Poles forced to come clean on their past

A controversial new law comes into force in Poland today requiring people in positions of authority to declare in writing whether or not they collaborated with the former communist police. The former Archbishop of Warsaw is just one of those who was forced to resign in recent months after admitting collaboration.

About 700,000 Poles will be required to sign declarations, including academics, journalists and company executives. In January, a prominent newspaper journalist was also forced to admit cooperating with the communist-era intelligence services. Under the new law employers have to ensure that senior staff have been vetted by an institution that holds millions of documents on the former state security apparatus.

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