Monday 14 December @ 8.30pm

We would like to cordially invite you to an online event "General Kuklinski. The Lonely Mission", first in our new series the Forgotten Leaders Who Built our Europe.

​Join us live on the ECR YouTube Channel, Facebook account of the ECR Group and ECR MEP Anna Fotyga, Twitter accounts of the ECR Group and ECR MEP Anna Fotyga.

In its long and turbulent history, Europe, going back at least to ancient Greece and Rome, has been built by communities, nations, and outstanding individuals – kings, emperors, statesmen, warriors, priests, scientists, artists, poets, inventors, entrepreneurs. Some of them are widely known, some of them – forgotten. Each nation has its own story to tell, and each nation is proud of its heroes, who significantly contributed to the nation’s identity and achievements. These stories unfold a fascinating and complex picture of national cultures, sometimes converging and sometimes diverging, full of dramatic developments. Sharing these stories about our national heroes among ourselves, representatives of various European nations is not only a matter of education. It is also giving justice to those remarkable individuals to whom we owe so much. For Europe, as we define it, Europe of nations, historical memory is indispensable.

- Professor Ryszard Legutko, Co-Chairman of the ECR Group in the European Parliament

General Ryszard Kuklinski was as one of the most successful people in the fight to end communism. As, then Director of Central Intelligence, William Casey wrote in a letter to the President Ronald Reagan: “In the last forty years, no one has done more damage to communism than that Pole”. The main reason behind Kuklinski’s decision to cooperate with CIA was simple: “Everything that I did – I was thinking about Poland”. He began to question the legitimacy of communist rule and the USSR’s control over Poland after the massacre of Polish workers by communist security forces in December 1970. He decided to undertake his lonely mission during some of the darkest days of the Cold War. He knew in detail that the Soviet Union was the ultimate threat to world peace. He knew that the communist system was imposed on the Poles by the Soviet Union. Kuklinski was a person of exceptional courage. We are grateful to him for his mission. He stands on the right side of history.

- Anna Fotyga, MEP