Minutes of the Meetings of the Dictrict Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party of the Ministry of the Public Security and its Statutory Bodies in the Years 1948–1954 as a Source for the History of the Polish People's Security Apparatus. Publication Review
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 1(12) (2014), pages: 83-98
Publication date: 2023-03-28
Abstract
The article is a review of the materials produced by the highest party authority of the Ministry of Public Security in the years 1949–1951, the Warszawa-Śródmieście Subdistrict Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR), and, from November 1951 to December 1954, the Warszawa-Ujazdów District Committee of the PZPR. The total of 25 saved archival units include documentation produced by the District Committee (DC) and the Audit Commission it appointed. In the case of the DC, these are the minutes of executive meetings held every week, and minutes of plenary meetings held irregularly every few months. For the Audit Commission there are the minutes of sixteen meetings (14 December 1949 – 31 August 1954). This body was set up to control the finances of the MPS party organisation, including membership fees or fund-raising for the construction of the PZPR Central House in Warsaw. The minutes from the meetings of the DC executive contain information about the operation of the party organisation in the department, as well as various organisational units of the MPS. Much attention (approx. 43% of the subjects discussed) was paid to the personal affairs of party members (acceptances, exclusions, reprimands, approving promotions to higher ranks). The PZPR, through the Warszawa-Ujazdów District Committee, controlled all the professional and private lives of its members. The documents produced by the highest party authority form interesting supplementary sources for the history of the repressive apparatus in the People’s Poland.
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