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Editor's note
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 9-11
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Articles and studies 
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Categories of “Enemies” in NKVD Files on Poles and Red Army Officers during the Great Purge (1937–1938)
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 15-32
The study examines the categories of “enemy” assigned to Poles and Red Army officers during investigations conducted by the Soviet security police (NKVD) during the Great Purge (1937–1938). These categories, designed in accordance with the rhythm of mass repression and subsequent top-down directives, evolved from broad classifications aligned with the authorities’ immediate priorities to increasingly detailed ones. Among detailed categories forged in the course of repressions were those defined during the so-called “nationality operations” initiated by the NKVD, notably the “Polish Operation” (from members of the Trotskyist or Trotskyist-Zinovievist opposition, through participants in the alleged “military-fascist conspiracy”, to “Polish spies” and members of the purported Polish Military Organisation in the USSR, Polska Organizacja Wojskowa, POW). The study is based on records kept in Ukrainian, Russian, and Latvian archives, as well as on published documents and literature in the field.
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NKVD Military Operations in the Rzeszów Region, 1944–1946: An Outline
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 33-64
In October 1944, the NKVD Combined Division was formed, renamed in January 1945 the 64th Rifle Division of the Internal Troops. The Division's primary task was combating the Polish independence underground. Its units conducted numerous raids and counterinsurgency operations, i.a. in the Rzeszów region. The Polish underground did not remain passive, as partisans engaged in armed resistance against Soviet forces. The largest confrontation with an NKVD unit occurred on 6 May 1945 near Kuryłówka, where soldiers of the Narodowe Zjednoczenie Wojskowe (National Military Union, NZW) successfully repelled the attack. The following day, Soviet forces brutally pacified the village, killing eight people and setting fire to a significant portion of the buildings. NKVD troops were also involved in operations against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrayins’ka povstans’ka armiya, UPA) and in the deportation of the Ukrainians from Poland to the USSR.
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Intelligence Units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Department I in the Eastern Bloc Countries in the 1970s and 1980s
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 65-98
From the second half of the 1960s, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Department I – the civilian intelligence service of the security police – maintained intelligence stations in all European countries of the Eastern Bloc, with the exception of the Soviet Union. In Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, these stations had the form of official representations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Polish People’s Republic attached to the security authorities of those states. In Albania, Yugoslavia, and Romania, the situation was different, as Polish officers did not maintain working contact with local services. The primary task of operational posts was to collect information concerning politics and internal affairs. In line with the unwritten rules observed throughout the Eastern Bloc, Ministry of Internal Affairs Department I did not recruit personal sources of information (i.e. informants or agents) among the citizens of socialist countries, but instead gathered so-called non-agent human intelligence. The range of activity of each branch depended on local conditions and the operational competence of the officers in charge.
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Auxiliary Divisions of the Security Service in the Opole Voivodeship, Its Organisational and Personnel Potential, Their Sources and Transformations as Well as Selected Examples of Activities. Part II: Divisions “A” and “C”
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 99-125
The Voivodeship Headquarters of the Citizens’ Militia (Komenda Wojewódzka Milicji Obywatelskiej, KW MO) and the Voivodeship Office of Internal Affairs (Wojewódzki Urząd Spraw Wewnętrznych, WUSW) in Opole Divisions “A” and “C” (Wydział „A”, Wydział „C”) continued the activities of the former Voivodeship Office for Public Security (Wojewódzki Urząd ds. Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego, WUdsBP) Independent Section “A” (Samodzielna Sekcja „A”) and Division X (Wydział X). Organisational continuity, as well as the personnel and structural potential of these units was maintained – a situation that differed markedly from that in other security apparatus branches. Over time, the staff of the local Division “A” even doubled in number. The 1970s brought gradual changes in recruitment mechanisms and in the educational level of officers. The activities of the Security Service Divisions “A” and “C” played a crucial role in maintaining the operational capacity of the security apparatus. Nevertheless, their officers enjoyed significant privileges in the course of recruitment of personnel for the newly established Police and the Office of State Protection in 1990.
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Dismissals of Security Department (UB) Officers in the Cracow Voivodeship in Connection with the Reorganisation of the Security Apparatus in 1956
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 126-159
This study analyses the process of security apparatus reorganisation that followed the events of October 1956 in Poland, with particular attention to the dismissal of Security Department (UB) officers in the Cracow Voivodeship. The study is based on an examination of the personal files of more than five hundred officers, which made it possible to compile a statistical dataset on the post-October staff reductions within the security apparatus. The study also discusses the organisation and implementation of institutional assistance provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to those who left the Security Department at the turn of 1956 and 1957.
