From time to time, in the area of former Third Reich incorporated to Poland after the Second World War, numerous collections of metal plates with embossed inscriptions are found, whose origin and purpose is often a mystery. In October 2011, the archive of the Institute of National Remembrance in Wrocław received 117 such items, non-typical in terms of their physical characteristics. Thin, tin plates measuring 55 x 108 mm feature inscriptions in in German. In 2004 – close to the office building of the Zakłady Samochodowe in Jelcz (JelczVehicleFactory), which no longer exists, one student froma nearby school found plates scattered on his father’s arable land. Most of the objects are in a very poor condition – some of them were clearly melted, others corroded and bent, whileothers are in pieces. The metal plates were kept and used by the administration of the German armaments factory Berthawerk. They were used to improve factory operations from the administrative point of view.

In the spring of 2016, a person came to the Institute of National Remembrance in Rzeszów, who wanted to hand over a find discovered in the attic. It was a box with a few dozen glass photographic plates and one celluloid film which presented photos mostly from the Interwar Period. An initial analysis of the find raiseddoubts as to whether it could be qualified and included in the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance. However, workcontinued because of a single film presenting a portrait of anon-commissioned artillery officer. Key information was found in the papers in the attic that led to the identification of this person, including: an accountant ledger of the Władysław Cichy saddlers company kept from 1942 until February 1945, a registration card and labour card from the occupation period in the name of Weronika Cichy, a few donations from various sources. After an inquiry conducted in the archive of the Institute of National Remembrance in Rzeszów, some investigation files were found concerning local saddler Władysław Cichy. Based on information included in the interrogation report of W. Cichy, we may discover this man's history.

Despite the distance separating both countries as well as cultural and social differences, Iran was very popular with the People's Republic of Poland and its administration. Diplomatic and cultural relationships as well as commercerequired the involvement of the security service in order to protect the interests of Poland and its citizens, documentation of which is now kept by the Institute of National Remembrance. It includes Polish counterintelligence materials, which were produced as a result of the surveillance of the Iranian Embassy in Warsaw and its employees and by the Polish intelligence (civil and military) whileanalysingevents in the Middle East. Most of the documents in the First Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Management of the Second General Staff of the Army concern the situation in Iran at the end of the 1970s and 80s: the Islamic revolution and political changes, tension between Washington and Tehran as well as the Iran-Iraq war. The discussed sources may be useful for security service researchers as well as for historians focusing on Polish-Iran relations and the history of this Middle Eastern country.

Personal accounts are an important source of information concerning everyday life. However, reports from the occupation period yield very little information regardingday to day mundanity, or any of its specific aspects. Those who wrotedown their war fortunes were focused mostly on stories of martyrdom or underground operationsdirected against the occupiers or on the differences in living under occupation and before the war, rather than on the things that had not changed. Everyday life during war time usually provided the background for the events which the authors found worthy of mention. The author analyzes the factors that influenced the underemphasis of everyday life in various memoirs, such as the sex and age of the authors, their sense of belonging to the local society as well as – first and foremost – the timewhen the memoirs were written. The study material comprises accounts of persons who spent the whole or part of the occupation in Cracow.

Following the German aggression on the Second Polish Republic in September 1939, a group of the Ukrainians decided to fight for the establishment of their own state. Their attitude clearly entailed collaboration with the Germans. Followers from this movement gathered above all around the Ukrainian Central Committee, which was founded in April 1940. Born in Poland, Volodymyr Kubiyovych became its leader. He believed in changing the situation of their fellow countrymen and wanted to become their commissioner in relations with German authorities. The article discusses the role of the Ukrainian Central Committee in Ukrainian political life during the war, as well as objectives and tasks set for the Committee by its founders. It points out the intentions of the Germans towards this community and a number of events which reflected the low political significance of the Ukrainians. They were exploited by the Germans without getting any chance to pursue their own objective to establish an independent state. The significance of the Ukrainian Central Committee diminished over time and it ultimately ended its activity on 17th April 1945.

