Sławomir Cenckiewicz (born 20 July 1971) is a Polish historian and journalist.

Life and career

A former employee of the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecutio ...

, since 2016 Cenckiewicz has served as president of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

's History Office. He gained much media attention following the 2008 publication of a book he co-authored with Piotr Gontarczyk, ''SB a Lech Wałęsa. Przyczynek do biografii'' (The SB and Lech Wałęsa: Contribution to a Biography), about

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

's service as an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

of the communist ''

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Security Service (; ), in full Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and commonly known as SB, was a secret police force established in the Polish People's Republic in 1956 as a successor to the Ministry of Public Security (P ...

''. ''SB a Lech Wałęsa. Przyczynek do biografii'', Warszawa 2008, [co-author Piotr Gontarczyk Gontarczyk and Cenckiewicz argued that in the 1970s the Solidarity (Polish trade union) leader and former President of Poland

was a secret informant for the Polish communist secret police, the ''

'' (''SB''). Cenckiewicz is a graduate of the Gdańsk University History Department. His main fields of expertise are the modern history of Poland, including the opposition in the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

and the Polish diaspora. He was

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

as a doctor of history at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Cenckiewicz has worked with the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based Polonia Aid Foundation Trust (2000 and 2004), Kościuszko Foundation (2000), and the Chicago-based Foundation for Free Speech (2005). Cenckiewicz opposes a renewed

Jedwabne Jedwabne (; , ''Yedvabna'') is a town in northeastern Poland, in Łomża County of Podlaskie Voivodeship, with 1,942 inhabitants (2002). History First mentioned in 1455 records, on 17 July 1736 Jedwabne received town rights from King Augustus III ...

exhumation. Cenckiewicz identifies as a follower of

Traditionalist Catholicism Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Tr ...

and has criticized

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

and his positions for what Cenckiewicz says has hastened secularization in Catholic countries.

Books

* ''Oczami bezpieki: szkice i materiały z dziejów aparatu bezpieczeństwa PRL'', Kraków: Wyd. Arcana, 2005, * ''Tadeusz Katelbach (1897-1977): biografia polityczna'', Wydawnictwo LTW, Warszawa 2005, =doctoral dissertation= * ''SB a Lech Wałęsa. Przyczynek do biografii'', Warszawa 2008, Piotr Gontarczyk ">o-authored with Piotr Gontarczyk * ''Sprawa Lecha Wałęsy'', Poznań: Zysk i s-ka, 2008, . * ''Śladami bezpieki i partii. Rozprawy - Źródła - Publicystyka'', Wydawnictwo LTW, Łomianki, 2009. * ''Gdański Grudzień '70'', Wydawnictwo IPN, Gdańsk-Warszawa 2009., * ''Anna Solidarność. Życie i działalność Anny Walentynowicz na tle epoki (1929-2010)'', Zysk i S-ka, 2010. * ''Długie ramię Moskwy. Wywiad wojskowy Polski Ludowej 1943-1991 (wprowadzenie do syntezy)'', Zysk i S-ka, 2011. * ''Lech Kaczyński. Biografia polityczna 1949–2005'', Zysk i S-ka, 2013, (other authors: Anna Piekarska, Adam Chmielecki, Janusz Kowalski) * ''Wałęsa. Człowiek z teczki'', Zysk i S-ka, 2013, * ''Atomowy szpieg. Ryszard Kukliński i wojna wywiadów'', Wydawnictwo Zysk i S-ka, Poznań 2014

References

External links

* http://www.slawomircenckiewicz.pl 1971 births Living people Controversies in Poland 21st-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers People associated with the Institute of National Remembrance University of Gdańsk alumni Polish traditionalist Catholics Academic staff of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń {{Poland-historian-stub