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On the Need for Interdisciplinary Research into the Methods of Repression: The Case of Soviet Provenance Criminal Law Institutions in the Period of “People’s” Poland
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 160-192
This study examines the phenomenon of repression (in the pejorative sense) resulting from the interpretation of substantive criminal law provisions in the first decade of “People’s” Poland and during the period of martial law (1981–1983), with particular emphasis on the Sovietisation of criminal law institutions and interpretative practices. The purpose is to identify the manifestations and causes of repression originating from the application of criminal law by investigative and judicial authorities operating within the repressive apparatus. The study also considers whether studying these issues requires not only historical methods but also the dogmatic method of legal scholarship, thereby demonstrating the need for an interdisciplinary approach in this field of research.
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The Military District Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice/Stalinogród (1946–1955) as a Part of the System of Terror in the First Decade of People’s Poland
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 193-223
The military district prosecutor’s offices operated as instruments of Communist power in the process of consolidation of the new political order in Poland after World War II. The vast majority of prosecutors at the Military District Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice/Stalinogród served as public prosecutors in cases against civilians accused of political crimes, thereby contributing to the liquidation of members of anticommunist organisations in People’s Poland.
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Communist Judicial Murder in the Polish People’s Republic: The Criminal Case of Lieutenant Zygmunt Szymanowski (Ref. no. Sr 37/50) before the Military District Court in Warsaw
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 224-267
The phenomenon of judicial murder during the Stalinist period in so-called People’s Poland has received limited attention in both legal and historical research. This study, based on the criminal case file (ref. no. Sr 37/50) of Lieutenant Zygmunt Szymanowski – Home Army soldier and head of the intelligence network of the Home Army Wilno Circuit – examines selected aspects of this issue. Szymanowski’s arrest resulted from the activities undertaken by the Ministry of Public Security within the framework of Operation “X”, which targeted individuals associated with the Home Army Wilno Circuit. On 24 January 1950, following an eighteen-month investigation, the Military District Court in Warsaw, presided over by Judge Mieczysław Widaj, sentenced Szymanowski to death. The sentence was carried out on 31 May 1950. The article includes extensive excerpts from the case records, intended to provide readers with a detailed account of each stage of the criminal proceedings. In demonstrating that the case constitutes an instance of judicial murder, the analysis draws on positivist legal arguments, natural law theory, and Gustav Radbruch’s concept of law.
Articles and comparative studies
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The State Security and János Kádár Immediately after the Hungarian Revolution
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 271-296
In order to gain some public support, after 4 November 1956, János Kádár attempted to replace the state security personnel who had been in office before the revolution and to rearrange the organisation, an action which he deemed suitable for satisfying an important demand of the population. At the same time, his goal was to create a new state security organization that would be strictly under the control and supervision of the party leadership, with no independent means of power. However, Kádár was at a disadvantage in several respects when it came to state security. The most important of these disadvantages seemed to be that General Ivan Serov, who remained in Hungary continuously from the outbreak of the 1956 revolution until the end of November or early December, stood firmly and unequivocally behind the Hungarian state security officers who had been in office before 23 October, while Kádár was uncertain in his estimation of Moscow’s intents. At the beginning of 1957, the standoff brought somewhat satisfactory results for both sides. The security staff retained its position as prior to 23 October, but in a new organization created by the Kádár government. The personnel was legitimized, but its legitimacy did not come from the past; rather it came from the new power established on 4 November 1956. The results of this study suggest that the KGB had a decisive say on the satellite state’s security policy and at the same time an influence on the policy of the Soviet party leadership.
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Particular Features of the Relationship between the Communist Party-State and the Churches in Hungary between 1945 and 1990
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 297-322
The article highlights particular features of the relationship between the Communist party-state and the churches in Hungary between 1945 and 1990, based on archival sources. It examines official policies and agreements, including the 1964 partial agreement with the Holy See, the role of the State Office for Church Affairs (Állami Egyházügyi Hivatal, ÁEH), and the emergence of clerical peace movements. These movements, designed to weaken church hierarchies and mobilize loyal clergy, contrasted with grassroots ecclesial communities that embodied resistance. The study also explores the cooperation of Internal Affairs and state security bodies in controlling religion, as well as Hungary’s participation in international cooperation among socialist countries. The Hungarian case illustrates how Communist authorities sought to restrict and instrumentalise religious life while facing the persistence of transnational church structures and local communities.
