Soldiers of the Home Army are Sentenced to Death in Poland

In May, 17 members of the Polish Resistance Movement - the Home Army (Ruch Oporu Armii Krajowej, ROAK) - were convicted of terrorist activities in Pułtusk County (70km from Warsaw). On the 18th, three defendants - Konstanty Kocziszewski, Edmund Zakrzewski and Mieczysław Kamiński - were sentenced to death.

However, although the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK) was disbanded on 19 January 1945, many officers and active members of the Polish resistance did not accept a pro-Soviet regime being established in Poland which meant an actual loss of political independence. Fearing arrest, they hid in forests and continued their underground activities.

Konstanty Kocziszewski was one of these fighters: he was a participant in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, a member of the Batalion Pięść and known under the pseudonyms “Plon” and “Gorka”.Zakrzewski and Kaminski have both been the subject of a biography.

In fact, the Polish resistance movement existed until the beginning of the Fifties, but its peak fell on the first three post-war years and its actions were predominantly anti-communist at that time.

Several underground organisations operated in the country - Freedom and Independence (Wolność i Niezawisłość, WiN), which was mainly engaged in the socialisation of former AK members as civilians, the Polish Army at Home (Armia Polska w Kraju), the National Military Union (Narodowe Zjednoczenie Wojskowe, NZW) and others.

In 1947, Colonel of the State Security Services Julia Brystiger nicknamed "Bloody Luna" declared that "the terrorist and political underground groups had ceased to exist as a threatening force" and that the remaining state enemies in universities, the civil service and factories must "be found and neutralized". Arrests and executions continued until the death of Stalin and changes took place in the Soviet leadership.

In 1956, the Polish government announced an amnesty under which 35,000 former soldiers of the Home Army were released.

Source:  

Zygmunt Woźniczka, Zrzeszenie «Wolność i Niezawisłość» 1945—1952 (Warszawa: Instytut Prasy i Wydawnictw «Novum» — «Semex», 1992)