Польша Коммунистік Құпия Полициясы

Secret police agency of Communist Poland

The Ministry of Public Security (Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), was the secret police, intelligence and counter espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it was known as the Security Office (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, UB), and from 1956 to 1990 as the Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, SB). The initial UB was headed by Public Security General Stanisław Radkiewicz and supervised by Jakub Berman of the Polish Politburo. The main goal of the Department of Security was the swift eradication of anti communist structures and socio political base of the Polish Underground State, as well as the persecution of former underground soldiers of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) and later anti communist organizations like Freedom and Independence (WiN). The Ministry of Public Security was established on 1 January 1945 and ceased operations on 7 December 1954. It was the chief secret service in communist Poland during the period of Stalinism. Throughout its existence, the UB was responsible for brutally beating, arresting, imprisoning, torturing and murdering at least tens of thousands of political opponents and suspects as well as taking part in actions such as Operation Vistula in 1947. The headquarters were located on Koszykowa Street in central Warsaw, but its branches and places of detention were scattered across the entire country, the most infamous being Mokotów Prison. The Department of Security was replaced by a short lived Committee for Public Security (1954–1956) and then by a marginally less repressive Security Service (SB) in 1956. All secret servicemen, functionaries, and employees were widely known by the public as Ubecy; in English "Ubeks" and singular "Ubek/Esbek" (pronounced: OObeck).

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). 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. On 31 December 1944, the PKWN was joined by several members of the London based Polish government in exile, among them Stanisław Mikołajczyk (later chased out of the country). PKWN was then transformed into Provisional Government of Republic of Poland (Rząd Tymczasowy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej or RTRP). All departments were renamed: the Department of Public Security became the Ministry of Public Security (Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego) or MBP and UB. 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.

Infiltrated by NKGB and NKVD agents – the Ministry of Public Security was well known for its criminal nature. From January 1945 (or, July 22), the surviving members of the Home Army laid down their arms, granted an official amnesty (lasting till October 15). Most were arrested by UB on the spot, tortured and tried for treason. According to depositions by Józef Światło and other communist sources, in 1945 alone the number of members of the Polish Underground State deported to Siberia and various labor camps in the Soviet Union reached 50,000. Overall, in the years 1944–1956 around 300,000 Polish citizens had been arrested, of whom many thousands were sentenced to long term imprisonment. There were 6,000 death sentences pronounced, the majority of them carried out "in the majesty of the law". A special disciplinary legislation had been introduced, which allowed for the sentencing of civil persons before military tribunals including young people and children. The courts were concerned with the alleged crimes, not the age and the maturity of its victims. For many years, the public prosecutors and judges as well as functionaries of the Ministry of Public Security, Security Service of the Ministry of Interior (SB) and Main Directorate of Information of the Polish Army (GZI WP) engaged in acts recognized by international law as crimes against humanity and crimes against peace. The so called "Cursed soldiers" of the anti communist resistance, who opposed the new occupiers and attacked the Stalinist strongholds, were eventually hunted down by UB security services and assassination squads. The underground structures had been destroyed, and most members of the Armia Krajowa and WiN who remained opposed to communism, were executed after kangaroo trials (staged by Wolińska Brus and Zarakowski among others), or deported to the Soviet GULAG system.

In November 1953, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, Bolesław Bierut, asked Politburo member Jakub Berman to send MBP Lieutenant Colonel Józef Światło on an important mission to East Berlin. Światło, deputy head of UB Department 10, together with Colonel Anatol Fejgin, were asked to consult with the East German Ministry for State Security's chief Erich Mielke about eliminating Wanda Brońska.

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 Polish Council of State and the Council of Ministers decided to replace the ministry with two separate administrations: the Committee for Public Security (Komitet do Spraw Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego or KDSBP), headed by Władysław Dworakowski, and the Ministry of Interior (Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych or MSW), headed by Władysław Wicha. The number of employees of the Committee for Public Security was cut by 30% in central headquarters and by 40–50% in local structures. The huge network of secret informers was also substantially reduced and the most implicated functionaries of the Ministry of Public Security were arrested. Surveillance and repressive activities were reduced; in the majority of factories, special cells of public security, set up to spy on workers, were secretly closed. The Committee for Public Security took responsibility for intelligence and counter espionage, government security and the secret police. From September 3, 1955 to November 28, 1956 it also controlled the Polish Army's Main Directorate of Information (Główny Zarząd Informacji Wojska), which ran the Military Police and counter espionage service. The Ministry of Interior was responsible for the supervision of local governments, the Milicja Obywatelska (Citizens' Militia, MO) police force, correctional facilities, fire and rescue forces, and the border guard. In 1956 the Committee was dissolved, most of its functions merged into Ministry of Interior; the secret police was renamed to the 'Security Service' (Służba Bezpieczeństwa or SB) on 28 November 1956. The order was made by Władysław Wicha, who was the incumbent Minister of Interior until 1964.