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The Czechoslovak State Security (StB) and the Vatican: How to Make a Priest and Vatican Diplomat
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 323-344
The essay highlights the issue of penetration by the Czechoslovak secret police (StB) into Roman church circles. The StB managed to recruit through various methods several priests from Czechoslovakia, and the case study of Karel Simandl operating from Rome showcases peculiar features of recruitment and agent work. Cooperation lasted for 25 years, where the agent reported not just on the Church in Czechoslovakia, but also for instance on the GDR and Hungary. Although Karel Simandl became heavily compromised, after 1990 he held high-ranking positions in the Czech Church before being permanently assigned to the Vatican’s Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin.
Articles and studies: Varia
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The Special Services of the Second Polish Republic and the Communist Apparatus of Repression, 1949–1956, in the Light of the Guidelines for the Operational Case Codename “Targowica”
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 347-369
This study analyses the actions of the Communist apparatus of repression directed against officers of the pre-war special services, conducted in 1949–1956, as reflected in the guidelines for the operational case codename “Targowica”, coordinated by the Ministry of Public Security. The study briefly discusses the measures undertaken by the security apparatus against this group before 1949 (e.g. in the course of the operational case codename “Pająk-39”), outlines the origins and rationale for initiating the “Targowica” operational case, and presents the operational instructions on which the investigation was based.
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Teatr na Tarczyńskiej (Tarczyńska Street Theatre) in the Security Service’s Photoplasticon: The Murder of Bohdan Piasecki and Operation Codename “Zapałki”
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 370-393
This study analyses the Operation codename “Zapałki”, which targeted members of the Teatr na Tarczyńskiej (Tarczyńska Street Theatre) in the Warsaw community. The operational measures undertaken in this case were a spin-off of the extensive and highly publicised operation codename “Zagubiony”, concerning the abduction of Bohdan Piasecki, son of the pre-war Polish nationalist leader Bolesław Piasecki, co-founder of the far-right Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny (ONR). The primary aim of this analysis is to explore the interaction between alternative culture and the security apparatus, situating the issue within the broader context of research on censorship and surveillance of cultural life in the Polish People’s Republic. The article traces the fates of Miron Białoszewski, Lech “Emfazy” Stefański, and other artists of Teatr na Tarczyńskiej (Tarczyńska Street Theatre), who were under Security Service surveillance on the pretext of their alleged involvement in the abduction and murder of Bohdan Piasecki.
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“She Displays an Uncompromisingly Hostile Attitude Towards the Socialist System” Security Apparatus Repression Against an Opposition Activist and Single Mother, and Methods of Resisting the Actions of the Security Services, as Exemplified by Elżbieta Potrykus in 1980–1987
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 394-420
The study examines the repressive measures undertaken by the security apparatus against Elżbieta Potrykus, a prominent activist of the “Solidarity” trade union in Koszalin, as well as her ways of resisting. Potrykus was exceptional not only as the sole woman serving on the union’s National Coordinating Committee (Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza, KKP), but also as a single mother who strived to run underground opposition activity while raising her son – a circumstance that the security services in Koszalin sought to exploit ruthlessly. To elucidate the reasons, scope, and consequences of the actions directed against her, the study presents key information on her opposition activities when she was under surveillance, and basic details concerning the officers she confronted after the imposition of 1981 martial law, that is, during searches of her flat, “preventive” interviews, and her detention.
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„Rene”, „Renet”, „Tener”, „Broch”, „Must”… Andrzej Olechowski’s Participation in the Polish Security Service’s Operational Games
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 421-450
During his long collaboration with the Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, SB), Andrzej Olechowski, contrary to his own claims, did not limit himself to providing information only on economic matters. Both the Polish People’s Republic intelligence and counterintelligence services exploited the interest the British secret services showed in the economist when he worked for the UN agency in Geneva in order to conduct their own operational games. During meetings with British intelligence officials in Western Europe and the United States over a dozen years, Olechowski provided selected information on the economic and political situation in Poland, as well as carefully selected disinformation. The American services also attempted to recruit the economist. After the political transformation, Olechowski successfully pursued a political career in Poland, without mentioning his relationships with Western secret services.
