After the events of “bloody June 1956 in Poznań (Poland)”¹, city lawyers formed a team and undertook to defend people accused of participation in demonstrations, fights, etc. for free or for a small fee. One of the most famous and notable lawyers of the time was Dr. Stanisław Hejmowski [1900-1969]. He was born in Latvia into a Polish family. The nanny was Latvian, the father-lawyer spoke English to the children, he studied German at school (his good knowledge of German would save him during the occupation, but he also had German clients) and he passed his high school graduation exam in St. Petersburg... So he probably had no problems with langages ! The family was patriotic. And Catholic - and this remained with him: he later maintained good relations with the clergy of Poznań (for example with the Dominicans), he often defended the priests, and it sometimes happened that before the first trial, the lawyer and his client was attended to mass. Two brothers died during the war.
The new authorities installed after the war did not find him to their liking: a pre-war lawyer “from a good family”, holding a doctorate, was considered more of an “enemy of the system”… And among judges subservient to the new regime, he was considered downright a “masked reactionary”. He has been criticized for "lacking socio-political accents in his pleadings", for wanting to "convince of his loyalty through his humility and his behavior" (judges are sometimes fond of compliments, so lawyers can sometimes skilfully exploit these human weaknesses)
But his professional skills were recognized (a judge told him: “Master, you have analyzed everything correctly in legal terms, but you do not understand the essence of the socialist revolution”). He was considered one of the moral leaders of the Poznań Bar of Advocates. Before the war, he defended Jewish traders and communists. After the war, the young anti-communist conspirators. His skills were so appreciated that he was chosen as public defender in the prestigious trial of Arthur Greiser, the "Gauleiter" of the "Warthegau", that is to say the German nazi criminal administrator of part of the Polish lands incorporated into the Third Reich in 1939 (he could not save his client from the death sentence, but the verdict was passed by a majority of only one vote, which means that the defense did a good job). In 1961, he defended the ship's captain, Heinrich Schriewer, of the Federal Republic of Germany, who was sentenced to three years in prison for insulting the Polish nation (he called the port management "Polish pigs" and threatened: “The Germans will come back here and restore order!” The authorities later accused the lawyer of being "too polite" in his dealings with his client!). But he gained real fame in 1956, notably during the so-called “trial of the three” (three people accused of lynching and killing a guard at the secret police headquarters who were later sentenced to 4-4.5 years in prison. Well, such a sentence in such a serious case, something like this, in the times of the communist regime! However, in the courtroom there were foreign official observers…. It is worth comparing with other judgments which also went down in history…) And in what was called “trial of ten”. “His speeches in court were commented on by the whole city” (the proceedings were partially broadcast on the radio). “The room was in turmoil when… Hejmowski said: …The bullets that hit the streetcar driver and the child are waiting for their prosecutors…”. The clerk at the “trial of the ten”: “This speech left its mark. It was poetry. He was the best. We called him ‘Golden Mouth’. "He was the number one figure in the trials. He deserved respect. He was an artist." According to a Western observer: "The defense of the accused deserves all the praise... Some lawyers gave speeches whose courage and eloquence do honor to their profession." One of the most famous Polish lawyers recalled: “...Hejmowski was a very courageous man. When he acted as a defense attorney, he was adamant. His opinions took precedence over those of his personal safety, over his ability to practice his profession. It was the fulfillment of what can nobly be called a duty and a sacrifice of defense. It happened that the judge threatened him with arrest if he said one more sentence!!! » He had undeniable authority in the legal community… The daughter of dr Hejmowski recalled: "during one of the trials, while her father was giving his closing speech, he was threatened that if he did not finish defending the accused, his daughter would be arrested"!!! Indeed, Me Hejmowski (and other lawyers) amazed us with their courage and their uncompromising attitude... They did not let themselves be intimidated! He was a true idealist who was taught in his youth, in his home, the commandment to help the weakest. “Understand me, as long as there is someone in Poland I can help, I have to stay here,” he explained to his children (who live in Sweden) when they “begged him to stop risking his live to defend Stalinist political prisoners“. According to another lawyer: “The most important character trait of Dr. Hejmowski was feeling obliged to help the weakest and those who needed legal assistance”. His skills, talent and commitment were known, but in 1956 he became a true hero – first in his city: “The people of Poznań laid flowers in front of his apartment, sent him hundreds of letters and telegrams... The Poznań Philharmonic and the Opera sent him tickets for the whole year…” Here are two examples of such letters:
An anonymous letter to dr Stanisław Hejmowski:
Poznań, October 18, 1956
Mister Counselor !
