Aparat bezpieczeństwa publicznego na Pomorzu Zachodnim w latach 1945-1947
The Apparatus of Public Security in Western Pomerania in the Years 1945-1947

Summary/Abstract: Polish communists, wishing to seize and consolidate power in Poland, created a strong and efficient apparatus modelled upon the Soviet NKVD. It was an important element of the process of establishing and safeguarding the new authority. The leadership of the Polish Workers Party (PPR) was from the very beginning aware that without the so-called peoples apparatus of oppression, i.e. the army, the security office and the police force it would be impossible to successfully end the strife for absolute domination on the Polish political scene. Once the structure of the security offices had been established, they engaged in combat not only with the legal opposition but also with the armed underground resistance movement. It must be strongly emphasized that offices of public security were a crucial factor in fighting against the enemies of the PPR. They carried out the orders of the party’s central leadership promptly and ruthlessly, often disregarding the law. Their aim was to crush political opponents even if the latter did not commit any crime or offence. Their mode of operation can be summed up by ‘‘the maxim the end justifies the means’’. The article presents the genesis, structure and activity of the apparatus of public security in Western Pomerania in the years immediately after the Second World War.

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