Ministry of Public Security (Poland)

In July 1944, behind the Soviet front line, a brand new Polish provisional government was formed, called the Polish Committee of National Liberation (Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego, PKWN).^[5] It was established in Chełm on the initiative of Polish communists, in order to assume control over Polish territories liberated from Nazi Germany by the advancing Red Army. PKWN was proclaimed "the only legitimate Polish government" by Stalin, with full political control and Soviet sponsorship. Within the PKWN's internal structure, there were thirteen departments called Resorty. One of these was the Department of Public Security (Resort Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego) or RBP, headed by Stanisław Radkiewicz. It was a precursor of the Polish communist secret police.^[6][7]

On 31 December 1944, the PKWN was joined by several members of the London-based

In 1950s Ministry of Public Security employed around 32,000 people. Also, UB had control over 41,000 soldiers, including 29,053 privates and 2,356 officers of the Internal Security Corps (Korpus Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego, KBW),^[8] 57,000 officers in the Citizens' Militia (Milicja Obywatelska), 32,000 officers and soldiers in the Border guard (Wojska Ochrony Pogranicza), 10,000 prison officers (Straż Więzienna), and 125,000 members of Volunteer Reserves of the Citizens Militia (Ochotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej, ORMO), a paramilitary police used for special operations.^[6]

Soviet infiltration and political repressions

Political penetration and military control over the country by the

In November 1953,

The two officials traveled to Berlin and spoke with Mielke. On December 5, 1953, the day after meeting Mielke, Światło defected to the United States through their military mission in West Berlin. The next day, American military authorities transported Światło to Frankfurt and by December, Światło had been flown to Washington D.C, where he underwent an extensive debriefing.^[6]

Światło's defection was widely publicized in the United States and Europe by the American authorities, as well as in Poland via

The political and administrative matters of the Ministry came under the authority of Jakub Berman, a Stalinist from the Polish United Workers' Party. The Ministry of Public Security structure was being changed constantly from January 1945 on, as the Ministry expanded. It was divided into departments and each department was subdivided into sections entrusted with different tasks. In January 1945, the largest and the most important department in UB was Department One, responsible for counter-espionage and anti-state activities. It was headed by General Roman Romkowski. Department I was divided into Sections, each responsible for a different but specific function self-described in the following way:

1. Fighting German espionage and Nazi underground remaining in Poland.
2. Fighting reactionary underground.
3. Fighting political banditry.
4. Protection of the national economy.
5. Protection of legal political parties from outside (underground) penetration.
6. Prisons.
7. Observation.
8. Investigations.

Two new departments were formed in addition to departments and sections created for the Resort Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego (RBP) forming the core of MBP or UB in January 1945. On September 6, 1945, from the existing structure of Department II emerged three additional departments: Department IV commanded by Aleksander Wolski-Dyszko, Department V commanded by

In June 1948 the Secret Office was established for Internal counter-intelligence. The Special Office conducted surveillance on members of the MPB itself. On March 2, 1949, the Special Bureau was established, renamed in 1951 simply as Department Ten. Department 10 conducted surveillance of high-ranking members of the Polish United Workers' Party and people associated with them.^[6]

Ministry of Public Security roster (1951 and 1953)

UB in the field

All over Poland Ministry of Public Security had regional offices. There was one, or more UB office in each voivodeship, each of them called the Voivode Office of Public Security (Wojewódzki Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego, or WUBP). Each WUBP had 308 full-time UB officers and employees on staff. Beside WUBP, there were also City Offices of Public Security (Miejski Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego or MUBP), with 148 MPB officers and employees; as well as District Offices of Public Security (Powiatowy Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego or PUBP), with 51 officers and employees; and finally, the Communal Offices of Public Security (Gminny Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego, or GUBP), which were stationed at the local militia precincts (MO), with 3 UBP security officers on staff.^[6]

In 1953, in the field, there were 17 Voivode Offices of Public Security (WUBP), and 2 Regional Offices of Public Security on the order of WUBP. There were 268 District Offices of Public Security (PUBP) and 5 City Offices of Public Security (MUBP), which operated as District Offices of Public Security (PUBP). Together, they employed 33,200 permanent officers, of which 7,500 were stationed in their

The highly publicized defection of Colonel Światło, not to mention the general hatred of the Ministry of Public Security among the Polish public led to changes in late 1954. In December of that year, the

In Warsaw, most of the killings were carried out at the Mokotów Prison. The victims' bodies – often placed naked in cement bags – were wheeled out at night and buried in unmarked graves in the vicinity of various Warsaw cemeteries and in open fields.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Montelupich prison
• Milicja Obywatelska (MO)
• Zgoda labour camp, a concentration camp for Silesians, Germans, and Poles, operated in 1945 by the Polish secret police

References

Bibliography

• Leszek Pawlikowicz, Tajny Front Zimnej Wojny: Uciekinierzy z polskich służb specjalnych 1956–1964, Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM, 2004, 1st edition
• Henryk Piecuch, Akcje Specjalne: Od Bieruta do Ochaba, (part of a series: Tajna Historia Polski, Agencja Wydawnicza CB, Warsaw, 1996 (English: Special Operations: from Bierut to Ochab, Secret History of Poland series, Warsaw 1996)
• Nigel West
  , Trzecia Tajemnica: Kulisy zamachu na Papieża (English: The Third Secret, Behind the Assacination Attempt on the Pope), publ. in Sensacje XX Wieku
• Metody Pracy Operacyjnej Aparatu Bezpieczństwa wobec kościołów i związków zawodowych 1945–1989, IPN, Warsaw, 2004 (Methods of operative work of Security organs against churches and trade unions 1945–1989, published by Institute of National Remembrance)
• Normam Polmar, Thomas Allen – Księga Szpiegów (The Book of Spies), Wydawnictwo Magnum, Warsaw, 2000
• Zbigniew Błażyński, Mówi Józef Światło: Za kulisami bezpieki i partii 1940–1955, Warsaw 2003
• Jusupović, Adrian; Leśkiewicz, Rafa (2013). Historyczno-prawna analiza struktur organów bezpieczeństwa państwa w Polsce Ludowej (1944-1990). Zbiór studiów. Warsaw: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu.
  ISBN 978-83-7629-457-5
  .

External links and further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ministry of Public Security (Poland).

• List of persons condemned by Military Courts to the capital punishment (1946–1955)
• Henryk Piecuch, Brudne gry: ostatnie akcje Służb Specjalnych (seria: Tajna Historia Polski) (Dirty Games: the Last Special Services Operations [Secret History of Poland series]). Warsaw: Agencja Wydawnicza CB (1998).