Customer Reviews

A Secret Life: The Polish Colonel, His Covert Mission, And The Price He Paid To Save His Country

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While spy novelists attempt to spin yarns that ring true, Weiser has spun the truth into a ripping good read. Clandestine meetings, miniature spy cameras, smuggled documents, dead drops, midnight escapes, everything short of murder - though legions of Hollywood agents are no doubt stabbing each other in the back to get the movie rights. Weiser provides a remarkable look behind two curtains: both the iron one that shielded cold-war Poland and the veil of secrecy that normally cloaks the CIA. The author's unprecedented access to the actual messages that passed between spy and handler allows him to bring two fascinating personalities - and the intimate friendship they developed - to life. If you like history, buy it. If you like biography, buy it. If you're a military buff, buy it. And if you like spy novels, buy two.

I heard many things about the martial law in Poland, and I read many books on the cold war. I think what Colonel Kuklinski did, was very dangerous and also heroic. In order to look at the martial law, everybody must ask himself/herself, where was Poland at this time? Was it free from foreign domination? Did Poland make indepedent decisions in regards to foreign policy or even internal policy? I think not. If those who think he is a traitor, then they think comunism was a good thing, and they enjoyed life under comunism. Most documents that Kuklinski shipped to Americans were in the Russian language. He did not take any money as some comunist members including Jaruzelski think.
I am one of many, who met Colonel Kuklinski personally. He is a man of a great courage and patriotism. His sacrifice was that he lost his two sons, and did not receive recognition among the Poles. I believe that his sacrifices wiill find recogniztion if we will read this book.

The amazing story of Colonel Kuklinski and his work on behalf of the free world and America, resulted in many laudatory comments, but also an outrageous condemnation from pro-Communist sources. The understanding of this scurrilious attack will be helped by the recollection that our gallant ally, Poland, was abandoned at Yalta to the Soviet occupation, which lasted 46 years. During this time, some Poles were seduced, or bribed, to serve their Soviet masters and their interests. When the general discontent by the majority of the people, led by Solidarity, brought about the downfall of the Communist masters and their stooges, they naturally felt hate for the freedom-seeking patriots.

The kangaroo Communist court sentenced Colonel Kuklinski to death just like they condemned so many patriots, and even the anti-German resistance fighters. To most Poles, Colonel Kuklinski is a hero and the cities of Krakow and Gdansk made him an honorary citizen. The regime henchmen could not reach the colonel but his two sons met with sudden death in suspicious circumstances in America. So he paid the highest price for his efforts on behalf of the free world and Poland.

A Secret Life will attract numerous audiences but holds special appeal for those who enjoy the mental challenge of wrestling with questions of moral dilemma. Colonel Kuklinski, the subject of the book, lived as a citizen of a country, Poland, during a time when Poland's national interests were subjugated to the interests of another nation. In sharing military intelligence with the American authorities, did Kuklinski act as a patriot whose mission was to protect Poland's freedom or as a traitor to its national security? The author's conclusions are clear from the phrase in the subtitle "the Price He Paid to Save His Country," but his meticulous research allows the reader to appraise the narrative at every step of Kuklinski's journey and to draw one's own conclusion. An absorbing tale that one constantly has to remind oneself is not fiction!

"Sometimes it's not enough to do what is right, sometimes one must do what is necessary." Ryszard Kuklinski knew what was right, did what was necessary...and paid a terrible price.

Benjamin Weiser's riveting work A SECRET LIFE, on Polish hero Ryszard Kuklinski, is an enlightening look back into the dark intrigue, personal danger, and moral dilemmas surrounding one military officer's private battles to liberate his country from totalitarianism. Most importantly, this work shatters the left-wing's liberal illusion of "peaceful coexistence" with a communist system whose very raison d' etre is the destruction of freedom, democracy and enslavement of the West.

Kuklinski saw internal conflict to evict the alien system imposed upon his country by the USSR--as opposed to connivance or the wishful thinking of ideological transformation through "gradualism," favored by some of his Polish General Staff contemporaries, who, for lack of courage or personal gain, fully cooperated with their harsh Soviet task masters--as the only realistic option for peace in the face of Poland's likely nuclear annihilation, had war ensued with the United States. He dared to act accordingly, becoming an agent of change feeding top-secret Warsaw Pact military information to the CIA; thereby, tipping the balance of power in favor of liberty, while loosening the demoralizing death-grip of communist rule over Eastern Europe, as a de facto one-man Polish Underground.

