Register Login
 
  Język Polski   English
Logo czasopisma Przegląd Archiwalny
View No. 16 (2023)

No. 16 (2023)

ISSN:
1899-1254

Publication date:
2023-12-29

Cover

Sections

Archiwum

Zasób archiwalny

Historia

Dokumenty

Polemiki i refleksje

Recenzje i omówienia

Kronika

In memoriam

No. 16 (2023)


Archiwum


Zasób archiwalny

  • Images of Wartime: Ambiguous Contexts, Meanings, and Senses: Contemporary Attempts to Interpret the Photographic Documentation of Sektion Rassen- und Volkstumsforschung Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit

    Stanisława Trebunia-Staszel

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 33-58

    Abstract

    The article considers the role of archival photography in ethnographic practice and reflection, and reveals the complex and intricate contexts of contemporary research on images from the Nazi occupation. The starting point is source material from the German collection of the Sektion Rassen- und Volkstumsforschung Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit (Section on Races and Ethnicity of the Institute for German Work in the East, SRV/IDO) produced by its staff during racial and ethnological studies conducted in selected localities in the General Governate from 1940–1943. Referring to her own studies of the SRV collection and her experience in ethnographic research, the author characterises the visual part of the eponymous collection and then discusses examples of the use of German photographs in interviews with witnesses of history, in this case the inhabitants of Podhale who were included in the SRV research campaign. She also emphasises the source value of German documentation, while at the same time revealing its dehumanising nature and involvement with the criminal policies of the Third Reich. In conclusion, she poses ethical questions related to the ways in which archival materials tainted by the Nazi regime can be used in contemporary academic research and in the activities of institutions that collect ‘depositions’ of remembrance.

  • “A Faceless File”: The Case of Sentry Kliś

    Monika Golonka-Czajkowska

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 59–76

    Abstract

    The article presents the fate of Karol Kliś – a sentry at the Security Office in Nowy Targ, killed in the spring of 1946 by members of the “Błyskawica” (Lightning) Partisan Group. Reconstructed on the basis of documentation from a personal file, this micro-history reveals the drama of an ordinary man consumed by the terror of ideology, the despotic system of an institution of total surveillance, and the brutal laws of war. The blank space left by the sentry’s photo, torn from the personal form of a UB officer becomes the starting point for the analysis. In light of the other documents filed in his personal file, this mark takes on special significance. It can be interpreted as a metaphor for the fate of a man, who, in losing his life, loses his ‘self-ness,’ is liquidated, and ‘disremembered’ by his institution. The missing body of Kliś becomes a ‘formal problem’ for the UB. Its consequence is the refusal to provide financial assistance to the sentry’s pregnant wife, who unsuccessfully tries to obtain a posthumous pension. The empty space where the photograph had been can thus also be read as a metaphor for family tragedy. Ultimately, the contents of Karol Kliś’ personal file prompt a broader anthropological reflection on the universal ruthlessness of combat rules, which define the category of ‘enemy’ based on the principle of moral particularism.

  • Not-to-be-seen: Photographs of the Polish Repression Apparatus from 1944–1989 and Their Subsequent Fate

    Tomasz Stempowski

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 77–98

    Abstract

    The security apparatus of ‘People’s’ Poland made extensive use of photography in the years 1944–1989. In the first years after the war, it focused on combating overt opposition and armed resistance. It did not yet have adequate photographic equipment and trained crews. In the following years, the use of photography in operational work was included in regulations; theoretical literature in this area was generated and training was organised. Specific working methods for departmental photographers were also developed.

    One of the most important features of security service photography was secrecy, which affected the production, form, content, and distribution of photos. Operational photographs can be divided into four categories, depending on the way they were taken and the degree of secrecy – taken from covered points [e.g. a building] or moving covered points [e.g. a car], taken secretly from so-called photographic models [special ‘gadget’ cameras], taken openly under a so-called legend [e.g. posing as a reporter], or taken openly. Photographs belonging to each of these types are characterised by distinct formal features and types of presentation.

    Access to the photos taken by the security organs was strictly controlled, with the result that very few people viewed most of them. Their viewing by others only became possible after changes to the political system in Poland in 1989. Initially, the photographs appeared mainly in publications and exhibitions prepared by the Institute of National Remembrance (INR), but later journalists and researchers from other institutions increasingly referred to them. Attention was also drawn to the aesthetic layer of these images and they began to be used in art. These new uses outside of historical discourse expand the possibilities for their interpretation, but they do pose certain risks.

  • Szczecin Security Service Department IV Correspondence Logs in the Years 1972–1989 (1990) as an Information Source on Actions Against Churches, Religious Associations, and Other Religious Groups and Churches

    Tomasz Błaszak

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 99–116

    Abstract

    Correspondence logs hide extremely interesting contents. These somewhat forgotten books contain information – as an indirect source –about documents that once passed through a registry office. Delving into the meanderings of their changing structure, form, and content makes it possible to understand the phenomena and actions taken by officers, as well as the ways in which the documentation that is the product of their actions came into being and accumulated.

    The article is an attempt to answer the question of the role of the Department IV correspondence logs of the Szczecin Security Service and their value as a source of micro-level information. In doing so, the intent is to draw attention to the registry aids and to the recipient, signal their useful- ness in the study of the history of churches, religious associations and other religious groups and denominations, as well as Department IV of the local SB itself. Of particular importance here is the possibility of partially filling in the ‘blank spots’ caused by the scale of the document destruction in the final stage of the repressive apparatus.

  • Social Resistance to Martial Law in the Koszalin Voivodeship from the Lens of the Local Security Apparatus and Party Authorities (Selected Aspects)

    Przemysław Benken

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 117–166

    Abstract

    The article presents selected aspects of social resistance in the Koszalin voivodeship during the period of martial law – organised and led by the underground structures of the Solidarity Independent Self-Governing Trade Union (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy „Solidarność”) – from the perspective of the local security apparatus and party authorities. The focus is on a detailed description of the largest protest actions that took place at the time, including the occupation strike at the Unitra-Unitech Electronic Assemblies Plants in Białogard on 14–15 December 1981, the demonstration near Koszalin Cathedral on 1 May 1982, and the demonstration of 31 August 1982, at the PPR (Polska Partia Robotnicza – Polish Workers’ Party) Fighters’ Square (now the Old Town Square) in Koszalin. The demonstration at the cathedral in Kołobrzeg on 10 November 1982 was also mentioned, and not forgotten were the repressions falling on those involved in the struggle against communist lawlessness (internees, those sentenced to imprisonment or fines, those disciplinarily dismissed from work, or those sent on punitive military exercises). Also discussed are issues concerning the mobilisation of forces and resources by the security apparatus following the introduction of martial law in the voivodeship, the internment of leaders of the Solidarity Pobrzeże Region governing body in Koszalin, the leafleting campaign conducted by underground Solidarity structures from 1982, and the prevailing public mood.

  • The Acquisition, Preservation, and Provisioning of Files from the Provincial Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party and Subordinate Units in the State Archive in Kielce

    Wiesława Rutkowska

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 167–180

    Abstract

    For many years of its existence, the Polish United Workers’ Party had a separate archival network with its own regulations, staff, and archival methodology. With the liquidation of the party, the documentation produced was incorporated into the state archival repository. Quick and effective action by the state archival service made it possible to secure extremely valuable and comprehensive sources for the history of post-war Poland. Apart from the documentation, museum artefacts were also acquired, which are an integral part of the source materials produced by the PZPR. These collections preserved in the state archives serve researchers and all those interested in the contemporary history of Poland.

