Józef Światło
Józef Światło | |
---|---|
Born | Izaak Fleischfarb 1 January 1915 |
Died | 2 September 1994 United States | (aged 79)
Other names |
|
Citizenship | Polish |
Occupation(s) | Interrogator, deputy director |
Employer | Ministry of Public Security (UB) |
Józef Światło, born Izaak Fleischfarb (1 January 1915 – 2 September 1994), was a high-ranking official in the
After the 1953 death of Joseph Stalin and arrest of Lavrentiy Beria, Światło traveled to East Germany on official business. While on the Berlin subway with Fejgin, passing through West Berlin, on 5 December 1953, he "slipped away" and defected to the West.[1]
Afterwards he worked for the American
Biography
Józef Światło was born on 1 January 1915 as Izaak Fleischfarb (also Fleichfarb, Licht, or Lichtstein, sources vary),
In 1945, he was transferred to the newly formed
Defection to the West
In November 1953, the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party Bolesław Bierut asked Politburo member Jakub Berman to send Światło on an important mission to East Berlin. Światło, deputy head of UB's 10th Department, together with Colonel Anatol Fejgin, were asked to consult with Stasi chief Erich Mielke about eliminating Wanda Brońska .[1] Światło, however, after the death of Stalin in March 1953 and arrest of Lavrentiy Beria in June that year, became afraid for his own life.[1] He suspected that Bierut in Poland might turn on him and other members of the Ministry, attempting to make them into scapegoats.[4]
The two officers traveled to Berlin and spoke with Mielke. On 5 December 1953, the day after meeting the Stasi chief, Światło defected to the U.S. military mission in West Berlin.[1] He left family, including a wife and two children, in Poland. The next day, American military authorities transported Światło to Frankfurt and by Christmas he had been flown to Washington, D.C., where he underwent an extensive debriefing.[1] It has been reported that his interrogations were compiled into about fifty long reports.[1] The United States gave him political asylum with the full knowledge that "he would have to be protected for the rest of his life because the number of his victims and relatives of victims sworn to exact retribution was so great."[1]
Aftermath
Światło's defection was revealed in Poland by the
Capitalising on them, in what was known as "Operation Spotlight", RFE broadcast some 140 interviews by Światło, and 30 programs on him.[1] Światło's RFE broadcasts were not only serialized but even distributed over Poland by special balloons.[1] Światło detailed the torture of prisoners under interrogation and politically motivated executions and struggles inside the Polish United Workers' Party.[6] None of the Polish Communists' intelligence, counterintelligence and public security agencies escaped unscathed and without some of their secrets being revealed.[1]
The highly publicised defection of Colonel Światło, not to mention the general hatred of the Ministry of Public Security among Poles, led to changes in late 1954, as first the 10th Department and soon the entire Ministry was broken up and reorganised; many officials were arrested.[1][2][7] Światło's scandal contributed to the events of political liberalisation in Poland, known as the Polish October.[7] For a long time, it was uncertain if Światło was dead or still alive.[4] Information on him was protected by the US witness protection program; there were rumours that he died in the late 1960s, 1975 or 1985.[4] In 2010, the United States government stated that he had died on 2 September 1994.[8] Documents relating to him are still classified in the United States and not available to researchers.[4]
Awards
Knight's Cross of Order of Polonia Restituta[9] | Gold Cross of Merit[9] | Silver Cross of Merit[9] |
See also
- List of Eastern Bloc defectors
Notes
- ^ Sources vary in giving his original surname. IPN lists it as Fleischfarb, noting that this name was used by Światło himself in some documents;[2] this name is used most commonly in the sources. Several sources, such as Gluchowski, use an alternative spelling - Fleichfarb.[1] Piotrowski and several other sources also list one or two other name variants, namely: Licht and Lichtstein.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Gluchowski, L.W. (1999). "The defection of Jozef Swiatlo and the Search for Jewish Scapegoats in the Polish United Workers' Party, 1953-1954" (PDF). Intermarium. 3 (2). Archived from the original on 22 June 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2015 – via Internet Archive.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m (in Polish) Józef Światło - biography, photos, documents at Institute of National Remembrance. Retrieved 6 April 2011
- ISBN 978-0-7864-0371-4.
- ^ a b c d e f (in Polish) Piotr Zychowicz, Poszukiwany Józef Światło, Rzeczpospolita, 18 December 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2011
- ^ Jan Skorzynski, "1956 - a european date" From Thaw to Restoration: A Chronology Archived 23 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 April 2007
- ^ (in Polish) Leszek Szymowski, Brawurowa ucieczka najsłynniejszego zbiega, Onet.pl, 26 January 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2011
- ^ ISBN 0-312-22644-6.
- ^ (in Polish) Światło zmarł w 1994 roku, Rzeczpospolita, 18 December 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2011
- ^ a b c Paczkowski, Andrzej (2009). Trzy twarze Józefa Światły (in Polish). Warszawa. pp. 93, 98.
Further reading
- Sobor-Swiderska A., "Jozef Swiatlo - Myth and Reality", Studia Historyczne (Historical Studies), year: 2006, vol: 49, number: 1(193), pages: 41–63, (abstract).
- (in Polish) Zbigniew Błażyński: Mówi Józef Światło. Za kulisami bezpieki i partii 1940–1955 [Józef Światło Speaks. Behind the Scenes of Secret Police and Party 1940-1955]. Wydawnictwo LTW, ISBN 83-88736-34-5
- (in Polish) Roger Faligot, Remi Kauffer, Służby specjalne [Special services], ISKRY, Warszawa 1998, ISBN 83-207-1477-X, originally in French: Roger Faligot, Remi Kauffer, Histoire mondiale du renseignement 1870-1939 Les maitres espions. Histoire mondiale du renseignement. De la guerre froide a nos jours. Editions Robert Laffont SA, Paris 1993, 1994