The first election to the Legislative Sejm after the Second World War in Poland took place on January 19, 1947. The ruling camp entered the election as the so-called Block of Democratic Parties, which comprised the Polish Workers’ Party, the Polish Socialist Party, the People’s Party, and the Democratic Party. The Polish People’s Party was the strongest opposition party with the greatest number of supporters among the public. The election was preceded by a fierce campaign, in which the Communists took all the available measures to win the election. The election campaign was conducted at the bidding of the security authorities, thus creating an atmosphere of terror. Political opponents were terrorized, persecuted, unjustly arrested, deprived of voting rights, or assassinated. The Communists won the election; this success, however, was possible only by means of rigging the results. It was the end of the political battle for power. The aim of this article is to present the political situation and the prevailing atmosphere among the people of Biała Podlaska County in the period that preceded the election, during the election, and in the first months after the election.

This publication deals with the communist activities in Ciechanów County from 1918 to 1939. The goal of the article is to analyze the initiatives of the members of the Communist Workers’ Party of Poland and then, since 1925, the Communist Party of Poland, along with its agendas and sympathetic organizations. The source material does not allow for a complete reconstruction of the twenty-year existence of the party in the county. Nevertheless, it allows capturing the essence of its functioning. The basic forms of activity for the communists in Ciechanów County consisted of distributing appeals, hanging banners, and organizing strike actions.This publication deals with the communist activities in Ciechanów County from 1918 to 1939. The goal of the article is to analyze the initiatives of the members of the Communist Workers’ Party of Poland and then, since 1925, the Communist Party of Poland, along with its agendas and sympathetic organizations. The source material does not allow for a complete reconstruction of the twenty-year existence of the party in the county. Nevertheless, it allows capturing the essence of its functioning. The basic forms of activity for the communists in Ciechanów County consisted of distributing appeals, hanging banners, and organizing strike actions.

The article is an analysis of the approach of the Polish Episcopal Conference to the negotiations with the authorities, with emphasis on the conditions to which the Polish bishops had been willing to agree to ensure the papal visit in 1982. This study comprises three parts: a depiction of the first part of negotiations, when Pope John Paul II and the Polish Episcopal Conference had been opting for the 1982 visit; an overview of the second round of negotiations, that is the process of making arrangements with the authorities with regards to the 1983 visit, as well as the preparations for the pilgrimage; and the key issue connected to the Pope John Paul II’s visit, namely his meeting with Lech Wałęsa. Since researchers have never actually elaborated on the negotiations regarding the potential 1982 pilgrimage, the first part of the article is particularly important. The dispute over Pope John Paul II’s meeting with Lech Wałęsa proved to be an interesting element of the negotiations, confirming that some bishops (including Cardinal Primate Glemp) had been willing to agree with the authorities that the Pope’s conversation with the leader of “Solidarity” was not an indispensable element of the pilgrimage.

The Social and Civic Women’s League was established in 1945. Its scope of activities was very wide: the organization participated in activities not only in favor of women in large urban and industrial centers of Lublin Voivodeship, but also in small towns or villages. Intended to become a more popular organization, the League was constantly acquiring new members. In the first years after the Second World War, the Women’s League was mainly occupied with charitable activities. It supported the poor and the elderly by creating nursery homes and dining halls. In Lublin Voivodeship, members of the organization conducted training for women. The activists participated in efforts to counteract illiteracy or social pathologies. They conducted lectures and courses devoted to household management. Year 1948 brought ideological and propagandist changes in the organization. The period of Stalinization forced the organization to shift from social to political activities. The association was subordinated to the contemporary authorities. The central mechanism of making and forcing decisions had a negative impact on the bottom-up activities of women and limited their natural social activity. It is hard to assess conclusively the actions of the Women’s League. However, many initiatives undertaken by the League were met with the approval of the inhabitants of the Lublin region. Those initiatives also improved the life of women and increased their chances for labor market entry

The article offers insight into Henryk Podlaski, the General Prosecutor’s deputy from 1950 to 1955 (that is the Republic of Poland to 1952 and then the Polish People’s Republic) who was de facto in charge of the General Prosecutor Office’s (GP) Special Department. It was probably the most important department in the entire prosecutorial structure, because it was involved in controlling the investigations conducted by the Ministry of Public Security of Poland (MBP). Podlaski was a controversial figure, considered (especially during the Thaw of 1956) a symbol of the Communist lawlessness, which was a well-deserved characterization since he had been, i.a., one of the creators of the secret jurisdiction in Poland. The author shows subsequent stages of Podlaski’s career in the prosecutorial system: first military, then civilian. The author concludes that the dramatic events of 1956 when, pursued by the judicial authorities reclaiming their subjectivity, he decided to “disappear” from the public life constituted the framing device of his life. Whether the “disappearance” meant a suicide or an escape to the USSR remains unknown. The article is based on the analysis of documents from the Archive of New Records (AAN), the Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance (AIPN), and the proceedings in the legal cases of Roman Romkowski, Anatol Fejgin and Józef Różański.

Adam Humer was one of the most important members of the Department of Investigations in the Ministry of Public Security of Poland (MBP). This article presents Humer’s life and activity since his birth in the American city of Camden until he became the head of the Department of Investigation in the Voivode Office of Public Security (WUBP) in Lublin in 1944. The article describes his childhood and adolescence, with the main emphasis on his engagement in various youth organizations, mainly in Young Communist League of Western Ukraine. Following the chronology of events, the author then presents Humer as a student at the Catholic University of Lublin, and the reactions of his environment to the dissolution of the Communist Party of Poland and its political wings. The next part of the article includes Humer’s life after the outbreak of the Second World War: his communist activity in Tomaszów Lubelski in the autumn of 1939, his studies and endeavors during his stay in Lviv and after his return to the region of Lublin. The last part of this article describes Humer’s life after the Red Army entered Tomaszów Lubelski, including the electoral campaign to the National Council and his activity in the Communist movement.

During the period of the Polish People’s Republic Władysław Machejek (1920– 1991) was the most controversial person in the literary circle of Kraków. Not only was he a writer, but also an active member of the Polish United Workers’ Party. He had an important role in the party’s structures in the region. This text is a description of Machejek, a controversial figure who provoked extreme emotions, and his influence on the party between 1950s and 1980s. Machejek also influenced the the Union of Polish Writers.