Activity recognized as terrorist in the Piła Voivodship in the 1980s in the light of the object case code-named «Violence» (selected issues)

The object-related case, codenamed “Violence”, was conducted by the 3rd Department of the District Offi ce of Internal Aff airs in Piła during the years of 1984–1990. Its purpose was to identify, neutralize and eliminate acts bearing the hallmarks of terror, in particular; killings, beatings or deprivation of liberty for political reasons, explosions and arson of political objects and state institutions, collecting weapons and explosives in order to organize terrorist attacks, kidnapping people and planes, illegal political and nationalist organizations that use terror as a form of combat, as well as the operational control of channels to terrorist centres in capitalist countries.

Father Jerzy Popiełuszko in denouncing reports by secret collaborators of the Security Service

Despite the large number of publications about the figure and activities of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, there is a shortage of reliable academic studies analysing the documentation concerning the priest produced by the communist apparatus of repression. The aim of the present text is to present the reports of secret collaborators focused on Father Popieluszko and an extensive historical analysis of their activities. For the purposes of this text, the work files and personal files of three secret collaborators with pseudonyms were analysed: „Jankowski”, „Kustosz”, „Tarcza/Miecz”. The personalities of these persons and the file references were previously known and mentioned, mainly by journalists, but no solid scholarly work, apart from the files of tw „Jankowski”, has been done so far. The records of tw „Janusz” and the steelworkers „Bogdan”, „Uczciwy” and „Fredek”, which have not been mentioned so far, were also discussed. The basic sources for investigating this issue are the materials produced by the Ministry of the Internal Affairs, above all personal files, work folders and records from card files.

The Toruń Security Service tried with extraordinary zeal to dismantle underground structures, especially secret printing houses and distribution structures. For this purpose, informers were used and the information obtained from them was carefully collected. All found copies of leaflets, underground leaflets, posters, etc. were also carefully collected. By January 11, 1982, the Security Service in Toruń had collected a collection of 172 leaflets, into which (as well as subsequent leaflets), the prosecutor’s office initiated an official investigation. They continued until the fall of 1983. The article discusses the methods of operation of the Security Service in Toruń in order to crack down on the Solidarity underground. Searches, interrogations (sometimes brutal), informers and technical means (e.g. wiretapping) were used.

The article discusses the operational activities of the Security Service in Nowy Sącz towards the retreat center of the National Pastoral Care of the Liturgical Service organized in 1975 in Brzegi, located in the parish of Białka Tatrzańska in the Archdiocese of Kraków. Over the course of several years (1976-1980), the Security Service undertook a number of special operational activities aimed at discrediting Fr. Blachnicki and the oasis movement among the clergy and believers, as well as the disintegration of the parish community, the aim of which was to remove the Light-Life Movement from this village near the Tatra Mountains.

Mariusz Krzysztofiński, graduated in history from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Doctor habilitated in the field of humanities in the discipline of history, employed as the chief specialist of the Branch Office of Historical Research of the Institute of National Remembrance in Rzeszów. His research interests include the history of communism in Poland in the 20th century, the history of the Latin Rite diocese of Przemyśl, with particular emphasis on the pontificate of Archbishop Ignacy Tokarczuk and the methods of functioning and structure of the apparatus of repression in the Polish People’s Republic. Author and editor of many scientific and popularization studies.

The article, using the example of Piotr Zawiślak, presents the repressions used against Krakow activists of the independent publishing circuit in the second half of the 1980s by the communist secret services. It focuses on the cases conducted against this activist in connection with the editing, printing and distribution of underground publications using sources in the collections of the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, which were confronted with the recollections of Piotr Zawiślak and his associates.

As part of the repression against the Catholic Church, the communist authorities of the Polish People’s Republic at one time called up graduates of major seminaries for military service. In the 25-year history of the military service of clergy, can be distinguished three periods of activities of security organs: years of chaotic activities (1959–1964) when clerics were scattered among military units, years of formulating guidelines (1964–1966) regarding the investigation of clerics and years of intense operational work (1966–1980) in specially designated units – in Szczecin-Podjuchy, Brzeg and Bartoszyce. In August 1976, clerics of Military Unit 4446 in Brzeg found, during cleaning works, the notebook of the 2nd company command, fragments of which had been copied by hand. The notes show the methods and directions of work of the offi cer staff directly involved in the training process. The observations they made served counterintelligence offi cers to build a psychological profi le of the clerics-soldiers and then arrange operational actions against them, the results of which were to bear fruit in the future.

The presented source material, originating from the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance in Szczecin, was approved by the head of the Wałcz security service, Eugeniusz Koziar, as indicated by a handwritten note in the upper left corner of the first page of the document. The characteristics of interest to us concern 16 Roman Catholic parishes from the Wałcz district in 1959. Among other things, the content regarding individual clergymen, on whom registration and observation cases were conducted, is worthy of attention. The document also includes numerous informants of the Security Service. The document was prepared in accordance with the adopted principles of editing historical sources.