https://doi.org/10.31261/WSN.2014.14.02.05
After the Red Army entered Eastern regions of Poland between July and August of 1944, southern Podlasie (the eastern part of what is now the Mazovia Province and a part of the Lublin Province — Biała Podlaska, Siedlce, Łuków, Radzyń Podlaski, Sokołów, Węgrów Podlaski among others) became a part of the so-called “Lublin Poland”. Their initial moves were to eliminate or arrest the representatives of the Polish Underground State, mainly delegates of the Polish Government in Exile, and subsequently — to destroy the structures of Polish military conspiracy, chiefly the Home Army, by arresting and executing many officers, placing them in camps (such as Krześlinek, Świdry, Sokołów Podlaski, and Borowicze) and deporting Home Army commanders and soldiers to the USSR.
After creating the Provisional Government of National Unity in June 1945, the return of StanisławMikołajczyk to the country, and creating the Polish People’s Party, 2800 persons — working in conspiracy until then — decided to reveal themselves. However, several thousands of soldiers
decided to stay “in the forest”, as a result of repressions of the Security Service towards many exposed members of the underground. Before the 1946 referendum and the 1947 Legislative Parliament election, repressions of the communist authorities towards both the legal and illegal opposition intensified, which resulted in a significant debilitation of the armed conspiracy. Additionally, as a result of the amnesty from February 22nd, 1947, over 5700 members of the anti-communist underground decided to reveal themselves. The remaining conspirators consisted of a few units remaining from the Home Army, the National Armed Forces, and the “MiecziPług” organization. Most of them ended their activities in 1948. The armed activities of the anti-communist underground in southern Podlasie between 1944 and 1948 left a bloody toll on both sides of the political barricade. About 240 people died at the hands of the communists in the Sokołów district; in the Siedlce district 430 people died between 1944 and 1954; in the Radzyń district — about 120 people; in the Włodawa district — over 1300 people. Overall, approximately 2500 people died at the hands of the communist authorities in southern Podlasie between 1944 and 1948. It is necessary to add the victims of the popular justice, sentencing 100 people to death; overall, there were 2600 victims of communism in Podlasie. Adding about 900 people who were killed by the members of the independence underground, the death toll increases to about 3500 people. It is the price that the people of southern Podlasie paid during power struggles between 1944 and 1948.
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Vol. 7 No. 12 (2014)
Published: 2018-01-16
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