Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1946)

The anti-communist resistance in Poland, also referred to as the Polish anti-Communist insurrection fought between 1944 and 1946, was an armed struggle by the Polish Underground against the Soviet takeover of Poland at the end of World War II in Europe. The guerrilla warfare conducted by the resistance movement formed during the war, included an array of military attacks launched against Communist prisons, state security offices, detention facilities for political prisoners, and prison camps set up across the country by the Stalinist authorities.

Further information: Cursed soldiers
Anti-communist resistance in Poland
Part of Eastern European anti-Communist insurgencies

"Cursed soldiers" of the anti-Communist underground.
Date1944–1963 (last partisan Józef Franczak was killed in 1963)
Location
Polish People's Republic, Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union
Result Communist victory
Belligerents
Cursed soldiers  Poland
 Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Łukasz Ciepliński 
Witold Pilecki 
Zygmunt Szendzielarz 
Józef Kuraś †
...and others		 Bolesław Bierut
Stanisław Radkiewicz
K. Rokossovsky
Lavrentiy Beria
Ivan Serov
Units involved
...and others
Strength
20,000 partisans 2,000,000 Red Army soldiers
35,000 NKVD officers
24,000 Polish soldiers and Ministry of Public Security officers
Casualties and losses
  • 8,668 killed in fighting
  • 79,000 arrested
  • 5,000 executed
  • 21,000 died in prison
  • 12,000 officers of Polish forces
  • 1,000 officers of Soviet forces
10,000 civilians killed

In January 1945, the pro-Soviet government installed in Poland by the advancing Red Army declared as "illegal" the Polish anti-Nazi resistance movement, principally the Home Army or the Armia Krajowa, and ordered its surviving members to come out into the open while guaranteeing them freedom and safety. Many underground fighters decided to lay down their arms and register, but after doing so, most of them were arrested and thrown in prison. Thousands of them were tortured and later deported into the Soviet Gulag camp system, or tried by kangaroo courts and murdered out of sight after extreme beatings (see, the Uroczysko Baran killing fields among similar others).[1][2][3]

As a result of repression, Armia Krajowa (AK) members quickly stopped trusting the new government, and some of them regrouped in a clandestine manner in order to oppose the new Soviet occupiers. They formed various post-AK resistance organisations, such as Wolność i Niezawisłość ("Freedom and Sovereignty"), and liberated hundreds of political prisoners. They became known as the "cursed soldiers" of the Polish underground, and most were eventually captured or killed by the security services and special assassination squads.[4]

Soviet westward offensive across occupied Poland

On the night of 3–4 January 1944 the advancing Red Army crossed the former eastern border of the Second Polish Republic in the area of Volhynia (near the village of Rokitno). In several months, they pushed the Wehrmacht further west, reaching the line of the Vistula river on 24 July 1944.[5] The Soviet advance stopped short of Warsaw, while the Armia Krajowa attempted to liberate the Polish capital from the Nazis ahead of the Red Army's offensive. The Warsaw Uprising by forces loyal to the Polish government-in-exile in London was crushed after 63 days.

On 22 July 1944, acting upon orders from Moscow, the Polish communists who arrived in the eastern town of Chełm created a pro-Soviet Committee, which became the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland after re-locating to Lublin.[6][7]

After moving to Warsaw in January 1945, and with full political control by Stalin and Soviet sponsorship, the communists abandoned the parliamentary system of prewar Poland and ignored the wishes of the Polish people,[8] basing their new government's power solely on the Red Army's occupation of the country.[9]

Meanwhile, acting together under the command of Soviet General Ivan Serov, the forces of the NKVD, SMERSH and the Polish communist secret service (UB), which was modeled on the Soviet secret police,[9] began countrywide operations against the members of the Armia Krajowa and other Polish resistance units loyal to the government-in-exile. Approximately 25,000 underground soldiers, including 300 Home Army officers, were arrested, disarmed, and interned before October 1944.[10] On 15 October 1944, Lavrentiy Beria signed Order No. 0012266/44, which established NKVD Division 64, whose only task was to fight against the Polish resistance. Tens of thousands of Polish partisans were deported to Siberia. Many members of the Polish underground were given the choice between a lengthy prison sentence, and service in the Soviet-run Polish Armed Forces in the East.[11] Faced with an unacceptable choice, and knowing about the grave fate of their own leaders (see: Trial of the Sixteen), thousands of soldiers of the Home Army (which was officially disbanded on 19 January 1945) and other organizations decided to continue fighting for freedom after the end of World War II.

