Polish People’s Republic

Tomasz Kozłowski - The Last Days of the Security Service: Transformation of the State Security Services in Poland in 1989–1990
Abstract

The study describes key issues related to reforms and the abolition of the communist secret police in Poland in 1989–1990. Agreement between the communists and the democratic opposition during the Round Table Talks  and partly free parliamentary elections in 1989 opened the door to the transition to democracy. Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who was prominent member of the Solidarity movement camp, became prime minister. That started the power shift process – power gradually slipped out of the hands of the communists, who, however, retained control over the army and secret police (Służba Bezpieczeństwa). Over the next few months, negotiations were held and attempts made to transform the secret police into a new intelligence agency free from communist control. There were many disadvantages to this process. During that time officers of the Służba Bezpieczeństwa managed to destroy or appropriate a large part of the secret materials. And when the new intelligence and counterintelligence agencies were established, it turned out that the overwhelming majority of their employees were former secret police officers.

Dariusz Dąbrowski, Kamil Dworaczek - The Reaction of the Polish Opposition to Acts of Repression and Civil Rights Violations in Other Communist States in the Years 1987–1989
Abstract

In the second half of the 1980s, the first symptoms of what was to come became visible in Poland. At that time, a new generation of oppositionists was coming of age, who rejected the principle of underground resistance against the regime and instead opted for open manifestations of dissent. On the other hand, in other countries of the Soviet Bloc any expressions of dissatisfaction were still harshly punished. As the decade drew to an end and the process of liberalization progressed in Poland, this rift grew wider. Sensitive to the plight of their neighbours, Polish oppositionists staged acts of solidarity with other countries. It was an exceptional situation in which citizens of a non-democratic state were standing up for the rights of oppositionists living under dictatorships in other countries. This text is an attempt to describe this phenomenon. Apart from recreating the course of the most important actions, this paper is also intended to find out who the main actors in those events were, deter- mine the role of young people whose generation came of age in the late 1980s, and describe which forms of protest were used most frequently.

Witold Bagieński - The Polish People’s Republic and KGB Intelligence Cooperation after 1956
Abstract

Throughout the communist period in Poland, security organs were under the influence and supervision of the Soviet Union. At the beginning of 1957, it was agreed that the KGB Liaison Group would be established in Warsaw. Its role was to coordinate cooperation between security authorities. Despite the change in the situation after 1956, the KGB continued to influence the direction of the Polish Security Service. One of the most important fields of cooperation was intelligence. Department I of the Interior Ministry cooperated with the First Main Directorate of the KGB in many fields. The basis for cooperation was the exchange of information and some of the documents obtained, which were mainly about political and economic issues. Scientific and technical intelligence was also an important field of cooperation. The security authorities of the Polish People’s Republic were not treated by the KGB as an equal partner. Very often they were obliged to give more than they received in return. From the mid-1950s onwards, on the KGB’s initiative, cyclical conferences were convened for the intelligence services of Eastern Bloc countries. Contacts with the KGB ceased in the 1990s.