Both brothers, Ryszard Kowalczyk and Jerzy Kowalczyk, had held firmly anti-communist views while working at the city's Higher Pedagogical School (WSP), where Ryszard was employed as a teacher and Jerzy was a turner at the university's physics department.
Following the brutal suppression of workers’ protests in the Baltic city of Gdańsk and the country's coastal region in 1970, the Kowalczyk brothers decided to manifest their opposition to the communist regime.
They struck when the authorities planned a big event at the university’s main auditorium to celebrate the anniversary of Poland's communist security services.
Those responsible for putting down the 1970 strikes were to be decorated at the ceremony.
Although Ryszard eventually tried to dissuade his younger brother from carrying out the attack, Jerzy surrounded the hall with explosives, and set them off shortly after midnight on October 6, 1971.
The timing was chosen specifically to avoid any casualties.
The brothers knew the building inside out as the physics department was also located there.
The explosion destroyed the auditorium and the surrounding rooms, creating massive damage and taking the communist authorities completely by surprise, the PAP news agency reported.
After a high-profile investigation, the communist police caught the trail of the brothers, who were then surrounded by informers and had their shared flat wire-tapped.
As a result, Ryszard and Jerzy were arrested in February 1972 on charges of carrying out the bomb attack and planning further ones.
In September 1972, with prosecutors arguing the brothers “gave no thought to possible casualties,” the Kowalczyks were pronounced guilty. Jerzy was handed the death sentence and Ryszard received 25 years in prison.
In January 1973, after protests from various circles, including intellectuals and the Catholic Church, Jerzy’s sentence was reduced to 25 years in prison as well.
Further campaigns by the opposition resulted in a conditional discharge of both brothers in the 1980s.
Ryszard and Jerzy Kowalczyk remain somewhat divisive figures in Opole and beyond, not least due to the controversial nature of their attack, the PAP news agency reported.
It noted, however, that the brothers were recently honoured with the Knight’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order, a prestigious state decoration in Poland.
The elder brother, Ryszard, died in October 2017, PAP reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP