A report on Ministry of Public Security (Poland) and History of Poland (1945–1989)

Citroën Traction Avant, a car commonly used by the UB

The PKWN Manifesto, issued on 22 July 1944

Map showing the different borders and territories of Poland and Germany during the 20th century, with the current areas of Germany and Poland in dark gray

Józef Światło, born Izaak Fleischfarb, defected to the West and spoke publicly of UB's brutal actions

The PKWN Manifesto, officially issued on 22 July 1944. In reality it was not finished until mid-August, after the Polish communist Moscow group was joined by the late-arriving Warsaw group, led by Gomułka and Bierut.

Ministry office in Warsaw (current Ministry of Justice)

Postwar Polish communist propaganda poster depicting "The giant and the putrid reactionary midget", meaning the communist People's Army soldier and the pro-Western Home Army soldier, respectively

Office of Public Security regional location in Szczecin, Poland

ORMO paramilitary police unit during street parade at the Victory Square, 9 June 1946, Warsaw

Ministry of Public Security organization for 1953, (Organizacja Ministerstwa Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego na rok 1953, M Malinowski)

Ministry of Public Security field organization, 1953

The show trial of Captain Witold Pilecki, sentenced to death and executed May 1948

Stamp of the Committee for Public Security, 1954–1956

The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, initially called the Stalin's Palace, was a controversial gift from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin

1951 East German stamp commemorative of the Treaty of Zgorzelec establishing the Oder–Neisse line as a "border of peace", featuring the presidents Wilhelm Pieck (GDR) and Bolesław Bierut (Poland)

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland

The Fourth Congress of the Polish United Workers' Party, held in 1963

The Polski Fiat 125p, produced in Poland from the late 1960s, was based on technology purchased from Fiat

Standard-bearers of the 27 Tank Regiment, mid-1960s

Dziady, a theatrical event that spawned nationwide protests

Demonstrators in Gdynia carry the body of Zbigniew Godlewski, who was shot and killed during the protests of 1970

Queue line, a frequent scene at times of shortages of consumer goods in the 1970s and 1980s

Millions cheer Pope John Paul II in his first visit to Poland as pontiff in 1979

Lech Wałęsa speaks during the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard, August 1980

25th anniversary of Solidarity, summer 2005 in Gdańsk

General Wojciech Jaruzelski led the People's Republic during its final decade and became one of the key players in the systemic transition of 1989–90

Apartment block residences built in People's Poland loom over the urban landscape of the entire country. In the past administratively distributed for permanent use, after 1989 most were sold to residents at discounted prices.

Adam Michnik, an influential leader in the transformation of Poland

The SB functioned as the chief secret service until the fall of Communism in Poland in 1989 and was disbanded in 1990.

- Ministry of Public Security (Poland)

Although the ongoing persecution of the former anti-Nazi and right-wing organizations by state security kept some partisans in the forests, the actions of the Ministry of Public Security (known as the UB, Department of Security), NKVD and the Red Army steadily diminished their numbers.

- History of Poland (1945–1989)

9 related topics with Alpha

Polish People's Republic

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Country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland.

Poland's fate was heavily discussed at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Joseph Stalin, whose Red Army occupied the entire country, presented several alternatives which granted Poland industrialized territories in the west whilst the Red Army simultaneously permanently annexed Polish territories in the east, resulting in Poland losing over 20% of its pre-war borders - areas primarily inhabited by ethnic Belarusians or Ukrainians. Soviet-backed Polish communists came to power and oversaw the country's entry into the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

Border changes of Poland after World War II. The eastern territories (Kresy) were annexed by the Soviets. The western territories, referred to as the "Recovered Territories", were granted as war reparations. Despite the western lands being more industrialized, Poland lost 77,035 km2 (29,743 sq mi) and major cities like Lviv and Vilnius.

The 1970 Polish protests were put down by the Communist authorities and Citizens' Militia. The riots resulted in the deaths of 42 people and over 1,000 injured.

Queues waiting to enter grocery stores in Warsaw and other Polish cities and towns were typical in the late 1980s. The availability of food and goods varied at times, and the most sought after basic item was toilet paper.

The new Warszawa Centralna railway station in Warsaw had automatic doors and escalators. It was a flagship project during the 1970s economic boom and was dubbed the most modern station in Europe at the time of its completion in 1975.

Lech Wałęsa co-founded and headed the Solidarity movement which toppled Communism. He later became the President of Poland.

The 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard Strike and subsequent Summer 1981 Hunger Demonstrations were instrumental in strengthening the Solidarity movement's influence.

Władysław Gomułka and Leonid Brezhnev in East Berlin, 1967

An abandoned State Agricultural Farm in south-eastern Poland. State farms were a form of collective farming created in 1949.

Łódź was Poland's largest city after the destruction of Warsaw during World War II. It was also a major industrial centre in Europe and served as the temporary capital due to its economic significance in the 1940s.

Female textile workers in a state-run factory, Łódź, 1950s

Supersam Warsaw, the first self-serve shopping centre in Poland, 1969

Pewex, a chain of hard currency stores which sold unobtainable Western goods and items

Bar mleczny, a former milk bar in Gdynia. These canteens offered value meals to citizens throughout Communist Poland.

Trybuna Ludu (People's Tribune) was a government-sponsored newspaper and propaganda outlet

Andrzej Wajda was a key figure in Polish cinematography during and after the fall of communism

Allegory of communist censorship, Poland, 1989. Newspapers visible are from all Eastern Bloc countries including East Germany, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia

The 237-meter Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, constructed in 1955. At the time of its completion it was one of the tallest buildings in Europe

Polish university students during lecture, 1964

One of many schools constructed in central Warsaw in the 1960s

Jerzy Popiełuszko was a Roman Catholic priest who supported the anti-communist opposition. He was murdered by the Security Services "SB" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A demographics graph illustrating population growth between 1900 and 2010. The highest birth rate was during the Second Polish Republic and consequently under the Polish People's Republic.

A typical socialist apartment building in Warsaw representing the style of functionalism, built due to the ever-growing population and high birth rate at the time

Konstantin Rokossovsky, pictured in a Polish uniform, was Marshal of the Soviet Union and Marshal of Poland until being deposed during the Polish October in 1956.

Its chief intelligence agencies was the UB, which was succeeded by the SB.

During the Gierek era, Poland borrowed large sums from Western creditors in exchange for promise of social and economic reforms.

Bolesław Bierut

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Polish communist activist and politician, leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1947 until 1956.

Bolesław Bierut in 1933, after his arrest by Polish Police

After World War II, based in part on the Potsdam Conference Allied determinations, the Polish authorities ordered the remaining Germans to leave Poland.

Bolesław Bierut inspecting members of the Union of Polish Youth, 1946

Bierut decorating the most productive workers on the rebuilt Poniatowski Bridge in Warsaw, 1946

Bolesław Bierut, President of Poland and General Secretary of the PZPR

1951 East German stamp commemorative of the Treaty of Zgorzelec, which established the Oder–Neisse line as a "border of peace"; presidents Wilhelm Pieck (GDR) and Bolesław Bierut are featured shaking hands over the border

Bierut was often photographed with children, which was meant to contribute to his cult of personality

Bierut reading Trybuna Ludu ('The People's Tribune'), the official newspaper of the Polish United Workers' Party

Bierut's funeral bier attended by Józef Cyrankiewicz, Edward Ochab and Aleksander Zawadzki

Bierut's tomb at Powązki Military Cemetery

Bolesław Bierut and Józef Cyrankiewicz during the opening of the Warsaw W-Z Route, 2 July 1949

His regime was marked by a silent terror – he presided over the hunting down of armed opposition members and their eventual murder at the hands of the Ministry of Public Security (UB), including some former members of the Home Army.

Starting with the KRN post, with Gomułka and others, Bierut would play a leading role in the establishment of communist Poland.

Jakub Berman

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Polish communist politician.

An activist during the Second Polish Republic, in post-war communist Poland he was a member of the Politburo of the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and then of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR).

Alongside President Bolesław Bierut, Berman was responsible for party oversight of the Stalinist Ministry of Public Security, commonly known as the "UB".

Cursed soldiers

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Term applied to a variety of anti-Soviet and anti-communist Polish resistance movements formed in the later stages of World War II and its aftermath by members of the Polish Underground State.

Monument to the Armia Krajowa in Sopot, Poland

Uniform of a Polish anticommunist fighter, with breast badge displaying image of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa

"The Giant and the Reactionary Spittle-Covered Dwarf". A postwar Polish communist propaganda poster showing a soldier of the Polish People's Army striding over a partisan of the Armia Krajowa (Home Army).