    The purpose of the article is to discuss the process of acquisition and preservation of the files of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) Voivodeship Committee in Kielce and its subordinate units, as well as the organisational work carried out at the State Archives in Kielce to make them accessible. The text takes into account party files taken over by APK headquarters up to 1990 and the Sandomierz branch to 1975; because of administrative reform in 1975, poviats were abolished and forty-nine voivodeships were created, including that of Tarnobrzeg, under which Sandomierz fell. The resultant voivodeship communist party committees were required to establish their own archives, and dedicate space and staff for those.


Historia

  • The Occupation Fates of Jan Lenkiewicz-Ipohorski A Contribution to Gestapo Action Against Polish Intelligentsia in the Ciechanów Region in 1940

    Mariusz Celmer

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 181–192

    Abstract

    The article discusses the occupation fate of Jan Lenkiewicz-Ipohorski, a socio-political activist and landowner living in the village of Leśniewo in the Maków poviat during the Second Polish Republic and the early days of the German occupation. The Gestapo arrested him in April 1940 as part of an operation against the Polish intelligentsia (Intelligenzaktion) in the Ciechanów district, and later deported to a concentration camp. Jan Lenkiewicz-Ipohorski died in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in April 1941.

  • The Impossible Choices of an Ordinary Man: The Wartime Experiences and Personal Life of Wladyslaw Homan – II Polish Corps Rifleman

    Anna Muszkiewicz

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 193–208

    Abstract

    The fate of Władysław Homan reflects the tragedy of an individual caused by war and the political situation after its end. Władysław, like many Poles living in the Eastern Borderlands, found himself under Soviet occupation in 1939, and was subsequently arrested and sent to a gulag. After the amnesty declared in 1941, he reported to the Polish Armed Forces (PSZ) in the USSR. From 1943 to 1945, he served in the 2nd Polish Corps, in whose ranks he took part in the Italian campaign. After the end of hostilities and the dissolution of the PSZ in the West, he settled in Great Britain. Fearing reprisals, first from the authorities of the USSR and later those of the Polish People’s Republic, he did not return to his homeland, and his efforts directed at bringing his wife and children to live with him were unsuccessful. He remained in exile until 1982, when – unfortunately only a few months before his death – he finally made the decision to return to his family.

  • The Wartime Missions of Second Lieutenant Kazimierz Ursyn Szantyr

    Krzysztof Tochman

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 209–222

    Abstract

    The article presents the fate and wartime achievements of Lt. Kazimierz Szantyr. He was born in 1913. Before the war, he graduated from Stefan Batory University in Vilnius, and then became a lawyer and a civil servant. He took part in the 1939 Polish campaign. After crossing the Latvian border, he was interned, and after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States in 1940, he became a prisoner of the gulags.

    After the Sikorski-Mayski agreement, he regained his freedom and joined the Polish Armed Forces under the command of Gen. Władysław Anders. He graduated from an NCO cadet school and via Iran and Iraq, arrived in Palestine, where he served as a platoon leader and deputy commander of a mortar platoon, among other positions (1942–1943). He underwent sabotage and parachute training at courses for the Cichociemni [the “Silent Unseen,” the elite Polish paratrooper unit], as well as a briefing course [which included, i.a., the creation of one’s cover story]. In November 1944, he was assigned as a Polish liaison officer at the British Mission as Capt. Kenneth Lake, and later joined the Polish Liaison Officers’ outpost in Greece, which began operations in October 1944 under Capt. Edward Sójka alongside the command of the British 3rd Corps (Athens, Thessaloniki). Among other things, it was tasked with the construction and maintenance of a communications route to the home country on the Greece–Bulgaria–Romania route, as well as the interrogation of deserters of Polish origin from the German army occupying Greece and their identification as potential spies or saboteurs. After the war, Lt. Szantyr remained in Great Britain as an immigrant. He died in 2005 in London.

  • The Genesis, Development, and Political-social Roles of Scouting in Foreign Countries

    Marek Wierzbicki

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 223–248

    Abstract

    In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, scouting (harcerstwo) developed wherever there were concentrations of Polish economic or political emigration. The first scouting (skauting and harcerstwo) groups abroad appeared in 1912, almost at the same time as the scouting movement on Polish soil. The recurring motive of all scouting initiatives was a fascination with the country of their ancestors, driven by nostalgia or curiosity, and a desire to regain or maintain Poland’s independence.