Polish anti-Communist Insurrection

The situation in Poland in the immediate aftermath of World War II has been described as an all-out civil war,[12] or near civil war by many historians,[13] as members of the independence movement carried out numerous attacks on both Soviet and Polish communist offices and institutions. In return, the Stalinist authorities carried out brutal pacifications of partisans and civilians, mass arrests (see: Augustów chase 1945), deportations, as well as executions (see: Mokotów Prison murder, Public execution in Dębica) and many secret assassinations.[12]

The anti-communist movement responded with attacks on NKVD and UB camps, such as the Attack on the NKVD Camp in Rembertów. The underground units often engaged in regular battles with the Soviets and Polish communist forces (see: Battle of Kuryłówka). Resistance units loyal to the Polish government-in-exile did not hesitate to attack even large cities, to free their fellow soldiers kept in various prisons and detention camps across Poland.

List of attacks on Communist prisons, camps and state security offices

In 2007, the Institute of National Remembrance Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (IPN), published the Atlas of the Independence Underground in Poland 1944–1956, listing scores of armed attacks on communist prisons after World War II, in which hundreds of political prisoners were freed. The most daring assaults were conducted before October 1946.

For a chronological list of anti-Communist operations, please use table-sort buttons.

City or town Month Year Resistance operation with number of prisoners liberated
  Biala Krakowska  May 12  1945  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Biała Podlaska  November 28  1944  2 political prisoners freed during an attack.
  Biała Podlaska  March 9  1945  103 political prisoners liberated after an attack.
  Biała Podlaska  May 21  1945  5 political prisoners were freed after an attack.
  Białystok  May 9  1945  100 (or so) members of Home Army, National Armed Forces and National Military Organization escaped after the local prison was taken over by them.
  Biłgoraj  February 28  1945  40 political prisoners liberated after an DSZ unit captured the whole town.
  Biłgoraj  May 27  1945  A failed attempt by DSZ unit at destroying an SB prison.
  Bludek village in southern Lublin Voivodeship   1945?  An attack on a local camp for political prisoners, by DSZ unit from Tomaszów Lubelski; the camp was captured and burned down, and the NKVD commandant of the camp executed.
  Brzesko  May  1945  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Brzeziny  September 6  1945  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Brzeziny  May 15  1946  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Brzozów  December 13  1944  11 political prisoners freed after a local prison was captured by a Home Army unit.
  Dąbrowa Tarnowska  May 8–9  1945  80 (or so) political prisoners were freed after an independence unit took control of the town and the prison.
  Grajewo  May 8–9 (night of)  1945  100 (or so) political prisoners were liberated after several independence resistance units seized the whole town, killing 2 NKVD agents and 2 UB agents.
  Grojec  November 21  1945  A failed attack on a prison, in which 2 UB agents were killed.
  Hrubieszów  December 19  1944  12 Home Army soldiers kept in a local prison were freed by their own unit.
  Hrubieszów  May 27–28  1945  Acting together, DSZ and Ukrainian UPA units captured the whole town, burning down local prison and killing 5 NKVD agents.
  Janów Lubelski  April 27  1945  15 political prisoners liberated after an DSZ unit seized the town.
  Jaworzno  October  1945  A failed attack on the Central Labour Camp Jaworzno.
  Kępno  November 22–23  1945  A local prison was captured, 5 UB agents and a Red Army soldier killed.
  Kielce  August 4–5  1945  354 political prisoners liberated; 3 UB agents and a soldier of the Red Army killed after the unit under Antoni Heda took control of the city.
  Koźmin  September 1  1945  A local prison was destroyed.
  Koźmin  October 10–11  1945  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Kozienice  May 5–6  1945  8 political prisoners freed, and a Red Army soldier killed after an independence underground unit took control of the town.
  Kraków  August 18  1946  64 political prisoners freed after a local prison was captured.
