Żarliwy antykomunista
The Pontificate of John Paul II in the documents of the KGB of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1978-1991)
The source materials presented in this edition are essentially concerned with John Paul II and the situation of the Catholic Church, both Latin and Greek Catholic rites, in Ukraine. The forty documents cover the period from the first reactions of the KGB of Ukraine to the election of John Paul II until the declaration of independence of Ukraine and analyse various aspects of this pontificate. The presentation of materials produced by the KGB of Ukraine between 1978 and 1991 is an important contribution to understanding the scale of the ideological confrontation that took place in the Soviet Union during the first decade of John Paul II's pontificate.
It was undoubtedly most acute precisely in Ukraine, where the authorities were confronted with the illegal structure of the Greek Catholic Church, which in their estimation was the forerunner of Ukrainian nationalism.
- The documents come from the Separate State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine. Nine of them were produced by Board I of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR, i.e. the intelligence service. They are located in the Separate State Archive of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine," says Dr Andrzej Grajewski, editor of the publication.
