Role of the Polish Internal Security Corps in the October Crisis of 1956

摘要

This thesis, compiled entirely from open source material, traces the history of the Polish Internal Security Corps (Korpus Bezpieczen-staw Wewnetrznego), as the KBW, from 1945 to 1956. It examines the origins, the development and the utilization of the KBW during the October Crisis of 1956. The deployment of the KBW during the October crisis was of particular importance because it was the first time since World War II that Poland refused to accept blindly the mandates of her Soviet masters and, instead, followed her instincts as a nation of the brink of freedom. At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Soviets brought a very different kind of occupation to Poland. The Soviet occupation of Poland exceeded simple control by traditional military forces. In order to insure unquestioned compliance with communist doctrine, Stalin authorized the development of a secret police organization in Poland. This organization, advised and led by seasoned Soviet State Security (KGB) personnel, was made up of Polish citizens whose loyalty to Marxist ideology was beyond reproach. Soviet manipulation of this organization seemed to negate the already remote possibility of forming any sort of alliance which would pose a direct or indirect threat to the Soviet control of Poland.