  Krasnystaw  November 22  1944  5 Home Army soldiers kept in a local prison, liberated by their fellow companions.
  Krotoszyn  August 24  1945  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Limanowa  April 17  1945  13 political prisoners were freed after a local prison was captured.
  Łomża  May 21  1945  A local prison was destroyed, 2 UB agents were killed.
  Łowicz  March 8  1945  73 political prisoners were freed after a local prison was captured by the former Home Army unit.
  Łuków  January 24  1946  27 political prisoners liberated after a Freedom and Independence unit captured the town and the prison; 3 UB agents killed.
  Maków Mazowiecki  May 1  1945  42 political prisoners freed and 8 UB agents killed after an attack on a local prison.
  Miechów  April 25–2  1945  A local prison was destroyed.
  Mława  June 3  1945  An attack on a local prison in which unknown number of political prisoners was freed and 3 UB agents killed.
  Nowy Sącz  April  1946  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Nowy Targ  April 17–18  1945  A local prison destroyed by the unit under Józef Kuraś, 4 UB agents killed.
  Ostrów Wielkopolski  September 2  1945  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Pabianice  June 10  1945  10 political prisoners were freed after a local prison was captured.
  Pińczów  June 3–4  1945  A failed attack on a local prison, 1 UB agent killed.
  Piotrków Trybunalski  June 17  1945  An attack on a detention camp for the Home Army soldiers; the camp was captured and destroyed and 5 UB agents killed.
  Przemyśl  May 14–15  1945  58 persons escaped after the arrested soldiers of the Home Army took control of the prison.
  Przeworsk  May 15  1945  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Puławy  April 24  1945  117 political prisoners were freed, and 7 UB agents killed.
  Rabka  December 11  1945  A local prison was captured, 1 UB agent killed.
  Radom  September 9  1945  300 (or so) political prisoners were liberated, 2 Red Army soldiers and one UB agent killed.
  Radomsko  April 19–20  1946  5 political prisoners were freed after the town was captured and a local prison destroyed.
  Radzyń  Dec. 31 – Jan. 1  1945–46  A failed attack on the prison, carried out by the Freedom and Independence unit.
  Rembertów  May 20–21  1945  800–1400 men were liberated after an attack on NKVD prison camp (for more information, see: Attack on the NKVD Camp in Rembertów).
  Rozwadów  February 3  1946  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Rzeszów  October 7–8  1944  A failed attack on a prison located in Rzeszów Castle made by a Home Army unit under Colonel Łukasz Ciepliński. Home Army lost 2 men, Red Army also 2, Milicja Obywatelska – 2 as well.
  Sandomierz  March 10  1945  100 (or so) political prisoners broke free from the local prison.
  Sokołów Podlaski  October  1944  A failed Home Army attack on a local prison.
  Szamotuły  June 7–8  1945  2 political prisoners were freed after a local prison was captured.
  Szczyrk  July 19  1945  A failed attempt to capture a local prison.
  Tarnobrzeg  November 2  1944  15 Home Army soldiers freed from local prison by a Home Army unit.
  Tarnów  July 1  1945  35 political prisoners were liberated after a local prison was captured.
  Węgrów  May 17–18  1945  2 political prisoners freed after an attack on a local prison.
  Włodawa  October 22  1946  100 (or so) political prisoners were freed after a local prison was captured.
  Włoszczowa  April 22  1945  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Wyrzysk  May 24  1946  43 political prisoners were liberated, and 1 UB security agent killed after a local prison was captured.
  Zakopane  February 1  1946  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Zakopane  October 13  1946  A failed attack on a local prison.
  Zamość  July 22  1944  18 Home Army soldiers kept in a local prison were freed by their fellow companions.
  Zamość  October 7  1944  34 Home Army soldiers kept in a local prison were freed by their own unit.
  Zamość  May 8  1946  301 political prisoners were freed after an attack carried out by the Freedom and Independence unit.
City or town Month Year Resistance operation with number of prisoners liberated
As per Atlas of the Independence Underground in Poland 1944–1956 by the Institute of National Remembrance, 2007

Polish National Day of Remembrance of the "Cursed Soldiers"
National Day of Remembrance of the "Cursed Soldiers" commemorations in 2011

