A real center of local power in the Stalinist period – the District Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Nidzica in 1948–1956

The article presents selected aspects of the history of the Polish United Workers’ Party in the Nidzica poviat in the years 1948–1956. The genesis of the Stalinist party in this poviat was characterized, i.e. selected aspects of the activities of the Polish Workers’ Party and its activities in 1946–1948. Attention was drawn to the extremely developed propaganda activity of the communist authorities, which used lies on a very large scale, promoting, inter alia, Soviet models in all areas of life, from political matters to the economy and the sphere of culture. The process of strengthening the position of the PPR in the Nidzica poviat was emphasized, which was related to, inter alia, with the destruction of the illegal opposition, as well as the Polish People’s Party and the Polish Socialist Party. The course of major political events of that period was also presented: the falsified people’s referendum in June 1946, the equally falsified parliamentary elections in January 1947, and the increasingly wider scope of political repressions against communist opponents. The process of creating the structures of the Polish United Workers’ Party and its leading activists was described, from December 1948 to 1956. Selected aspects of the PZPR’s activities in the political, social and economic fields were characterized. The consolidation of the hegemonic position of the PZPR in political life, socialist realism in the sphere of culture and the Stalinization of economic life, including activities for the collectivization of agriculture. Very strong ties between the party leadership and the local security apparatus, that is, above all, with the County Public Security Office, were emphasized. Attention was paid to the persecution of political opponents, and at the same time to various manifestations of social resistance against communists.

The paper presents the interruptions to the biographical trajectories of six women persecuted in different periods during the communist regime in Bulgaria in order to outline the common features as well the specificity of their cases: two former leading feminists: Julia Malinova ( Julia Jakovlevna Schneider – President of the Bulgarian Women’s Union until 1926, Dimitrana Ivanova, President 1926–1944), two members of the Oppositional (Nikola Petkov’s) Bulgarian Agrarian Party (Rayna Lapardova and Tsvetana Tsacheva), two scientists from the Turkish minority in Bulgaria Mefkure Mollova and Hayriye Memova). The paper presents the documentation on these women and their political and academic activities, and the deficits of information, as well as the radical interruptions to their lifestyles, careers, family life, and social ties, and social integration of these women. The research is based on documents from personal finds, the women’s publications, documents from the secret archives of the State Security, memories, and personal testimonies.