Can Józef Tischner’s reflection on totalitarianism prove helpful in understanding the events which took place in our country in the second half of the 20 th century? Does the author, who sees totalitarianism as a specific way of thinking affecting the shape of human relationships, reveal part of the truth about the experiences of the Polish society? By providing positive answers to the above questions, the article presents Tischner’s analytical viewpoint – in order to understand totalitarianism we need to go beyond its conventional meaning, in the categories of a political system, towards an ethical perspective. According to Tischner, totalitarianism is basically the experience of evil. Evil causes the deformation of human mentality, as people overwhelmed with fear and the desire to survive are guided with the principle of retaliation towards other people. The main source of evil is politics in its communist form, which generates a political way of thinking and negatively transforms the sphere of human relations. A lack of faith in the possibility to do well is the trademark of people shaped by totalitarian experiences. Are changes inflicted in this way deep and irrevocable? On the one hand, the reflection of the philosopher from Cracow concerning the origins of the Independent Selfgoverning Trade Union “Solidarity” (NZZ „Solidarność”) shows that the plan to completely destroy the ethical dimension of human relationships, expressed in the words of the Gospel “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”, did not succeed. On the other hand, by presenting totalitarianism not only as a political system, Tischner provokes us to self-reflect on our condition “here and now” and search for an answer to the question: how many totalitarian traces do we still have, which despite the fall of the communist system continue to affect our actions and attitudes towards other people.

Several conclusions can be drawn from the materials analyzed by the Office for Complaints and Letters of MSW. Firstly: the most common cause of filing complaints by the citizens was the militia’s failure or tardiness in fulfilling their duties (receiving notifications of crimes, conducting investigations). Secondly: many complaints concerned the officers’ behavior off duty, under the influence of alcohol. Officers abused their position when dealing with conflicts with neighbors or settling private matters with a sense of impunity resulting from the fact they were wearing a uniform. Thirdly: citizens did not have a great chance for a positive consideration of their complaints. Most cases were dismissed or examined in favor of the accused, especially if there were no third parties. Fourth: particular attention was drawn to complaints concerning the use of violence by officers, officers were trained in law and requested to behave in a cultural manner. However, the problem of violence used by officers was a permanent issue and attempts were made to diminish its significance by a small percentage of “confirmed” incidents (no witnesses). Fifth: the nature and number of complaints were mostly affected by the political atmosphere in the country. In periods of repression, e.g. in March 1968 or during Martial Law, the number of complaints fell, as the society was afraid of the militia and SB, despite the fact that certain incidents, such as beating, unjustified arrests, etc. occurred more frequently than in other years. However, the change of leadership in the Communist Party (1971) was enough to increase the number of complaints concerning the interventions of “the law and order officers” which took place during workers’ demonstrations in the time of the previous leaders. And finally: the question, whether the complaints filed by the citizens could have changed anything in the behavior of MSW officers. It was difficult to prove the guilt, especially because the investigation was also conducted by MSW units (sometimes even by the accused himself!). The consequences, even in the case the charges were proved, were insignificant, sometimes only symbolic. The reporting process was bureaucratic and, as may be guessed, in many units treated as the necessary evil, whereas preventive measures (regulations, trainings) were ineffective because of the officers’ sense of impunity. The Citizen’s Militia and SB were executive authorities implementing the Party’s politics concerning safety.

