have been Ryszard Kapuscinski," said leading Polish journalist Ernest Skalski.
"As a young reporter for [ news agency] PAP, he would not have been allowed abroad." But other experts disagreed, saying Kapuscinski had a choice and chose to collaborate even if he delivered no information of note.
"From my experience, it is not so clear," said Dr Antoni Dudek, an expert on SB files. "I know examples of people who refused to collaborate with the SB, and after a year or couple of years they were given a passport."