How (Not) to Recruit a Spy
BRUMBERG, ABRAHAM
A LESSON FROM POLAND How (Not) to Recruit a Spy by richard knauff Poland is today the only Communist country that boasts a large and vigorous samizdat?? or uncensored??press. Ever since the...
...He: And what do you want to do there...
...I: Why don't you ask her yourself...
...I: I will not think it over??I don't know what your proposition is all about...
...1: Look, tell me something...
...You' re giving me the impression that it is extremely important for you to know how duplicating machines reach Poland...
...I: Don't beafraid, then??speak up...
...Anyway, I get the impression that you're afraid to spell out what it is you're proposing...
...1: I simply don't know what is important to you...
...Still, I'd like to know??will I get a passport, or won't I? He: What's your connection with KSS-KOR...
...If various publications were to be disseminated in the form of handwritten cards, would you then look for readers of manuscripts...
...but why are you so interested in what anyone publishes...
...In fact, I am convinced of it...
...He: And what does this factory produce...
...And you could go not only to the United States...
...I: I can't remember being there...
...He: That's right, you will not get a passport for five years...
...Is the KSS-KOR a passport matter...
...You must have read a lot of thrillers about blowing up bridges and factories...
...He: If you tell me whether you'd like to help us, we'll tell you how...
...What about during the occupation, when the law also had to be obeyed: for instance, for hiding a Jew??the death penalty...
...He: Do they get any orders from the military...
...Help whom...
...I:Ido...
...He: Well...
...He: To whom...
...I am sorry you've had such a futile conversation...
...Here the officer questions him about duplicating machines being smuggled into the country...
...He: Do you know anyone in the house at No...
...I: Yes...
...I: What does that have to do with me...
...He: Quite right, that's not all that important...
...He : Your car was seen on December 7, in the evening, near Walicow 20...
...I: Then why did you recently arrest 11 of its members...
...I: Ithinkso...
...He: A spy...
...He: Do you know her personally...
...I can tell you straightaway: The answer is no...
...He : Yes, there's a connection...
...I: Nothing special...
...You propose that I become an informer, a spy, in exchange for a passport...
...Say you suddenly decide that I am of no use to you, or that I have clearly turned down your offer of collaboration, or that I am a drunkard who divulges secret information, or whatever...
...I: My dear sir, you wave a passport before my eyes with an offer of collaboration...
...I: I do it occasionally...
...He: I made an offer, you think it over...
...I: I don't know precisely, some metal construction...
...He: Nothing, nothing...
...But organizations are important...
...He : Is that your point of view...
...He: Yes, that's not so important...
...You know very well that this divorce of yours is a fairy tale...
...you'll go to America...
...I: I told you, I haven't the slightest idea how I could help you...
...You said yourself that I keep misleading you, and that I no doubt fulfill certain specific functions for KSSKOR...
...You will get your passport...
...I did read a book called KGB...
...Besides??as I hope the readers will agree??this conversation between a Polish counterintelligence officer and an intractable writer (who had been called in with regard to his application for a passport that would enable him to visit the United States) has all the elements of a surrealist comedy.??Abraham Brumberg Abraham Brumberg, who is a regular contributor to The New Leader, recently paid a return visit to Poland...
...He: 1 can tell you why: To begin with, you've violated passport regulations...
...4, 1978, of Glos (the Voice), one of the liveliest of the uncensored political-literary journals...
...I: Well...
...You seem to assume that the passport is a matter of life or death for me...
...He: What were you doing the evening of December 7? I: I don't have the foggiest notion...
...1: That is to say, you're telling me that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is rejecting my passport request because it is convinced that I am somehow involved in KOR activities??right...
...we'll get you a job, and you' 11 help us out a bit...
...Besides, you overestimate me...
...You seem to regard the KSS-KOR as a criminal organization...
...I: Yes...
...I: So you think that KOR is financed by foreign institutions...
...I: You say the law must be obeyed...
...He: Have you any idea where your uncle is working...
...Is the fact that I know somebody??as you put it, "socially"??proof of anything...
...second, you're under suspicion of planning to emigrate secretly...
...help us...
...He: In Poland the law must be obeyed...
...1: I'm not going to ask you why the ministry is rejecting my application...
...He (taking the information down on paper): Well, think it over...
...I think you know more people than you' re letting on...
...He: Do you know the name Abby McCormick...
...And are you saying that if I don't cooperate I won't get a passport...
...He: You're getting warm...
...He: When were you divorced from your wife...
...You think I know a lot...
...What were you doing there...
...He: You know, there are people and institutions in the West that finance KSS-KOR...
...I:No...
...If the money goes through individuals, that's not dangerous...