„Goniec Krakowski” was one of the most important daily newspapers published by the Germans in the years 1939–1945 in the General Government. Several factors determined its dominant position as compared to other titles: 6 editions during the week, a 60 thousand average issue, the volume amounting to 10 pages in holiday editions, a low price and efficient distribution. Apart from contents of clearly propaganda value, presenting the success of the Reich and its allies in warfare and international politics, as well as local news selected and presented from a certain perspective, advertisements and small ads played an important role in the newspaper. They were included in each edition, divided into 9 units: “Missing persons”, “Vacancies offered”, “Searching for vacancies”, “Buy”, “Sell”, “Premises”, “Science and education”, “Singles ads” and “Miscellaneous”. In the period between October 1939 and June 1940, readers received 201 consecutive editions of “Goniec Krakowski”, including a total of 42 157 small ads. The number was very high and the contents of advertisements provide a valuable material to find out about the reality of life of the Polish nation under occupation. The first phenomenon reflected in the ads was the desire to renew contacts with close persons interrupted by warfare. Many people tried to find information about missing soldiers of the Polish Army and civilians lost during evacuation. The second phenomenon is high unemployment, which mainly affected the intelligentsia and people displaced from the territory of Poland included in the Reich. Frequently, the authors of the ads declared their readiness to take up any work for a minimum wage. The scale of general poverty is also reflected in advertisements offering the sale of everyday objects and the requests of extremely poor people asking for clothes and shoes. Many people tried to gain additional income by renting out flats, rooms or offering private lessons. On the other hand, it may be observed that affluent persons tried to invest money (which was subject to regular inflation) in real property, gold and jewelry. The advertisements also included numerous matrimonial ads. Very few of those publishing such ads in the papers underlined the role of feelings, concentrating on the desire to find a partner with sufficient wealth, social position and regular income.

The article presents selected problems of everyday life of Poles in the years 1956–1970 of the Gomułka era on the basis of letters sent to the weekly magazine „Przyjaciółka”. The main idea lying behind the article was the desire to present the everyday life of average Poles. The obvious conclusions are that citizens of the People’s Republic of Poland at that time did not have an easy life. The reality of everyday life presented in the letters sent to „Przyjaciółka” was fundamentally different from the official propaganda version presented by the Gomułka team. When Gomułka was elected the First Secretary of the Communist Party in 1956, Poles were hoping for changes in the country. However, everyday life of average citizens remained the same. The reality under Communism was still sad and gray. This was reflected in the letters sent to „Przyjaciółka”, where people constantly complained about the lack of flats or terrible living conditions, the ailing healthcare, empty shops and defective goods. Generally, in the eyes of average citizens, inhabitants, patients and consumers of that time, the Gomułka era was not much different from the times of Bolesław Bierut. Everyday life in Communist Poland of the Gomułka era, in the time of the small stabilization, was still full of an- xiety and torment. However, we need to remember that despite the hopelessness of certain situations and the growing number of problems which Poles had to face every day, it was still possible “to get through” in Communist Poland. For us, the times of Communist Poland may even present a certain amount of charm. When looking back at the past from our perspective, many people smile remembering Polish cars, in which, despite their small capacity, people managed to cram tons of different objects, „Frania” – the Polish washing machine or crimplene trousers. And the letters sent to „Przyjaciółka” are just a small, sometimes humorous or even incredible, part of the difficult reality of that time.

The opposition environment in PRL in the years 1976–1989 was very complex in terms of ideology. Frequently, one group included nearly all of the orientations characteristic for traditional Polish political ideology, both from the personal, as well as political perspective. A classic example in this regard is “Solidarność”, which fought with the system by referring to typically rightist religious and na- tional values. At the same time, it was an organization of workers, which fought and organized strikes to defend the economic and political interests of the working class, which by definition is leftist. Therefore, part of the researchers opposed the idea of classifying anticommunist environments according to the classical leftist-rightist axis, claiming such divisions to be artificial and illegitimate. It was argued that under undemocratic conditions, one structure was composed of people with very different beliefs and the only integrating factor was their objection towards the existing reality, not common ideology. However, it is possible to distinguish the ideology of specific formations according to the so-called identification within the movement, prepared on the basis of statements made in samizdat publications, which describe the opposition in terms of worldview. The analyses were based mainly on the standard leftist-rightist division. Independent writers, using the designates of both attitudes, prepared reports of a dichotomous or heterogeneous character. The first identified specific groups within the movement as leftist or rightist. The second complicated the ideological image of the underground by introducing indirect categories, including structures which could not be explicitly classified according to a bipolar division. On the basis of the above, it is possible to distinguish a certain catalog of groups, whose programs and actions were classified by underground publicists as close to a specific ideology. Leftist opposition circles at that time included: KOR, NSZZ “Solidarność”, Ruch Społeczny WSN, Ruch Społeczny „Wyzwolenie”, PPS and Ruch „WiP”. The right-wing included ROPCiO, KPN, RMP and LDP „Niepodległość”.

