'comunism' - tagged features

In Poland, it used to be taboo to talk about former communist bosses and the special privileges they enjoy. Eighteen years after the fall of communism, the Polish government is taking steps to change that. From Polish Radio External Service, Joanna Najfeld reports. 

After a meeting late last week, the Polish Roman Catholic Episcopate has announced the intention to purge the Church of communist ties, disclosing documents concerning the cooperation of a minority of priests and bishops with Poland's communist regime. The meeting followed the resignation of archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, who was about to be installed as the metropolitan of Warsaw, but admitted to having had links with the communist security police. 

The resignation of the newly appointed archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus, two days after he admitted that he'd collaborated with the communist secret services and only hours before his formal investiture ceremony, is surely one of the most important events in the history of the Polish Church. How serious is the crisis in the Church and what are the chances for healing the wounds? Michal Kubicki reports. 

The opening of Romanian secret police archives for the first time since the fall of communism in 1989 has rocked the country. The documents of the Securitate contain a portrait of a paranoid state where friends, families and even lovers spied on each other. And it seems that many of the current politicians were Securitate collaborators. 

A United Nations committee is looking into claims of enforced sterilisation of Romany women in a number of former communist states, including the Czech Republic. The practice is said to have started in the communist days as a means of "regulating" the Romany population. Human rights activists fear that the practice did not end with the fall of communism.