    The development of scouting beyond the borders of the Polish Republic depended to a great degree on the support and interest in it on the part of the Polish state, as well as Polonia itself. The scouting movement was treated as an instrument to maintain and develop the national consciousness of Poles abroad. In the interwar period, scouting organisations and circles were established in sixteen countries around the world, as well as in the Free City of Gdańsk, and their membership reached 80,000. Polish scouting circles were often formed as a result of violent historical events and their related forced migrations. Scout troops and organisations were formed during World War I and World War II in the communities of Polish war refugees in Austria, Russia, China, Romania, Hungary, the Middle East, Iran, India, Africa, and Italy, among others. However, after the end of World War II, they continued scouting activities within the framework of the Polish Scouting Association operating outside the country (ZHPdzpgK), which was part of the Polish political emigration of an independence character. In this role, it mobilised the Polish émigré community to fight for the restoration of a sovereign Polish state and the preservation of national identity in the diaspora. Today, scouting continues its educational work in traditional and new Polish émigré communities, promoting Polish culture and history.

  • The Case of Mariusz Dastych: From Collaboration with the Security Service to Conviction for Espionage for the CIA and the Japanese Intelligence Service

    Rafał Olbert

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 249–266

    Abstract

    The article discusses the course of journalist Mariusz Dastych’s complex relationship with the Security Service. He was initially praised for his operability as a secret intelligence collaborator, but in 1968 he was eliminated from the Department I agent network of the Ministry of Internal Affairs due to being unmasked. In 1973, he left the country to be an interpreter for the Polish delegation to the International Commission of Control and Supervision in Vietnam. Returning home, he informed the SB that CIA representatives had recruited him. In order to verify these revelations, Department II of the Ministry of Internal Affairs subjected him to an inquiry, and maintained an ostensible operational contact with him. They rejected the notion of conducting an operational game with the Americans through him on suspicion of the journalist’s duplicity. At the same time, Dastych, despite clear prohibitions from the SB, maintained relations with diplomats of the US embassy in Warsaw. In the early 1980s, the inquiry on Dastych was abandoned, having failed to obtain evidence of his cooperation with the CIA. However, the journalist soon found himself under SB scrutiny because of his contacts with the representation of the Japanese organisation JETRO. In 1987, he drew up an extensive account of the progression of his cooperation with the Japanese, which became the basis for his indictment as a Japanese intelligence agent, as well as American. Evidence in the case consisted statements made by the journalist himself, who was sentenced by the military court of the People’s Republic of Poland to eight years in prison for espionage.


Dokumenty

  • “On the Southern Route”: The Inaugural Voyage of Transatlantic Liner MS Batory in Helena Deskur’s 1936 Notes

    Szymon Czwarno

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 267–300

    Abstract

    The Polish merchant navy had nine transatlantic passenger ships in its history. The longest serving among them was the MS Batory, commissioned in 1936. Until the outbreak of World War II, the Batory sailed from Gdynia to New York. After Germany’s aggression against Poland, the British government chartered it. Rebuilt, it served as a troop transport and landing ship. It was used in naval operations, more than once becoming the target of direct enemy attacks. In 1946, it was returned to Poland. For several years, it again served the New York line, and then sailed to India and Canada. In 1969, it was withdrawn from service and sold for scrap.

    The Batory enjoyed considerable public interest. The central figure of numerous articles and reports, it also appeared in the memoirs of crew members and passengers. These include the memoirs of Helena Deskur, who was on the first cruise after the transatlantic ship went into service. The MS Batory at that time was on a cruise from Trieste to Gdynia.