The Spanish Civil War attracted thousands of volunteers from various countries to fight on the Republican side. There were over 5000 Poles among them, although a vast part of them came not directly from Poland, but from economic migration, mostly in France. Their common designation – “Dąbrowszczacy”, comes from the name of the patron of the most important military unit they belonged to: a hero of Polish 19 th century independence struggles, Jarosław Dąbrowski. Analogously to the volunteers from other countries, most of them originated from working- class and were related to communist ideology. They were all deprived of Polish citizenship, in accordance to the law that forbid serving for a foreign army. A Pole who gained the most fame in Spain was Karol Świerczewski, “Walter”, who was also a general of Soviet army. In the postwar, communist Poland, the “Dąbrowszczacy” not only retrieved citizenship, but also gained various privileges. They were used by propaganda as an example of “correct” attitude: combined patriotism with proletarian interna- tionalism. It was argued that their actions in Spain had been a conscious effort to push aside danger of fascist aggression towards Poland, that finally happened in 1939. Many veterans fulfilled responsible tasks for the machinery of the totalitarian state. They also conducted aid for their former brothers in arms, as well as acts of solidarity with anti-franquist opposition, especially with Spanish communists. At first, all their activities were run through their own association (“Związek Dąbrowszczaków”), and later in ZBoWiD – a huge organization that combined all veteran groups approved by the authorities. Nonetheless, the veterans of Spanish war were not immune to suppressions, which according to the logic of communist dictatorship were extended even on those in power. Some of them were imprisoned during the Stalinist period but released and vindicated afterwards. Those of Jewish origin were also suppressed during the anti-Semitic campaign of 1968. With the time passing, the position of this environment declined, although those still active in public live attempted to maintain the remembrance of their actions. Nowadays, in the democratic Poland, the discussion about their role in Spanish war and the communist regime still brings up many controversies.

In my article I analyze the mechanism which led to the staging of “Dziady” by Kazimierz Dejmek on the stage of the National Theater in November 1967 to commemorate the 50 th anniversary of the October Revolution. I draw particular attention to certain curiosities, starting with the choice of the work by Mickiewicz, through the puzzling behavior of the Ministry of Culture and Art, finishing with the passivity of the censors, particularly visible in the light of the contemporary practices of that institution. The above mentioned peculiarities have led me to a thesis that the anniversary performance was a result of an intrigue or provocation prepared by the Minister of Culture and Art, Lucjan Motyka, the General Director of the Ministry of Culture and Art, Stanisław Witold Balicki and the President of the General Office for the Control of the Press, Publications and Performances, Józef Siemek. I also draw attention to the similarity between the meaning of the performance, which accentuated such elements as: progressiveness, patriotism, plebeianism and anti-Russian ideology and the beliefs of the Moczar group, which may, in my opinion, imply that the “guerrilla fighters” wanted to use it as a certain type of manifest determining their attitude towards culture and revealing elements close to them. Furthermore, it may have been intended to play a role in consolidating the environment and at the same time attracting a bigger group of intelligentsia, which was more and more disheartened with Gomułka. The actions of the “commandos” taken in defense of “Dziady”, may have caused among the supporters of the minister of internal affairs a feeling of appropriating a performance which was close to them, which may have affected the extent of brutality used by structures subordinate to the minister when suppressing the students’ protests in March 1968.