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“Revolutionary Vigilance”: The Party Purge after the Third Plenum of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (11–13 November 1949)
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 451-477
In 1948, amid escalating Cold War tensions, a conflict erupted between the USSR and Yugoslavia. The Kremlin declared that the Yugoslav regime led by Josip Broz Tito sought to overthrow the Communist governments of Central and South-Eastern Europe and, to this end, was organising espionage and sabotage networks acting in the interests of the United States and its allies. In 1949, show trials of Communist leaders accused of plotting a political coup under Yugoslav direction took place in Albania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. This was a signal for purges within the Communist parties of Central Europe, including Poland, where in November 1949 the Third Plenum of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) convened. During the session, the thesis of “internal enemies” infiltrating the party was announced. From the end of November 1949 until the end of March 1950, a purge was carried out within PZPR, targeting individuals associated with pre-war authorities, the anti-Communist underground, or those deemed to be of “improper social origin”. The party’s membership declined by nearly ten per cent – not solely as a result of verification procedures. After April 1950, the purge became a continuous process, continuing with reduced intensity until 1953.
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Heathcliff – “The Devil Incarnate, the Embodiment of Evil”: Ideological Impact in the Censorship of Foreign Novels Published in People’s Poland: Selected Examples
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 478-499
The aim of the study is to discuss hitherto unexplored examples of censorship evaluations of British and American literary works submitted for publication in Poland under Communism. The following selection allows directions for further research to be indicated, especially work focused on the influence of the censorship authority and its employees on the fate of the work, and evaluations often resulting from individual preferences or prejudices.
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The Image of Intellectuals in the Language of Security Service Documents: Preliminary Research Based on Published Sources
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 500-529
In the Polish People’s Republic, the socialist system was safeguarded by state security organs, i.e. voivodeship, district, and municipal departments of public security (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego, UBP, UB), and from 1956 the Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, SB), incorporated into the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Their tasks included i.a. the surveillance of creative and intellectual circles, and the gathering of detailed documentation on their activities. Based on the language of the remaining documents, it is possible to reconstruct the image of the attitudes of intellectuals in the Polish People’s Republic, particularly in relation to national uprisings – the strikes and demonstrations of June 1956, October 1956, and March 1968 – and to identify the main thematic areas that characterised the image of the Polish intelligentsia during that period, as well as to learn about the opinions of the intelligentsia in assessing the actions of the authorities, and their demands for change. Equally interesting are the assessments of creative circles contained in the reports of Security Service officers, especially the linguistic devices used (euphemisms, phraseology, vocabulary), which served as a façade for socialist hypocrisy.
Articles and studies: Biographies
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The Case of Jan Matejczuk (1923–1950) – a Guard at the SS-Ausbildungslager Trawniki and an Officer of the Investigative Division of the Security Apparatus in “People’s” Poland Through the Prism of Records Kept in the Archives of the Institute of National
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 533-562
This study presents the case of Jan Matejczuk, an officer of the Ministry of Public Security Investigation Department, who during World War II served in the so-called Guard Units of the SS and as Police Commander in the Lublin District. He was initially trained at the camp in Trawniki and subsequently served as a guard in several German camps located in the Lublin region. In 1944, he deserted and joined the communist People’s Army (Armia Ludowa, AL), later becoming an officer in the Citizens’ Militia, and at the turn of 1944 and 1945, he began working for the Ministry of Public Security. He conducted several investigations that were of significance for the Communist state. In 1948, he was exposed , brought to trial, and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out in 1950.
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The Case of Colonel Zbigniew Rajchel (1928–1997): An Example of a Career in the Polish People’s Republic Repressive Apparatus
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 563-582
The article presents a biographical sketch of the Department of Security (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, UB) and Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, SB) officer Zbigniew Michał Rajchel, who began his career in the Communist security services in 1945 as a six-teen-year-old and served in this formation for the next four decades. He rose through the ranks, from messenger to the position of the head of the counterintelligence division of the voivodeship SB unit in Rzeszów. He was one of the most effective UB and SB operatives in the Rzeszów region, participating in the investigation and capture of the “cursed soldiers” and Wolność i Niezawisłość movement activists in the area. He was also a member of the so-called “undercover groups” fighting the partisans of Captain Antoni Żubryd “Zuch” and later Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrayins’ka povstans’ka armiya, UPA) fighters of the renowned “Chumak” chota (platoon). His ideological commitment and dedication to the totalitarian Communist system, as well as his operational successes, could have led him to a senior position in the Security Service headquarters in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Warsaw, but his lack of higher education stood in his way. The officer’s official biography is a classic example of the career path of individuals uncritically devoted to the Bolshevik system within the apparatus of repression in the Polish People’s Republic.