I just listened to your speech in defense of Bulczyński and impressed by this moment to the point of tears I would like to [shake?] your hand and say thank you for these beautiful words, words of truth that we have been waiting for eleven years! I don't know Bulczyński, I don't know any of the accused, but the case you spoke about is the case of all of us Poles! On that memorable day, I was at home because I do not work professionally, but when I heard the first news of the strike, a certain joy invaded my heart because the nation had awakened, that it was no longer a herd of docile sheep, but the workers, wronged, exploited – who are capable of denouncing injustice, just as our past has taught us. Oh Gentlemen Defenders! Professor Chałasiński! I don't know how to express my gratitude for these brave and true words. I am only now beginning to believe that our Poland will be our true free homeland, and not a stepmother hated by her sons. I am not from the post-war generation, because I am already 45 years old, I am an ordinary unimportant person, uneducated, but actively participating in all aspects of social life. How well you spoke of the role of radio that day! These are my words! Oh! — I will not forget this hour when I listened to the Prime Minister's speech. There should also be words about Him in this process! I know we're not allowed to talk about it yet! Why didn't he find words like you! Why did he only find these words: “We will cut off the hand that opposes us!...” – oh! The people of Poznań will not forget it! Master! It may be funny what I write, but I just have to make you feel somehow that your words are historical words - I wish I had this speech in its entirety, because every word that it contains - is ours - deep in our hearts, stored for a long time, but I simply don't have the skills to recreate them so beautifully! Your words had it all! I absorbed them with a certain devotion and, deep in my heart, a hidden fear: Aren't these bold words causing you problems? Once again, I would like to thank you on behalf of myself and all those who will not express it in writing, but for whom your name will be associated with words of the highest appreciation!
One of many
A letter from Poznań workers to attorney Stanistaw Hejmowski with thanks for giving a defense speech during the "trial of ten":
Poznań, October 18, 1956
Dear Master Hejmowski!
These few words are written to you by the workers of Poznań. We do not know if our letter will be the first, the hundredth or the thousandth, but we know for sure that if everyone who is grateful to you for the great words of eternal truth wanted to write to you - there would be millions of such letters.
Dear Master Hejmowski!
Your words that you spoke have been taken from our mouths and our hearts and there is not a home or family where your name is not remembered, where there are not words of appreciation and gratitude for the truth pronounced on October 17 [19]56 at the court in Poznań! We hear one thing everywhere: "he spoke the truth", "he defended the whole working class, all of Poland", "God bless him for his words of truth", etc. etc. unending. Why don't we have such people like you in government? Why are there people in our government who want to cut off the hands of workers who are already treated so unfairly? Dear Master, we would like to thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts for your words, your words that made us feel healthier, stronger and happier.
We have gained hope that there are people who are born in the truth and willing to die for the truth, and with you, Master, all honest and just people are ready to go to death.
We would like to ask you to express your sincere thanks to the advocates who spoke after you. We, the workers and our generation, will be grateful to you for the rest of our lives.
For everyone in my apartment.
With my best wishes.
Niedzielski Franciszek
But the communist regime did not forgive these successes and these tributes… It was necessary at all costs to neutralize, silence and discredit this authentic, independent authority, this free voice, which suddenly appeared! The security services carried out an operation called “Maestro” aimed at discrediting him. False documents were prepared to prove that he received excessive fees, he was presented as a corrupter, his clients were questioned, he was monitored, wiretapped, his authorization to practice his profession was suspended. Telephone tapping was installed, secret searches were carried out... He was denounced, among others, by his doctor and his colleagues. He was refused a passport... Counter-espionage and the tax authorities participated in his persecution… “He lost a lot of clients, people were afraid to hire his services... One of the clients who resigned said: I'm looking to win my case, not a wonderful funeral speech!“ Numerous tax audits were carried out and he was fined an extremely high surcharge. He was ruined! “Then (i.e. in 1957) he lost hope. He never again felt free in his own country” He was destroyed...
One day, as Mr. Hejmowski was riding home in a taxi, he asked at the end of the ride: “How much do I owe you? » And the taxi driver (who recognized him):“Nothing. You have already paid, counselor.” [This anonymous driver from Poznań was the voice of the Polish people...]
In February 1969, the security service reported with satisfaction: "the Poznań Bar Association currently does not have 'ideological leaders', roles which were previously filled by Hejmowski and Kujanek"...
In 1967 he became paralyzed. When he died (May 31, 1969), “the obituaries were falsified and, as a result, only a few people attended his funeral, none of whom dared to make a speech.” After Hejmowski's death, his memory was systematically marginalized.
The lawyer S. Hejmowski, his person and his activities are now also arousing interest abroad: the English University Leeds Beckett University and the University of Stockholm are carrying out a scientific research project on him: « Research by a Leeds Beckett University academic into the role of Polish lawyers in trials following the Second World War is to be supported through a new grant award » (28/02/2022) :
https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/news/2022/02/lbu-research-on-polish-lawyers-in-aftermath-of-the-second-world-war-awarded-grant/
A seminar on this topic took place at the Stockholm Centre for International Law and Justice, (Defence Counsel ‘Maestro’, 18/01/2023) :
https://www.scilj.se/event/defence-counsel-maestro/
I wonder if the organizers invited the excellent expert on the subject, Professor Dr. Stanisław Kłys? Undoubtedly an expert and what a truly unrivaled one! It was he, while still an secret police officer (of the 3rd Department of the Security Service SB in Poznań), who carried out the affair known under the code name "Maestro". In other words, he supervised and orchestrated the persecution of a remarkable and steadfast lawyer from Poznań!!! So of course, he must know a lot, really a lot about Hejmowski! Yes, he lost his job, he was fired from Security Service for corruption (what irony: he falsely accused Hejmowski of it!), but he still managed to get through it. Well ! He even had an impressive career: he became, among other things, a university professor at the Baltic Higher School of Humanities in Koszalin, where he taught law to students...