In connection with the 10 th anniversary of creating PPR (Polish Workers’ Party), falling in 1952, various celebrations were organized throughout Poland. One of the standing items of the anniversary program was the unveiling of memorial plaques, dedicated to the members of PPR who died during “the consolidation of the people’s power”. Similar celebrations also took place in Gdańsk, where on 23 February 1952 on Freedom Square in Nowy Port a memorial plaque was set, dedicated to three members of PPR: Jan Łodo, Kazimierz Łowczyński and Karol Gronkiewicz, who – according to communist propaganda – died “fighting with fascist gangs from NSZ”. Moreover, the National Council of Gdańsk adopted a resolution on naming three streets in Nowy Port with their names. Due to the fact that there remains very little information concerning the above persons and part of the information is inaccurate, the author of this article decided to determine the true identity of the communist party members honored in such a specific way and find out whether they really died at the hands of soldiers of the underground movement, which was implied in the inscription on the plaque unveiled in Nowy Port. As a result of tedious research, the author managed to determine detailed personal data of the above-mentioned members of PPR, follow the paths of their professional careers and type of political activity, as well as discover the cause and circumstances of their deaths. This revealed the dissonance between the popular propaganda version and the reality, which in turn exposed the heroes from Gdańsk fighting for “the consolidation of the people’s power” and revealed the mechanisms of creating a new communist pantheon.

Military units intended to fight with the Polish underground movement were introduced on a large scale just after the end of the war. However, the People’s Army of Poland began to play a particularly significant role in the years 1946 and 1947, when the National Security Commission was established and the general staff received the task of determining and coordinating the actions against guerrilla fighters. Commission meetings were irregular, but there were three periods when the meetings were organized with a particularly great intensity. Twice this was related to the increased involvement of the Army in the fights with the Polish underground movement – in the spring of 1946 before the Referendum of 30 June, then before the elections in January 1947. The third time was connected to the organization and implementation of the “Wisła” operation. In the autumn of 1947, the Communists decided that the large-scale pacification action against the Polish society brought the expected results, allowing them to control the situation in the country. Powerful security authorities were now able to take responsibility for actions against the resistance movement, the Army could be included in such actions only to a limited extent. This article tries to describe the dynamics of the events and outline the problems, related to the involvement of the People’s Army of Poland in the fight against the Polish underground movement in the period of its greatest intensity, namely before the referendum and elections, mainly on the basis of the documents created by the general staff, other military institutions and the National Security Commission.

From 1954 to 1972 the ACEN functioned as a lobby for Eastern European interests on the U.S. political scene and in respect to the United Nations. According to its members – a quasi-East European parliament of exiled politicians who strived to maintain the case of liberation of Eastern Europe from the Soviet yoke on the agenda of international relations. Founded by the Free Europe Committee, the ACEN operations were obviously influenced and monitored by official American policy. In order to examine the extent of American control and to exemplify the political and public activities of the ACEN, I have selected a period during which the exiles began to openly disapprove of American foreign policy. This article focuses on the years 1959–1960, during which the ACEN vehemently opposed both the decision to invite Soviet Prime Minister Khrushchev to the U.S. and the subsequent courteous treatment extended to him during his appearance before the United Nations General Assembly. I find that despite the émigré leadership’s self-restraint and adherence to the FEC-imposed rules, the moment the ACEN activities diverged from official U.S. policy, it lost American support. The the FEC’s reaction to the ACEN activities shows that the ACEN mission had to remain compatible with U.S. foreign policy objectives. The heady days of the Cold War when support was bountiful were over, the foreign policy thaw had begun and accelerated, leaving the leaders of the Captive Nations behind as they evolved. The ACEN retained its stance, while American policy changed. Compromise was the price that some of the émigré leaders were willing to pay for many years following their disillusionment in 1959. However, their essential objective was to keep the ACEN alive and continue the concerted Central and East European émigré effort not to let the world forget about their estimated one hundred million captive compatriots. For them it was a matter of being able to act on behalf of their captive nations, and it was this goal that forged their dedication and commitment for the life of the organization. The English version of this article was published in: The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare: Cold War Organizations Sponsored by the National Committee for a Free Europe, ed. Katalin Kádár Lynn, (New York, Budapest: Helena History Press, 2013), 91–130.

