Naczelnicy więzień w Rawiczu i Wronkach 1945-1956

• Main Author: Bedyński Krystian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN 2009-01-01
• Series: Archiwum Kryminologii
• Subjects: historia więziennictwa w polsce; history of prison service in poland
• Online Access: http://czasopisma.inp.pan.pl/index.php/ak/article/view/157/bedynski_naczelnicy_wiezien_w_rawiczu_i_wronkach_1945-1956_10.7420AK2009M.pdf

The prison system being organised since August 1944, became a part of the Ministry of Public Security. Such a solution, dictated by political considerations, copied the Soviet model, which treated the prison guard as a part of the armed organ of the government. Identification of prison staff with the Ministry of Safety was expressed in the wording of official vows made by the guards which started: "I, a public safety officer". This unity was stressed for decades in prison staff politics, in employee certificates, and in the assessment of the implementation of tasks assigned to prison guards. The primary task put in words on the 4th of October 1944 by Boleslaw Bierut was "to render harmless those who oppose the program of PKWN [the communist Committee of National Liberation]." This directive and the subsequent resolutions and decisions of the party (PPR, PZPR) and ministries (MBP, MSW) requiring repressive treatment of political prisoners was noted in the subordinate units as a political and official license for brutality and sadism towards such prisoners. Since the beginning of the postwar system of prison system detention centres, prison and labor camps were places of repression and extermination of the citizens who were considered political opponents. Apart from the repressive measures the prison system also performed an oppressive function towards society, which was to serve the pacification pro-independence feelings. Since November 1944, the prisoners started to be classified into one of the following groups: common criminals, Volksdeutsches, persons cooperating with Germans, anti-state. Since February 1945, the term "anti-state prisoner" started to define an accused (convicted) associated with the AK and NSZ [anti-communist military organizations], war criminals and collaborators. Putting the former soldiers of the AK, NSZ, and BCH with the rest of prisoners stigmatised them, and was a part of an affliction and persecution. In practice, their status was lower (worse) than the status of other prisoners, particularly Germans. In the fifties, the rules for classification of the convicted changed twice, each time worsening the situation of political prisoners. Based on the principle of so-called unity of jurisdiction and performance required tougher sentences along with accordingly tougher prison treatment. Types of prisons corresponded to prisoners’ classification. In April 1945, eight major prisons were singled out, where the political prisoners were consigned after judgment. In January 1946, two large prison units were given the status of the central prisons, namely the facilities in Rawicz and Wronki. They retained the status of objects for political prisoners until 1956. The essential precondition for the problem and repressive and exterminative nature of these prisons was appointment of the positions of a chief, his deputy, and heads of special (operational) and political-educational departments.