The aim of this article is to present the specifics of the documentation of the Civil Counterintelligence Service of the People’s Republic of Poland, currently stored in the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw and Bydgoszcz. The Voivodship of Bydgoszcz served as an example to discuss how espionage activities carried out by Western diplomats were combatted in the 1960s. Basic issues related to the diplomatic status of military attachés and their exploratory and intelligence activities in the territory of the People’s Republic of Poland were discussed. Two contrary exploratory and intelligence operations carried out by Western military attachés in Bydgoszcz in the years 1965–1966 were described. They consisted in the observation of a military airport and airplanes, as well as the carrying out of an exploratory ride within the vicinity of Polish and Soviet military units based in the territory of several voivodeships. The article also presents the circumstances under which two Western attachés were captured, while taking photographs of the military infrastructure in Bydgoszcz in 1968. The formerly gathered experiences made it easier to detain both diplomats with photographic equipment and espionage material. After both diplomats had been captured, a propaganda campaign was carried out in the media. Its objective was to eliminate any inclination for the capitalist countries among the citizens by revealing the espionage activities of the Western diplomats in the People’s Republic of Poland.

Every year, the Warsaw Walking Pilgrimage to Częstochowa was a challenge for the Communist authorities in Poland to engage both the security and administration authorities to keep it under surveillance and victimize its participants. The Ministry of the Interior initiated and coordinated “exploratory, neutralising and preventive actions”. A standard set of actions undertaken by the Security Service comprised preventive (e.g. interviews with organizers, multiplication of thebureaucratic requirements), propaganda and provocative measures of a disintegrating nature (the most difficult to prove due to the covering of tracks and meticulous destruction of documents), as well as criminal and administrative repression after the pilgrimage. Available technical security means and personal information sources were also used to keep the pilgrimage under surveillance. The case of the 247. Warsaw Walking Pilgrimage of 1963, which was deemed “illegal” and prohibited under the pretext of a chicken pox epidemic, turned out to be particularly interesting. Three years later, the Communist authorities ordered a record mobilization of officers to operationally secure the 250. Jubilee Warsaw Walking Pilgrimage celebrating the millennium year. The operation code-named “Twilight” was secured by 1723 officers who used 30 radio cars, over 20 motorcycles, 45 trucks, 2 water cannons, and 5 chemical launchers.

For dozens of years nobody could talk about the Augustów Manhunt. The Soviet ad-ministration carried it out and covered up its consequences for many years. Access to the materials concerning the manhunt became possible at the beginning of the 1990s. In the autumn of 2015, historians fromFor dozens of years nobody could talk about the Augustów Manhunt. The Soviet ad-ministration carried it out and covered up its consequences for many years. Access to the materials concerning the manhunt became possible at the beginning of the 1990s. In the autumn of 2015, historians fromFor dozens of years nobody could talk about the Augustów Manhunt. The Soviet ad-ministration carried it out and covered up its consequences for many years. Access to the materials concerning the manhunt became possible at the beginning of the 1990s. In the autumn of 2015, historians fromFor dozens of years nobody could talk about the Augustów Manhunt. The Soviet ad-ministration carried it out and covered up its consequences for many years. Access to the materials concerning the manhunt became possible at the beginning of the 1990s. In the autumn of 2015, historians from.

The fact that intelligence services archives include many interesting documents is unquestionable. The resources include many materials concerning Poland and its citizens. This group should include the secret CIA report on Włodzimierz Bączkowski, known mostly from the Promethean activities. The document was made available by the Central Intelligence Agency upon the motion of Bartosz Rutkowski, who published it in the ”Nowy Prometeusz” magazine. Why it is worth publishing it again? The report of 10 May 1949 was not prepared properly and includes misinterpretations and incorrect information. This three-page document is noteworthy not only because of the information (regardless of its accuracy) that it contains but alsothe period of its origin and the large initial part of the reportcensored even after 60 years.

A high ranking officerin the Security Service, Józef Dziemidok, in the 1980s handed in to the department a rare document which not foundvery often found in the personal files of officers – a report concerning the background of his operations in the repression apparatus between 1957–1964. It covers the period from the liquidation of the “Po Prostu” magazine to the dismissal of Dziemidok from the service in 1964. Even though thisdocument was prepared within a few years after the actual events, it has been judged to be reliable based on some indications. The protagonist of the report began working in 1945 in the Provincial Office for Public Safety in Poznań. Two year later, he was transferred to the Ministry of Public Safety in Warsaw. On several occasions he opposed the ideas presented by higher ranking decision-makers from the central or capital city structures of the Security Service. This contributed to the premature termination of his work in the “service” in Warsaw and his delegation to Vietnam and final retirement from duty as a colonel.