  • Kurt Willi’s Directive on the Simplification of Criminal Justice in the General Governorate: Text and Commentary

    Konrad Graczyk, Hubert Mielnik

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 301–330

    Abstract

    The article consists of the text of a circular directive regarding the simplification of criminal justice in the General Governorate, as well as an introduction, which describes the judicial and legal system in the GG and the source in question, introduces the profile of its author (Kurt Wille), and explains the significance of the directive for the practice of law in the GG.

    The article is a part of the research project  financed by  Polish National Science Centre  (grant no. 2020/39/B/HS5/02111).

  • Faithful to the Republic of Poland Government in Exile: Sentence in the Case of the II Polish Corps Intelligence Branch Code-named “Lyceum”

    Agnieszka Chrzanowska-Pietrzak

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 331–394

    Abstract

    The show trial of members of the intelligence network of the Polish II Corps in Italy codenamed “Liceum,” headed by Capt. Barbara Sadowska, and held before the Military District Court in Warsaw on 9–15 July 1947, was one of the most infamous in post-war Poland. It should be regarded as unique in terms of the history and significance of the network in the PoAK (post-Home Army organisations) underground, the investigation conducted, the disclosures made in prison, preparations for the trial, and the course of the trial itself.

    This text portrays the history of the eastern intelligence service stemming from the structures of the Eastern Section of the Offensive Intelligence Department of the Union of Armed Struggle-Home Army Branch II Headquarters, its reorganisation from “WW-72” to the moment of subordination to the II Corps Staff and functioning under the code names “Port” and then “Lyceum”. Under discussion is the story of the liquidation of the “Lyceum” network and the disclosure of its structures and people in an MBP detention cell, the cynical operational game of the security service, and Barbara Sadowska’s struggle for the release of her subordinates and the integrity of the court trial.


Polemiki i refleksje

  • Between Historical Reconstruction and Ethical Evaluation In Regard to Dr. Rafał Latka’s Article – Relations of Rev. Tadeusz Dajczer with the SB: A Case of Agent Cooperation Initiated due to Passport Blackmail

    Dariusz Kowalczyk

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 395–440

    Abstract

    The study is a review of an article by Dr. Rafał Łatka on the subject of Father Tadeusz Dajczer’s relations with the security apparatus of the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). At the same time, it is a dialogue with the theses put forward by the researcher, which bear the mark of ethical evaluation. The polemic was conducted from the point of view of the principles applied in Catholic ethics. These define the requirements that the process of analysis of historical sources should meet in order to provide a basis for axiological evaluation. It was indicated that in Łatka’s research approach, a methodological principle was used, which was named the hermeneutic “axiom” for the purpose of this study. It assumes complete trust in the records of the documentation of the repressive organs of the People’s Republic of Poland and treats it in a privileged way in comparison to other sources. At the same time, places are indicated where the Security Service’s documentation on Fr. Dajczer is laden with material defects (related to the lack of authenticity and integrity), and formal defects (related to the unreliability of the content contained therein) are indicated. In addition, examples of “relative” (i.e., relevant to the needs of hermeneutic analysis) defects, both material and formal, are given. It has been pointed out that Łatka did not take into account the above flaws in the documentation in the process of reconstructing and interpreting events. Thus, his proposal, where it is based on flawed material, has only the character of a more or less probable hypothesis requiring further verification – however, where it is based on factual errors in reasoning, it is unacceptable. According to the principles of Catholic ethics, it cannot be the basis for issuing a sound axiological assessment. The study points out, that despite this, Łatka – perhaps unconsciously – in assessing Fr. Dajczer’s attitude towards the SB, formulated unequivocal judgments that bear the hallmarks of an ethical evaluation. Those of which he based on a hypothetical or erroneous reconstruction of events are so-called hasty judgments, the dissemination of which is associated with damage to the priest’s good name.

