History of Europe

How to write a book about the greatest frauds of post-war Poland and not get set up yourself?

This question is answered by prof. Patryk Pleskot, author of the book "Przekręt. The greatest crooks of the People's Republic of Poland and the Third Republic of Poland ”. A publication in which the biographies of seven Polish frauds and illusionists operating since the 1960s are described in detail. Who was in this group? Among others, a false countess, a self-proclaimed Austrian consul and an agent who even defrauded the SB.

Zuzanna Pęksa:The heroes of your latest book "Przekręt" are an interesting mix of personalities. What character selection key did you use?

Prof. Patryk Pleskot:I wanted the characters to be as diverse as possible, so that a possibly broad spectrum of behaviors and attitudes could be presented. From the obviously criminal ones to those that are not so unambiguous. The word "scam" does not have to be associated only with breaking the law.

At first glance, it may be difficult to find something that connects a counterfeiter operating in France with a thief robbing Pewexes in Poland, or with a man who pretended to be a consul 20 years earlier. However, I tried to find a common point for these characters, something that connects them. In all cases, it was certainly an outstanding personality and success that the heroes of the book achieved in their chosen field. Each of the described people had an extremely strong desire to gain fame, applause, and stand out above the average. This is certainly a common feature, independent of the era.

Z.P .:Exactly, the book describes not only very different stories, but also different moments in the history of post-war Poland.

P.P .:Yes, my point was not to focus only on one era. Most of the book covers the times of the Polish People's Republic, but I go beyond that period. Hence, for example, the stories from the 90s. I do not only show what happened in Poland (although the characters are Poles), which is why one of the chapters takes the reader to France. All this to show that some common features connecting the depicted characters cross borders - both temporal and literal. Thanks to this, I was able to show the social and historical context in which my heroes lived in various ways.

One of the heroes of the book by prof. Pleskota is a genius forger Czesław Bojarski who works in France. Illustration from the book "Snatch. The greatest crooks of the People's Republic of Poland and the Third Republic of Poland "(Znak Horyzont 2017).

Z.P .:You write that all the heroes of the book put on masks, pretend to be someone else, but many of them simply wanted to steal.

P.P .:However, we must immediately point out that the mere desire to earn money is not always a bad thing. We cannot automatically say that if someone wants to impress his surroundings and make money on it, he immediately acts reprehensively. Sometimes, as in the case of Zdzisław Najmrodzki, who simply steals, it is actually unequivocally wrong. The same is true of Kalibabka, who seduces and takes advantage of women, often very young. But sometimes these are situations that we can view quite ambivalently. Anastazja Potocka simply made a big fuss about her character, which is not a crime yet. The same is true of Zbigniew Nowak, to whom I am devoting one of the chapters - he has not deceived anyone in the legal sense and is not a criminal. So the assessment of these intentions is not so obvious.

Z.P .:When it comes to Anastasia P., it's a bit difficult for me to agree. Not only did she make a noise around herself, but she also caused a lot of harm to others. She accused Deputy Marshal Kern of rape, which prevented him from seeking re-election. So she broke his career, but didn't go to court.

Of course, but let us note that Marshal Kern also did not prosecute. It was a difficult period for him, for a long time he was afraid that his daughter Monika had been kidnapped. The film "The Abduction of Agata" was made on the basis of this story. When we look at the diary of the alleged Countess Anastasia P., we will immediately see that there are very few details. It does begin very strongly with a serious accusation against Kern, but then there are more rumors than facts. But you can see the scale of Domaros' lies (because she was really called Anastasia) about her origin, education and even who wrote the book (in fact "ghostwriter"). In this respect, it was more of an art of illusion than of factual accounts.

Z.P .:Mitomania characterized not only Domaros, but most of the heroes of your book. This certainly made deciphering their biographies extremely difficult. Which story was the most troublesome in this regard?

P.P. Each case has its own specificity. These people multiplied so many stories, so many visions, ideas for their own personality that it was often difficult to sift the grain from the chaff. I had this tactic to look at these people from the outside, in a way like exhibits. I did not decide to talk to people who are still alive - and it was a deliberate act. I did not want to fall into the trap of a specific dialogue with them. Not all of them could be reached either, so I felt that this method would not be appropriate.

In each case, I found vague points and sometimes even contradictory information. When I collected documents, memoirs, materials from a given period, press articles - it was clearly visible. I had to create my own image of the described characters from all the collected information. I hope I didn't unconsciously fall into them myself.

Z.P .:It seems that the conversation would not be helpful anyway, since these people confabulated on such a level.

P.P .:This is not the only problem. For those who are already alive, simply arranging a meeting can be difficult. For example, Eligiusz Naszkowski is an almost hidden figure, he escaped as an intelligence officer to the West and there is no way to talk to him about these topics. For example, Marzena Domaros (Anastazja P.) and Jerzy Kalibabka have escaped to anonymity. Sometimes you have to respect it and not necessarily go back to what has already been said or written. These people already sign specific texts with their surnames, which can be treated as source texts.

Marzena Domaros (Anastazja Potocka) after she sparked the biggest sex scandal in the Polish Sejm in the early 1990s, which cost the career of Deputy Speaker Andrzej Kern. Currently, he avoids publicity (source:press materials of the Znak Horyzont publishing house).

Z.P. So let's develop a very interesting topic of Kalibabka. As you write in the book, he is now leading a normal life, he has a wife and children. It is very common when women fall in love with criminals, write to prison, send parcels. The same happened with Kalibabka, although he was the most ordinary criminal in the world.