____
¹ The Poznań uprising of June 1956 was a very important revolt of the people against the communist regime.
Starting from a strike, it turned into a two-day confrontation of tens of thousands (and more) of demonstrators with the security forces, the Polish army, its hundreds of battle tanks etc., etc. Estimates (very approximate) of the number of victims indicate several dozen dead and a few hundred injured (at least). The then Polish Prime Minister J.Cyrankiewicz then uttered the famous sentence: "any provocateur or madman who dares to raise his hand against the people's power, must be certain that the people's power will cut off his hand
[let him be sure that the people's power will chop that hand off from him.]"
² Attorney Hejmowski's client, the captain of a German ship, Heinrich Schriewer, was once sentenced to 3 years in prison for "insulting statements about Poles". Not so long ago, another German accused in a famous case of anti-Polish "hate speech", after 7 years of legal battle, was sentenced to a "fine and an apology". Marika Matuszak and Michał Ostrzycki were sentenced to 3 years in prison for trying to snatch someone « rainbow bag » worth about PLN 15/~4 Euro (i.e. in colors symbolizing LGBT sexual behavior). The sentence was without suspension(!) – even though this pair of Polish students had no criminal record before… Just as harshly as Captain Schriewer once did. The trial of these students will undoubtedly go down in the history of the national judiciary (and polish prison system : « Before starting her sentence, [ Marika Matuszak] suffered a severe, open ankle fracture. As a result, she entered prison on crutches. Her stay in prison prevented her from completing her rehabilitation. Although she still has enormous she had problems with moving, the first X-ray of her leg was performed only after a year of serving her sentence » After one year... Is this probably the level of the poorest countries in the 3rd or 4th world? Hasn't some record been broken here? Maybe it's worth registering it in the Guinness Book : https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/ ) ?
Yes, it will go down in history. Not only because of the extraordinary severity of sentences equating convicts acting for ideological reasons with perpetrators of very serious crimes (e.g. rape). But also because of the very unusual atmosphere, full of strange understatements and silences surrounding this scandal (as we know, Minister of Justice Ziobro caused both of them to be released from prison after a year of serving their sentences). For example, it is however impossible to find out how much total time they spent in prison… I searched and searched on the Internet - and I found this: "Prior to this sentence, she spent a year in prison" (!!!), see :
https://www.tvp.info/71654942/sedzia-agnieszka-cabrera-kasprzak-z-poznania-i-jej-orzeczenie-w-sprawie-mariki-opisuje-jerzy-jachowicz
And no one denies it - could it be true? Isn't it intriguing and interesting? On a different note: many people complain about the fact that Mrs. Marika did not have a lawyer (court-appointed). Well, so what? After all, her friend had a lawyer. And in the appeal, the court upheld his verdict anyway (oh, how I would like to read the justification for this judgment. And I can't find it anywhere on the Internet! Am I the only one who is so curious or maybe also clumsy?). So it's not certain that if a lawyer had defended her, it would have made a difference...
Maybe so, but maybe not. However, if she actually had a lawyer, she would undoubtedly have much less sympathy capital today... It would reduce her social support. So it's not impossible that her giving up on him was an excellent move on her part. Some even go so far as to assume that if the perpetrators were foreigners, they would be treated more leniently. Does this mean that part of society thinks that the fact that these are Poles was perhaps an aggravating circumstance for the court???
One more thing: she was chased, wanted on an arrest warrant. Another one of the extraordinary wanted posters produced by the "mills of justice" that grind on the Vistula, Warta or Bug rivers... After all, there was already such a well-known, chase letter for - not wearing a mask... And for the famous journalist Paweł Miter who had the nerve to reveal a great scandal while pretending to be an employee prime minister's office (he should have received a medal for his action, written a bestseller, made an award-winning film - why didn't that happen?)... And now for Mrs. Marika : she didn't show up to serve her disproportionate punishment !The same sentence, same punishment that was once imposed on Captain Heinrich Schriewer (and by the way: how pretty she looks in this famous photo - if there was a category "Miss beauty of wanted posters", I think she would have a chance). Well, times change, and so do judgments and court decisions! And in a case that used to result in a 3-year prison sentence, today a "fine and an apology" is imposed. And students who attacked "LGBT" symbols, the so-called "LGBT community", who in the past would have been punished with, for example, a few hours of community service, are now are sentenced to 3 years in prison without suspension. Just like in the past for the anti-Polish "hatespeech". In fact, this is not even surprising, after all, "LGBT" has much "better press" than "nation" nowadays (and some contemporary Cyrankiewicz could probably say: "We will chop off the sacrilegious hand that decides to act against this symbols")…
P.S.
In 2008, Agata Ławniczak made a documentary about it entitled “MAESTRO”.