The main institution responsible for the investigation, documentation and prosecution of crimes committed during World War II was the Central Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland (from 1949 known as the Central Commission for the Investigation of Hitlerite Crimes – GKBZHwP). The aim of this article is to analyze the functioning of the District Commis- sion for the Investigation of Hitlerite Crimes in Gdańsk (OKBZH), which constituted a division of GKBZHwP in Poland. The Pomeranian micro scale provides the background for the analysis of the methodology of work of the said institution and reflects the mechanisms and scale of its dependence from the Central Commission for the Investigation of Hitlerite Crime and other organizations, such as ZBoWiD (the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy). The first stage of the study of the crimes of the Second World War in Pomerania was documentation and prosecution, which in the years 1946–1948 was carried out by the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Gdańsk. However, this institution was dissolved in 1948. This was an element of the gradual limitation of the Central Commission, further reflected in the liquidation of all local divisions. The reactivation of the Gdańsk division of GKBZHwP in Poland took place on 13 th February 1965. The priority was the continuation of investigations carried out in the second half of the 1940s related to the biggest places of torture in Pomerania. For many years witnesses were interrogated and evidence was collected in such cases as: the crime in Piaśnica and Szpęgawsk, as well as mass executions in several towns of the Kościerski poviat. Propaganda activities of the time focused on slogans calling for non-forgetting and non-forgiving the crimes, which was in line with the anti-German phraseology of PRL authorities. Investigative, scientific, research and propaganda activities of OKBZH in Gdańsk slowed down to a certain extent in the 1970s. A lot of investigation materials were transferred via the Central Commission to Ludwigsburg. The biggest investigations were finished. The 1980s, and particularly the beginning of the decade determined by Martial Law, nearly brought an end to the activities of the Gdańsk commission. The situation did not change with the introduction of new regulations in 1984. At the end of the 1980s, the commission’s activities began to include issues previously concerned as taboo, such as the presence of Poles in Wehrmacht or soviet crimes in Pomerania. The operations of OKBZH in Gdańsk combined explicitly expert activities with manipulations related to the memory of World War II for temporary purposes by consecutive leaders of PRL.

The declassification of many archives of the former secret services of the Eastern bloc countries proved how greatly some authorities were engaged in cooperation with international terrorism. Practically all Soviet bloc countries provided material and financial help to the Palestine Liberation Organization and to its various extremist fractions. Communist Poland was also supporting international terrorist organizations, secessionist or revolutionary movements. The world’s famous terrorists such as Carlos “the Jackal”, Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas or Abu Daud found the safe haven behind the iron curtain. They were using the Polish People’s Republic as a country where they can rest and prepare for another terrorist attack. The authorities of the Polish United Workers’ Party were well aware of the fact who they were really dealing with. Despite this knowledge, the Polish security apparatus allowed them to freely pass the borders and organize various meetings. International terrorists were using the Cold War bipolarization for their own struggle and, what is very important and significant, the Polish governments allowed them also to earn money in Poland. The Polish relations with some Arabic terrorist organizations date back to the seventies. In exchange for scholarships and free pass, radical activists promised not to attack the targets on the Polish soil. Even so, in August 1981, there was an attempt to murder Mohammed Oudeh, better known as Abu Daud – the mastermind of the ’72 Olympics Attack in Munich. He was shot six times in Warsaw’s Victoria hotel but he managed to survive. The files from the investigation show us that the Polish secret services were probably protecting the shooter, who was connected with the Abu Nidal Organization. In my article I present other spheres of cooperation between the Polish security apparatus and the members of international terrorist organizations. I reveal dates, names, and purposes of their visits to Poland. I also discuss other terrorist activities, which were not controlled by Polish counterintelligence. Finally, I attempt to answer the question why Polish authorities agreed to cooperate with terrorist organizations.

The aim of the article is to present quantity data collected by the author constituting the basis for the social characteristic of regular activists involved in opposition activities in the 1980s at the local level. It is the result of contemporary sociological studies, in which the author, based on environmental contacts, reached local opposition circles and carried out survey studies. It shows that groups of opposition activists in particular centers were significantly different from the sociological point of view and recruited from different social environments. It seems, however, that in all of the analyzed centers, the activists recruited from persons formerly involved in opposition activities, declaring anti-system attitudes. A characteristic trait common to all former underground activists is their inclination to engage in social activities, which they have retained to this day.