When considering the totality of personal sacrifice and enormity of danger faced by Kuklinski, in his nearly solitary and single-handed struggle against radical, state-sponsored evil--who carried a suicide pill to end his life if caught and was sentenced to death, in absentia, by the Polish Military Court--moral giants like Kurt Gerstein and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn come to mind. It saddens me that former communist collaborators or sympathizers, like Aleksander Kwasniewski, were celebrated or elevated to significant post-Soviet leadership positions and societal prominence, while the country remains bitterly divided over Kuklinski, who has yet to be nationally vindicated, though history has already done so.

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzesinski said it best when he honored him with the words traditionally reserved for decorating Polish soldiers: "Pan sie dobrze Polsce zasluzyl: You have served Poland well." Rest in peace Colonel Kuklinski.

This is an important book which reminds us of two facts
which must not be forgotten.

1. What the world thinks of the USA is vital for our security.
Our military power is essential, but it will not keep us
safe unless the rest of the world believes that we are
working for the freedom and prosperity of all, and not
just ourselves.

2. The CIA has an insoluble public relations problem. Its
failures become public knowledge immediately, but its
successes must be kept secret for twenty years or more.

History that really reads like a fast-paced novel. Should be a "crossover hit" for readers of spy or cold war fiction. The details on spycraft (how agents met, exchanged information and eluded surveillance, and how defectors were "expatriated") are particularly fascinating, and surprisingly were cleared by the CIA for publication.

The final two chapters form an epilogue of sorts that gets to an especially important question, whether Kuklinski was a patriot or a traitor. The review from Publishers Weekly insinuates that money may have been a factor. While I agree that the author could have explored this in more detail, I find that charge to be without merit. First, while still in Poland, Kuklinski could not live beyond the means supplied by his and his wife's salaries without attracting attention. Second, he refused to defect until his cover was blown by a US leak (after 9 years of passing information) and he was placed in danger. I also disagree that too much ink was spent on the personal correspondence between Kulinski and his CIA contacts. His confidence in them as honorable people was crucial to his continuing to run great risks.

The patriot vs. traitor question hinges largely on whether the Communist-era Polish state was legitimate or not. Kuklinski came to the view that it was not. It behaved more as a province of USSR with limited autonomy than as a fully independent nation. He could see this in military planning. Homeland defense was not considered. Apparently, the Soviets did not really expect to be invaded by NATO; they did, however, want no possible impediments to controlling their satellites. Meanwhile, the Polish army was trained to assist a Soviet-led war of aggression against Western Europe. Such a war would destroy Poland as NATO used nuclear weapons against Warsaw Pact troops moving through it. Kuklinski also was troubled by the use of Polish troops for repression within the Soviet bloc, to end the "Prague Spring" in 1968 and to break Polish strikes in 1970.

So, if the Polish state were merely the puppet of a malign foreign power (the USSR), patriotic Poles like Kuklinski theoretically should have had no qualms working with other foreign governments (like the US) to undermine it, just as Poles during the era of partition among Imperial Russia, Prussia/Imperial Germany and Imperial Austria could have clear consciences in opposing those regimes. A supreme irony is that, while Kuklinski was attempting to clear his name in the 1990s (after his defection in 1981, the Communist government condemned him to death in absentia for treason), he received the cold shoulder from Lech Walesa and certain other former Solidarity figures, who themselves had welcomed foreign aid for their anti-government movement. In part, they seemed to blame him for the failure of US officials to tip them off about the imposition of martial law by Gen. Jaruzelski, to which he was privy, and which occurred a month after his defection. In part, they seemed to think that Kuklinski had crossed a line in sharing state secrets with the Americans.

Equally ironic is that, despite Kuklinski's disdain for Gen. Jaruzelski as a tool of the Soviets, public opinion polls in the late 1990s showed a favorable view of the General and a negative view of Kuklinski. Don't miss the amazing quote from the former spokesman for Jaruzelski's martial law regime, Jerzy Urban, about why he believes Kuklinski to be a traitor: because Kuklinski did not get his American friends to intervene against Jaruzelski's imposition of martial law! Eventually, Kuklinski was officially rehabilitated, but only because this seemed politic when Poland applied for NATO membership.

Kuklinski died on February 11, 2004, in his adopted country, the US. Reports in the Polish press referred to him as "controversial."