P.P .:It's true. He was convicted of extortion, looting and seduction of minors. It would seem that it would be difficult to find a more unpleasant man. However, it is safe to say that he had "that something" in him. He knew how to win over people, and he was able to charm young girls. He had an extraordinary talent in this area, but he used it for evil purposes. Let us remember that before his arrest he had developed an extremely attractive image. He pretended to be a rich young man, spending money on a gentleman, almost like a prince from a fairy tale. It was not difficult for such a person to fool young, often naive or bored women.

With time, he became in his own way a well-known and well-known figure thanks to the media. Already in the 1980s, it was possible to create not a celebrity, but quite a sensation around a character that should be condemned. Kalibabka was commemorated in reports, interviews, and the series "Tulipan". This has preserved his image in pop culture as a gigolo, a blue bird, a criminal with an endearing charm. In the book, I tried to show that what the media was showing is only one side of the coin.

The story of Kalibabka became the basis for the series "Tulipan". The illustration shows a frame from the series.

Z.P. The authorities have long "hunted" Kalibabka, allowing him to be deceived, but this is not their only failure. It was similar in the case of the agent Eligiusz Naszkowski - they acted contradictory, inconsistently, without a plan.

The Naszkowski case exposed the weakness of the Security Service and the repressive apparatus of the People's Republic of Poland. It turned out that the elite Office of Studies of the Ministry of the Interior, created in early 1982 to fight opposition leaders, was acting against basic security rules. There was a bureaucratic indolence there. Naszkowski, who literally invited himself there, was able to show the weakness of this individual in its entirety by his escape. Of course, everything was done at the Ministry of the Interior to cover up this scandal, but it can be assumed that in this one fraud, Eligiusz Naszkowski did Poland somehow.

Z.P .:Naszkowski is perhaps the most unpleasant character from the entire book. Apart from what he did, he reported, he acted on several fronts, he was simply a very disliked person in virtually every environment he found himself in ...

P.P .:When he was very anxious, he could creep into someone's favors. Let us remember that Colonel Władysław Kuca (in the years 1982-85 he headed the aforementioned Office of Studies) liked him very much and had an unusual weakness for it. Where Naszkowski did not have to try, he showed arrogance, self-confidence, and suggested having great influence. He was extremely effective in this. The aura around him showed that maybe more than others, he has contacts and opportunities. Unfortunately, due to this, I was able to report on the activists of Solidarity, but also to decipher the way the SB operated. For this reason, this figure cannot be assessed with zero-one. It is certain that he was serving himself, his own interests and vanity above all else.

Eugeniusz Naszkowski is one of the most unpleasant characters described in the book by prof. Plescot. Illustration from the book "Snatch. The greatest crooks of the People's Republic of Poland and the Third Republic of Poland "(Znak Horyzont 2017).

Z.P .:Let us move on to a more positive figure that brings a smile to our face, namely to the false Austrian consul Czesław Śliwa. How did it happen that women dropped everything and followed him to Poland for tights and sheepskin coats?

P.P .:Let us remember that the star of the "consul" shone in a very gloomy period between March 1968 and December 1970. The political and social atmosphere was stuffy, material conditions were getting worse - the government was preparing drastic increases. And suddenly he appeared - spending money, speaking broken Polish and offering a fairy-tale life. At the same time, he was much more sympathetic than Kalibabka, and what he did and said was so unusual that it was even credible. It must have acted by surprise. He lied so brazenly (issued documents, looked for a building for a winter residence for the consulate, presented credentials to the President of the Council of State) that people did not even suspect fraud.

The aura of the West, something exotic and unusual, acted very strongly. In those days, his character must have been extremely attractive to people. At the same time, he was an extremely talented person. Today he could turn out to be, for example, a great negotiator. He was able to convince people of his arguments, while making a very good impression. The "Consul" did not think too much about the lies coming to light. He continued this theater to the end, even after being arrested, he continued to play! Illusion, applause, fame and the desire to pretend to be someone else seem much more important than money.

Learn the stories of Polish crooks who became celebrities thanks to the book "Przekręt. The greatest crooks of the People's Republic of Poland and the Third Republic of Poland ”by Patryk Pleskot (Znak Horyzont 2017).

Z.P .:Exactly, the need to pretend to be someone else is key. Interestingly, the figure of Czesław Śliwa was born during the war, when a boy of Jewish origin, Icek Silber, had to assume a different identity. The question is how by nature he was able to pretend to be someone else, and to what extent was his childhood influenced.

P.P .:This is a very valid point. He is a unique character because the fraud saved his life. As a Jewish child, he would have been sent to an extermination camp. However, he was taken in by a Polish family and as a little boy he assumed a false identity. It was the only lie that was necessary, somehow "true" and right. He had to do it to survive. The later masks he wore when he pretended to be a miner, diplomat, scientist or engineer had one thing in common - he said each time that he was a child of a Jewish family. In all these lies, paradoxically, he was declining the one that saved his life.

Z.P .:Once you know so many scam stories, it's easy to find a recipe for success in cheating. In the case of your heroes, it helped them the most that they were forerunners in their field?

P.P .:I think you can agree with your conclusion, although it does not apply to, for example, Naszkowski, because he was not the first agent to act in such a way. Similarly, Kalibabka - he was distinguished by the scale of his activities, but the seduction and exploitation of women was nothing special. So, on the one hand, finding a niche, on the other - extraordinary abilities. This, combined with their favorable fortune, allowed them a lot.