...Well, then, so you want to go to the United States...
...He: Whom exactly...
...The samizdat item that follows is a slightly abridged translation of a report by Richard Knauff (not a pseudonym), originally entitled "A Conversation...
...We could send you to England...
...He : And other languages...
...He: No doubt "socially...
...Think it over??I'll give you my phone number, call me up and let me know, yes or no...
...I: Russian, but poorly...
...I: I don't know, but if they do, so what...
...I: Not recently...
...They organized a provocation??that's why they were put in jail...
...either you' 11 tell me that anyway, or not...
...I: I have...
...Then you propose that I help you destroy the "network of smugglers of duplicating machines...
...He: I suppose so...
...He : Have you been to England...
...1: 1 can't remember the exact date, but here, if you please, is the legal document...
...I: Just one moment...
...If 1 go to the States and go sightseeing with friends, do you expect me to send you some picture postcards...
...In that case, what difference does it make to you or your bosses whether I happen to be here, or get a passport and take off for the United States or Madagascar...
...He : Your wife is now in Chicago...
...I: I won't answer that question...
...I: Yes...
...He: Why didn't she return [to Poland...
...Ever since the founding of the Committee for the Defense of the Workers (KOR??now known as the Social Self-Defense Committee, KSS-KOR) in the wake of the food riots in the summer of 1976, the country has been flooded with papers, news-bulletins, political and literary journals, and books representing an astonishing variety of political tendencies, from Right-wing nationalist to liberal and social-democratic, with the latter clearly predominating...
...You know English...
...I: Look, I won't play any games with you...
...You asked me to come here with regard to the passport matter...
...You need not give me an answer immediately...
...1 think your divorce is a pure fiction...
...It's as if I offered to sell you something, and upon being asked what exactly I was offering to sell, I were to reply: "I'll tell you when you decide you want to buy it...
...He : Do you happen to know anyone from KSS-KOR...
...He : Do you know anyone there...
...1: No...
...He: Not only...
...He: Are you still in contact with your wife...
...I: Well, you're welcome to think whatever you like...
...I: An uncle and his family...
...That is, you're afraid I'll immediately go to the Reuters correspondent and tell him everything...
...third, you know yourself what you do for KSS-KOR...
...I: You know why...
...I: I do...
...He: No, it's not a criminal organization...
...He : My dear sir, I am a counterintelligence officer of the Polish People's Republic...
...He: Do you have any family living there...
...I: Well then, couldn't you just tell me whether I'll get my passport...
...1:1 do...
...I:ldo...
...I: I'm not saying it for your amusement...
...He: Why...
...He [the officer]: So you're planning to visit the United States...
...He: If you're in the West, you can start being active in behalf of KSS-KOR??collect money, publish something, and so on...
...The authorities, stunned by this defiant challenge to their monopoly over the communications media, have nevertheless accepted the existence of the unofficial press (with a total circulation, according to a recent admission by a government official, of20,000copies...
...It appeared in issue No...
...He: Wouldn't you liketohelpus out a bit...
...I: That's your affair...
...He: In other words, you don't want to help us...
...That's why I'm here...
...I have translated the exchange and it is presented here not because it is necessarily most typical, but rather because it is a marvelous example of the sheer pluck of so many Polish intellectuals, and of the frequently clumsy attempts by the authorities to bring their critics to heel...
...He : And do you publish anything...
...I: I don't know which house you have in mind...
...He: You say you know some KOR people "socially...
...Do you really think you can recruit people this way...
...I have several friends in that area...
...20 Walicow...
...I: What do you mean...
...1:1 do...
...as part of the new reality: A ny attempt to suppress it, as they well know, is likely to set off yet another bout of unrest, with incalculable consequences for the stability of the regime and of the country at large...
...Let them publish if they want to...
...He : Did you lend someone your car...
...1: Yes, in some small factory...
...I: Well, you certainly let me have it...
...He: No one gives money for nothing...
...That's why you have been deprived of the right to have a passport for five years...
...I cannot honestly wish you "success in your work"??that would be entirely contrary to my real wishes...
...I: And what will this help consist of...
...1 [Knauff]: Yes...
...I: It's all spelled out in my application form...
...He: You know what 1 think...
...I: Is that your point of view...
...Virtually all the publications list the names of their contributors, as well as the names and addresses of their editors ??proof that they do not consider themselves illegal or subversive, but legitimate forums of public opinion...
...He : Whom exactly...
...First you vaguely suggest that 1 become a spy in the United States...
...He: Well, we have a proposition to make to you...
...I: What does the fact that I know some people from KOR have to do with my trip to the United States...
Vol. 62 • January 1979 • No. 2