Materials and documents
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Legal Assumptions and Guidelines for Personnel Review and Assessment in the Central Administration of the Polish People’s Republic in 1982
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 585-633
The study contains an edition of source documents concerning the review and assessment of personnel in the central administration of the Polish People’s Republic during martial law in 1982–1983. It outlines the legal basis and guidelines for personnel verification, which formed part of the systemic repression carried out by the party authorities, the security apparatus and the Polish People’s Army against civil servants supporting the democratic opposition. The most important document included in this edition is the previously unpublished Order No. 5 of the Prime Minister of 12 February 1982 on the Review and Evaluation of Personnel in the Supreme and Central Offices of the State Administration, with its appendices. The edition of documents is preceded by a critical introduction discussing the origins of the issue and the consequences of the personnel review.
Research and review articles
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“Witold Mętlewicz’s Group”: Reflections on Monika Luft’s Book about Illegal Trade in Gold, Foreign Currency and Art Smuggling in the Polish People’s Republic
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 637-646
The article reviews Monika Luft’s book Pejzaż z przemytnikiem. Jak wywożono z PRL dzieła sztuki i antyki [Landscape with a Smuggler: How Works of Art and Antiques Were Smuggled Out of the People’s Republic of Poland]. The article provides a critical analysis of the source material and narrative structure of the publication and highlights key issues concerning its composition. The reviewer concurs with the author’s main conclusion that the individuals tried in 1975–1976 in the case of the so-called “Witold Mętlewicz Group” did not constitute an organised criminal organisation, but rather a set of loosely connected circles that occasionally cooperated with one another. The trial was, in fact, a show trial with a didactic purpose – to restrict the trade in works of art within the Polish People’s Republic and to curb their smuggling to the West.
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Technology in the Work of the Security Service: On the Monograph by Ryszard Kawalec, Departament Techniki MSW (1971–1990) [Department of Technology of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (1971–1990)], Toruń 2024
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 647-662
The book Departament Techniki MSW (1971–1990) [Department of Technology of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (1971–1990)], Toruń 2024, by Ryszard Kawalec addresses the issue of operational technology, which was managed by one of the technical and operational divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – the Department of Technology. The publication consists of two parts: a theoretical section discussing technical measures (wiretapping, surveillance and secret searches), and a practical section presenting examples of the use of these measures in operational cases. Particularly valuable are the sections introducing new information to the scholarly discourse, including the types of equipment used for the installation and operation of wiretaps, statistical data on technical measures, and methods of detecting wiretaps in the diplomatic missions of the Polish People’s Republic. However, the author has not avoided certain shortcomings, treating the subject of agents too superficially and, above all, assuming that the omission of names or even file references in the cases discussed would prevent “sensationalism”. The source base also raises doubts due to the omission of files from the so-called “restricted resource”. Despite these limitations, the monograph remains a valuable and well-written contribution that reads with ease and provides new insights into the functioning of the security apparatus of the Polish People’s Republic.
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[Review] Michał Siedziako, Marian Jurczyk (1935–2014). Biografia polityczna szczecińskiej legendy „Solidarności” [Marian Jurczyk (1935–2014). Political Biography of the Szczecin Legend of Solidarity], Gdańsk 2024, 912 pp.
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 665-677
The review is a critical analysis of Michał Siedziako’s book, which constitutes the first scholarly biography of Marian Jurczyk, leader of the trade union Solidarity in Szczecin during the 1980s, and later mayor of the city. The review identifies factual and methodological errors and shortcomings of the book, and also polemically engages with some of the author’s assessments of the protagonist.
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In Response to the Review
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 23 (2025), pages: 678-684
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568 Ministry of Education and Science evaluation points:
40 (2024)
Research areas: humanities
Disciplines: history, security studies, political science and public administration
Editor-in-chief: Dr. habil. Filip Musiał
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