The Broken Saber

Of all the world's practitioners of the ancient aristocratic sport of fencing, none was more flamboyant than the Polish star Jerzy Pawlowski. Winner of an Olympic gold medal in 1968 and three-time world fencing champion in saber, the handsome 43-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Polish army was the undisputed sports hero of Poland. So great was the country's pride in Pawlowski's prowess that Polish Party Chief Edward Gierek is said to have brought the fencer with him to an informal meeting with Soviet Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev.

Then came the chilling news of Pawlowski's arrest. In a laconic communique last June that was buried in most Polish papers--some printed the item on the sports page--the official Polish news agency PAP announced that the champion had been arrested "in connection with the suspicion that he has committed crimes against the basic interests of the state." Other Polish sports figures and a number of Polish general staff officers are also believed to have been arrested, including a track star, Marek Bedynski, a colonel and two majors.

Western participants in the international fencing matches in Budapest last month expressed shock at the conspicuous absence of Pawlowski. Members of the now crippled Polish team, meanwhile, were plainly fearful of openly discussing the fate of their champion. Italian Fencer Mario Aldo Montano, twice the world champion, doubted tales that Pawlowski had been accused of espionage. "It is not the sort of thing one would expect of Pawlowski," said Montano. "He is so correct --a gentleman very much in the tradition of fencing." Added American Fencer Jack Keane, captain of the Pan American fencing team, who has often competed with Pawlowski: "He is such a Polish patriot; he would no more betray his country than he would his sport."

Travelers returning from Poland last week reported that Warsaw is awash with rumors about Pawlowski's fate. He is said to have had his hands broken in prison by the Polish secret police, or to have committed suicide in Modlin prison outside Warsaw. According to one rumor, Pawlowski was arrested at Warsaw airport just as he was leaving on one of his frequent trips abroad. Another story had him picked up by police at his desk in the athletic-training department of the Polish Ministry of National Defense. Since his arrest, more than 100 persons are believed to have been interrogated in connection with the case. He is variously rumored to have been involved with a smuggling ring, planned to defect to the West, or to have spied for the French secret service, the CIA or the KGB. Similar tales have reached Polish-born academicians and authors in the U.S. None could be confirmed.

Savage Caricature. At the same time, the Polish weekly paper Sportowiec (The Sportsman) published an article entitled "Decline of a Hero," which characterized a certain famous sports figure, identified as "P," as having a secret life that he had hidden under the mask of a fencer. The Polish weekly newspaper Literatura ran a savage caricature representing Pawlowski as a sinister spy whose fencing thrust is parried and his saber broken as he tries to gather military secrets. Such attacks on Pawlowski in the official press suggest that he may still be alive and that Polish leaders aim to prepare public opinion for a formal trial--possibly by a military court. If Pawlowski were convicted of treason, which carries the death penalty, a great saber will indeed have been broken.

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