In 2001 the Polish Parliament (Sejm) passed a resolution recognizing the merits of underground organizations and groups fighting for Poland's sovereignty after World War II. The resolution acknowledged their unequal struggle against the Soviet takeover of Poland and paid tribute to the fallen and murdered soldiers and the imprisoned members of all organizations that were persecuted by the postwar communist authorities. This was the first official recognition of such magnitude intended to honor the fighters of the armed anti-communist underground.[14] The bill was signed into law by President Bronisław Komorowski on 9 February 2011 and published in the Poland's Dziennik Ustaw Nr 32 / 160 on 15 February 2011.[15] The National Day of Remembrance of the "Cursed Soldiers" is now commemorated every year in Poland on 1 March.

The original request to establish the Day of Remembrance was submitted in 2009 by Polish war veterans' organizations, including the World Union of Home Army Soldiers (Światowy Związek Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej) and the Association of Soldiers of the National Armed Forces (Związek Żołnierzy Narodowych Sił Zbrojnych). The initiative was backed by local authorities and parliamentary groupings including Poland's two main political parties, Civic Platform and Law and Justice. The legislative initiative for the enactment of the new national holiday was taken in 2010 by the late President Lech Kaczyński.[16]

The novel Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzy Andrzejewski and Andrzej Wajda's dramatization of the book, are devoted to the bloody events in Poland in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, depicting an operation by anti-communist resistance fighters to assassinate a commissar.[17]

Notes and references
  1. Staff writer (June 18, 2014), "The Secrets of Uroczysko Baran" [Tajemnica Uroczyska Baran], Oddano hołd żołnierzom AK, NSZ, BCh oraz WiN, Międzyrzec.info
  2. Lublin112.pl (January 10, 2015), "Uroczysko Baran in Kąkolewnica: the Second Katyn" [Uroczysko "Baran" w Kąkolewnicy: Drugi Katyń], Materiał Dziennikarza Obywatelskiego, Lublin.NaszeMiasto.pl
  3. Karolina Bogudał (2017-07-20), "At Uroczysko Baran known as Little Katyn, new exhumations to begin" [Uroczysko Baran: trwa poszukiwanie szczątków ludzkich], W Uroczysku Baran w Kąkolewnicy, zwanym Małym Katyniem, rozpoczęły się prace poszukiwawczo - ekshumacyjne
  4. Tennent H. Bagley (2007). Spy wars: moles, mysteries, and deadly games. Yale University Press. p. 120. ISBN 0-300-12198-9. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
  5. World War II in Europe timeline. WorldWar-2.net  (in English)
  6. The great globe itself: a preface to world affairs By William Bullitt, Francis P. Sempa  (in English)
  7. The Economy and Economic History of Poland by Thayer Watkins, San José State University  (in English)
  8. Poland - The Historical Setting Archived 2009-06-15 at the Wayback Machine, Polish Academic Information Center, University at Buffalo  (in English)
  9. The establishment of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, 1944-1949 By Norman Naimark  (in English)
  10. Soviet NKVD, at www.warsawuprising.com  (in English)
  11. God's Playground: 1795 to the present By Norman Davies  (in English)
  12. Civil war in Poland. Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia, Volume 2, Bernard A. Cook  (in English)
  13. "Stalinism in Poland: 1945-1956" by Dr John Bates, 2000, at www.arts.gla.ac.uk Archived 2005-12-19 at the Wayback Machine  (in English)
  14. "Uchwała Senatu RzP dnia 4 lutego 2011 roku w sprawie ustawy o ustanowieniu Narodowego Dnia Pamięci "Żołnierzy Wyklętych"" (PDF). Senat RP. 4 February 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 16, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  15. "Prezydent podpisał ustawę o Dniu Pamięci "Żołnierzy Wyklętych"". Polska Agencja Prasowa. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  16. Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. "Będziemy mieli nowe święto: Narodowy Dzień Pamięci "Żołnierzy Wyklętych"". PAP. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  17. Falkowska, Janina; Hames, Peter (2004). The Cinema of Central Europe. Wallflower Press. pp. 65–74. ISBN 1904764207.
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