The "cursed soldiers" graphic design on patriotic apparel

Col. Franciszek Niepokólczycki ("Teodor")

The clandestine organisations continued their armed struggle against the communist regime of Poland well into the 1950s.

The guerrilla warfare included an array of military attacks launched against the regime's prisons and state security offices, detention facilities for political prisoners, and concentration camps that were set up across the country.

Internal Security Corps

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The Internal Security Corps (Korpus Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego, KBW) was a special-purpose military formation in Poland under Stalinist government, established by the communist Council of Ministers on 24 May 1945.

The corps itself was subordinate to the Ministry of Public Security.

Polish T-55 tanks enter the town of Zbąszyń while moving east towards Poznań, 13 December 1981

Martial law in Poland

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Martial law in Poland (Stan wojenny w Polsce) existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983.

Gierek in the White House with President Gerald Ford, 1974

Edward Gierek (right) with President Jimmy Carter (left) during his state visit to Warsaw, 1977. The loans and Solidarity were among the chief topics discussed

General Jaruzelski was determined to suppress any opposition along with the Solidarity Movement

A censored regional newspaper that reported about the Bydgoszcz events, in which the militia abused Solidarity members. The censorship was to prevent the slander of state services

The Military Council of National Salvation (WRON), which was founded on 13 December and presided over the military junta. Its Polish abbreviation "WRONa" means a crow bird, and members of the council were known to the opposition as evil "Crows"

ZOMO squads with police batons preparing to disperse and beat protesters. The sarcastic caption reads "outstretched hands of understanding" or "outstretched hands for agreement", with batons ironically symbolizing hands

The former PZPR headquarters in Gdańsk (right). ZOMO machine-gunned demonstrators from the rooftop

Food, alcohol, and cigarettes rationing card

Students in Edinburgh, Scotland collecting signatures for a petition in support of Solidarity in 1981

Jaruzelski in a TV studio announcing the introduction of martial law

Units of the Citizens' Militia and ZOMO race to disperse crowds of protesters

The secret services (SB) wiretapped phones in public booths and state institutions.

After the fall of Communism in Poland in 1989, members of a parliamentary commission determined that martial law had been imposed in clear violation of the country's constitution, which had authorized the executive to declare martial law only between parliamentary sessions (at other times the decision was to be taken by the Sejm).

Pilecki in a colorized pre-1939 photograph

Witold Pilecki

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Polish World War II cavalry officer, intelligence agent, and resistance leader.

Pilecki (first right) as a scout, Oryol, Russia, 1917

Location of Białystok in the borders of 1920 Poland

Witold Pilecki as KL-Auschwitz prisoner, KL Number 4859, 1940

In 1947 he was arrested by the secret police on charges of working for "foreign imperialism" and, after being subjected to torture and a show trial, was executed in 1948.

Several monographs appeared in subsequent years, particularly after the fall of communism in Poland facilitated research into his life by Polish historians.

Czesław Kiszczak

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Kiszczak - SED chief Erich Honecker meeting 1988

General Kiszczak's grave (November 2015)

Czesław Jan Kiszczak (19 October 1925 – 5 November 2015) was a Polish general, communist-era interior minister (1981–1990) and prime minister (1989).

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the Ministry of National Defense, were among the biggest and most powerful administrations in Poland, responsible for the police force, the secret police, government protection, confidential communications, supervision of local governments, correctional facilities and fire services.

The show trial of 16 leaders of the Polish wartime underground movement (including the Home Army and civil authorities) convicted of "drawing up plans for military action against the U.S.S.R.", Moscow, June 1945. All of them had been invited to help organize the new "Polish Government of National Unity" in March 1945 and were subsequently captured by the NKVD.

Trial of the Sixteen

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Staged trial of 16 leaders of the Polish Underground State held by the Soviet authorities in Moscow in 1945.

6) Head of the Council of National Unity and PPS-WRN socialist party – Kazimierz Pużak – 1.5 years, released in November 1945 and returned to Poland. Refused to emigrate, Pużak was again arrested by the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa in 1947 and sentenced to 10 years in prison; died 30 April 1950

Soviet and Polish Communist repressions aimed at former members of the Polish Secret State and the Armia Krajowa lasted well into the 1960s, corporal Józef Franczak being killed in a shootout with paramilitary-police in 1963.