I read this book, and didn't plan on writing a review until I read the comment by 'Voice from Poland'.

The fundamental observation that I would have regarding Kuklilnski is that he is a hero. He cannot be seen as a traitor because by definition it is impossible to betray a Quisling.

Secondly, to call Kuklinski a hero calls into question the morality of those who rationalized their cooperation with the Soviets. It is precisely the invitation to rationalize cooperation with the Soviets that made the Soviet/KGB/NKVD system so invidious. Many can't face the fact that their rationalizations in working with the Soviets were actually self-serving.

Jaruzelski is seen as a somewhat hapless 'gentleman' who was in a terrible spot, but who chose the easy path. And the opinion polls do not suggest that Jaruzelski is supported by the majority of my countrymen.

Again cooperation with Quisling is traitorous behavior; working against Quisling is heroism.

As to the book, decently well-written, gets bogged down at times - but very much a worthwile read.

Move over, James Bond! Instead of repeating other reviewers, let's focus mostly on the intelligence-gathering aspects of this thriller.

Imagine that you're Ryszard Kuklinski. The best way to avoid excessive surveillance by Communist counterintelligence is to make your daily routine as predictable as possible. You get a dog so that you can stroll around the neighborhood naturally. You give and receive signals to and from your contacts with chalk marks on the pavement. (These sometimes get washed away). You use your wife's iron to reveal messages in invisible ink, and take up hobby photography as a cover for photography of another kind.

You dislike dead-drops because, for one thing, someone else might stumble upon them. You use the brush pass. As you walk per your usual routines, you turn into one of those impossible-to-predict labyrinthic streets so that you are out of prying eyes for a few precious seconds. During this time, you exchange packages with another agent.

The brush passes go uneventfully--until one night. No sooner is it completed than you are hit by the headlights of a car. You try to duck into a side street but your move is anticipated. Finally, you shake off the pursuer. Were you seen well enough by the driver to be positively identified? You think/hope not. But just in case, you get a haircut. Luckily this time, you are safe.

Even little slip-ups can be killers. At one point, your son finds a secret note that you had carelessly taped too lightly on the underside of a piece of furniture. You cannot account for a roll of film, and your colleagues speak of the discovery of a "spy film". (It later turns up in the pocket of your seldom-used shirt). At another time, you are in another world, and you crash face-first into a pillar while carrying sensitive information. Nice way to be unobtrusive!

Picture yourself (pardon the pun) getting caught red-handed, by an officer entering the room, taking surreptitious photos of classified documents. You act normal, but cannot get over the fear that the officer has seen exactly what you were doing and will report you. Then, when nothing seems to happen, you still fear that you are being carefully monitored so that the Communist counterintelligence can trace your contacts and then trap everyone.

You had better not carry a gun because, if you use it and then seek refuge in the US Embassy, the Communist authorities may have legal grounds to have you turned over to them. You fully realize that, if caught, you will be tortured into divulging information, and then be executed. Besides, the Communists will make a spectacle of you for propaganda purposes. For this reason, you request a suicide pill from the CIA. They at first refuse, fearing that an agent may take it in a moment of panic, or that the discovery of the poison could itself be used for propaganda purposes. But in the end the CIA provides the pill--inside a pen.

In any Soviet-NATO war, Poland would be the route for 95% of the Soviet military advance. Poland would then get hit with 400-600 nuclear bombs in an attempt to stop the Soviet advance without escalating the conflict into a full-blown Soviet-US nuclear holocaust (p. 16). No wonder Kuklinski realized that Poland was doomed! (Some conspiracy-minded Poles suggested that the Polack joke syndrome had been a concerted effort to demean Poland so that the American public wouldn't protest too much the future destruction of Poland).

Kuklinski's achievements were staggering: Tens of thousands of highly-classified Soviet documents passed on to the US (p. 300). And that was just the beginning. After his flight to the US, Kuklinski provided much information during his debriefing. May he be forever honored, and rest in peace!

Must be read to be believed i havent given this book 5 stars for nothing it is one of my most cherised books i how indebted i am to the man who saved our dear country poland may his soul rest in peace it brings tears to eyes just thinking after all he sacrificed and fought for to have what he loved most then taken away in his later years
i have borrowed this book to a few friends of different nationalities and they all have found it equally inspiring its simply A MUST READ especially if your polish
most people dont even know what goes on around them
many blessings to all who read this