  • The Problem of Operational Document Credibility in Relation to the Question of Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer’s Cooperation with the Security Service

    Eugeniusz Sakowicz, Paweł Mazanka, Bolesław Szewc, Wanda Zagórska

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 441–468

    Abstract

    The authors of the three works published so far that refer to Security Service operational records concerning Rev. Prof. Tadeusz Dajczer, suggest – without examining the credibility of those – his collaboration with that institution. This article contains an analysis of the credibility of all known SB records that could testify to such collaboration. From the point of view of historical methodology, the documents being addressed are indirect sources, requiring an examination of their credibility and a determination of the persuasive elements they contain. Guided by these assumptions, the SB documentation was compared with other sources, including witness accounts of Fr. Dajczer’s life and his notes, as well as non-source material (e.g. graphological expertise, SB operational instructions).
    The persuasiveness of the records was pointed out, which should not be confused with a description of facts. It was concluded that all known SB memos and reports that may suggest Fr. Dajczer’s collaboration with the security apparatus are laden with serious doubts and cannot be considered as evidence of such. This is supported by the absence of the priest’s signatures and notes of his
    authorship, inexplicable gaps in the documentation of the repressive organs, inconsistencies with operational instructions, the instance of a security officer forging Fr. Dajczer’s signature, inconsistencies with the priest’s life situation, way of life and perception of reality, etc.  Moreover, there is a very clear element of inducement in the SB materials. The officers created a positive image
    of themselves in the eyes of their superiors to facilitate the smooth progression of their career. It has been demonstrated that there are no sufficiently reliable documents permitting one to speak of Fr. Dajczer’s conscious or unconscious collaboration with the organs of repression.

  • Good Intentions, Emotions, Lack of Distance and Specialized Knowledge Are No Substitute for Historical Research Analysis A Response to the Polemics Regarding the Article on Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer’s Agent Cooperation with the Security Service

    Rafał Łatka

    Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 16 (2023), pages: 469–496

    Abstract

    The text is Rafał Łatka’s response to polemics related to his article on Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer’s agent collaboration with the Security Service. In the above analysis, it was shown that the authors of the publications included in this volume:  problem wiarygodności dokumentów operacyjnych w odniesieniu do pytania o współpracę ks. Tadeusza Dajczera ze Służbą Bezpieczeństwa (The Problem of Reliability of Operational Documents in Relation to the Question of Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer’s Collaboration with the Security Service) (E. Sakowicz, Fr. P. Mazanka, Fr. B. Szewc, and W. Zagórska) and Między rekonstrukcją historyczną a oceną etyczną… (Between Historical Reconstruction and Ethical Evaluation...) (Fr. D. Kowalczyk) transgressed two fundamental principles existing in the world of academic research: they did not approach the “research subject” with detachment and they expressed opinions in a field of academic discipline in which they do not possess  elementary competence. The above article refutes the argumentation presented by the above-mentioned authors, demonstrating their emotional position towards Fr. Dajczer, numerous factual and interpretative errors, lack of knowledge not only of the theory and practice of security apparatus operations, but also the subject literature on the activities of the Security Service. As a result, the polemicists failed to contest the notion that Fr. Dajczer was an SB asset (personal information source, OZI).



Kronika


In memoriam


View All Issues

Recently published

More articles

Most read

More articles

Punktacja Ministerstwa Edukacji i Nauki
40 (2024 r.) (70 – w wykazie z 2023 r., 40 - w wykazie z 2021 r.)

Dziedziny: architektura i urbanistyka
Dyscypliny: historia, nauki o komunikacji społecznej i mediach, nauki o kulturze i religii, etnologia i antropologia kulturowa, polonistyka, stosunki międzynarodowe

Redaktor naczelny dr Mariusz Żuławnik

Sekretarz redakcji Paweł Tomasik
Zespół redakcyjny

Licencja CC BY-NC-ND 

  • INSTYTUT PAMIĘCI NARODOWEJ
    Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu
    ul. Janusza Kurtyki 1
    02-676 Warszawa
    NIP: 525-21-80-487

Deklaracja dostępności strony   •   Polityka prywatności IPN   •   Ochrona danych osobowych
© 2023 IPN