Sądownictwo radzieckie na Wołyniu i w Galicji Wschodniej w latach
1939–1941

Wołodymyr Baran; Wasyl Tokarski

Vol. 25 No. 1 (2015)

ISSN:

1427-7476

Section: Varia

The Soviet Judiciary in the Volhynia and in East Galicia in 1939–1941

Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 25 No. 1 (2015), pages: 277-302

Publication date: 2015-06-30

PDF (Język Polski)

Abstract

The Soviet Judiciary in the Volhynia and in East Galicia in 1939–1941 The article reviews the formation and development of Soviet justice in Volyn and Eastern Galicia in 1939–1941. It reveals the notion of ‘political justice’ and significance of punitive and repressive authorities in Soviet totalitarian system. The paper shows the main trends of judicial and extrajudicial executions of Stalinist regime against the public of Volyn and Eastern Galicia, which was treated as socially alien and politically hostile. Following the Red Army entry in Polish eastern provinces, there were numerous instances where Red Army soldiers and KGB servicemen organized lynching against Polish law enforcement officers, gendarmes, officers, village policemen and other ‘counter-revolutionary elements.’ At the beginning of the Soviet rule Western Ukraine experienced systematic political repressions carried out almost exclusively by direct orders of the Interior Commissar of the USSR L. Beria and military tribunals. Later, all parts of the Soviet judiciary were formed in the territories annexed to the USSR: local prosecutors, court presidents were appointed. Department of Justice and the Bar Association were created. In this respect, a significant share of cases on counter-revolutionary crimes was conducted by regional courts who applied various penalties against defendants. The article analyzes the individual stages of the criminal process and presents typical examples of execution of Soviet justice in Volyn and Eastern Galicia. Based on the records of the Soviet Union Supreme Court, People’ s Commissariat of Justice and the Prosecuto’ s Office, the second half of 1940 was marked by substantial consolidation of punitive policy of the authorities in cases on counterrevolutionary crimes. The operating principle of Special Council of the Soviet Union People’ s Commissariat for Internal Affairs as the main instrument of extrajudicial repressions is revealed based on materials of Branch State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Keywords

II wojna światowa, • sowietyzacja, • sądownictwo, • jurysdykcja polityczna, • Wołyń, • Galicja Wschodnia World War Two, • sovietization, • judiciary, • political justice, • Volyn, • Eastern Galicia

References

- J. Berman, Osnownyje woprosy tieorii proletarskogo gosudarstwa, Moskwa 1924

- J. Starosielskij, Princypy postrojenia ugołownoj riepriessii w proletarskom gosudarstwie, „Riewolucyja Prawa” 1927, nr 2, s. 85

- W. Kudriawcew, А. Trusow, Politiczeskaja justicyja w SSSR, Moskwa 2000

- A. Wyszynskij, Lenin i Stalin o gosudarstwie i prawie, „Bolszewik” 1939, nr 1, s. 38

- M. Meltiuchow, Sowietsko-polskije wojny. Wojenno-politiczeskoje protiwostojanije 1918–1939 lata, Мoskwa 2001

- W. Мieńszagin, Z. Wyszynskaja, Sowietskoje ugołownoje prawo, Moskwa 1950

- M. Strogowicz, Ugołownyj process. Uczebnik dla juridiczeskich institutow i fakultietow, Moskwa 1946

- О. Mozochin, Prawo na riepriessii. Wniesudiebnyje połnomoczija organow gosudarstwiennoj biezopasnosti (1918–1953), Żukowskij–Moskwa 2006

Citation rules

Baran, W., & Tokarski, W. (2015). The Soviet Judiciary in the Volhynia and in East Galicia in 1939–1941. Remembrance and Justice, 25(1), 277–302. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.ipn.gov.pl/index.php/pis/article/view/238

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