COMMUNIST PURGE BEGUN IN POLAND; NEW PARTY OFFICIALS NAMED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600320208-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 208
• Publication Date: June 20, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION. CONFIDENTI1ONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY Poland
SUBJECT Political - Internal
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily, thrice-weekly, weekly newspapers
WHERE
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950
DATE DIST. oze Jul 1950
Quakenbruck
DATE
PUBLISHED 31 Jan - 15 May 1950
THIS DOCUMENT I.ONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATE! WITHIN THE MEANING OF ESPIONAGE ACT SO
V. 5. C., SI AND 3E. AS AUENDL_ ITS TRANSMI3510N OR TOE REY ELATION
OF ITS CONTENT! IN ANY MANNER TD AN AIRAUTH0RIZED PERSON IS PRO-
NIBITEO BY LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
COMMUNIST PURGE BEGUN IN POLAND;
NEW PARTY OFFICIALS NAMED
MINC IN DISFAVOR -- Svenska Dagbladet, No 129, 15 May 50
Vienna, 14 May -- There are many indications that the power of Hilary
Minc, the most talented and independent of the Polish Communists and hereto-
fore dictator of the Polish economy, has come to an end. This trained na-
tional economist, who even before t.ie war, as an expert in the field of in-
dustrial statistics, held an important national post under the administration
then in power, is certainly an orthodox Marxist. But at the beginning of
1949, when the Committee for Economic Mutual Assistance began to coordinate
the production plans of the associated countries into a common plan, Minc be-
came involved in a controversy with Moscow. He had slowed down the tempo of
the socialization of agriculture; he also wanted the trade unions to retain
certain functions which, in the eyes of his critics, should be taken over by
the state. In the matter of the distribution of work between the Polish, and
Soviet economies, he energetically defended Poland's interests on several oc-
casions, e.g., he succeeded in effecting the return to Poland of a factory
the Russians had dismantled.
He weathered the crisis that time, having gone to Moscow himself, and
publicly gave his support to the Soviet directive on the introduction of the
kolkhoz system into Polish agriculture. He then rose to the post of first
deputy premier, but in his capacity as leader of the State Planning Commis-
sion he was assigned two other Communist political economists to watch him.
For some curious reason, the development of the state production plan
was delayed. When it was made public for the first time, it was not Minc
who announced it, but one of the two other leaders of the Planning Commission,
Minister Jendrychowski, who, since he went over from the Catholic youth move-
ment to the Communist camp, has been distinguished for his fanaticism.
Since the beginning of May, Minc has no longer been first deputy pre-
mier. The former trade. union leader, Alexander Zawadzki, who, together with
State Se,:retar;F Berman, ie a regular representative of Poland at all Comin-
form conferences, has been named to that post,
CONFIDENTIAL
IISTATE
CLASSIFICATION CONFmENTT_L
NAVY NSRR L1ICTDIRTIITIFTN
AIR FBI_
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. Very little mention has been made of Minc for quite a long time, but
this is explained officially on the grounds of Minc's state of health; Minc
is only 46 years old. However, there is much to indicate that Mine's un-
doctrinary interpretation of Marxist ideas and the independent economy he
favors for Poland have decidedly cooled Moscow's feelings toward him.
CONFIDENTIAL
3 NEW POLISH POLITBURO SECRETARIES NAMED -- Svenska Dagbladet, No 127,
13 May 5P
In a 12 May communique, it was announced that the number of secretaries
in the Politburo has been increased from three to six. The new secretaries
are: Franciszek Mazur, who last month was one of the members of the govern-
ment signing the new agreement between the church and the state; Brig Gen
Edr;srd Ochab, Vice-Minister of National Defense; and Zenon Nowak, an old Com-
munist about whom very little is known.
Early on 12 May it was considered by diplomatic circles in Warsaw that
these changes in the leadership of the Politburo are the signal for changes
in the composition of the Polish government.
On 28 March 1950, Dziennik Polski in London published an unconfirmed
report stating that former Vice-Premier Gomulka and Spychalski have been
under arrest for some time.
The Communist Party is interested in staging demonstration trials to
serve specific tactical purposes. Some of these trials take place shortly
after the arrest of the defendants. Such was the case of the Frenchman
Robineau. In most cases, however, the accused wait for many months -- some-
times as long as 2 years -- before the Communist Party finds the time ripe
for the trial.
An analysis of the charges against those now held in jail indicates
that all demonstration trials may be divided into three principal categor-
ies: (1) trials intended to denounce and attack the church, (2) trials
against nationalist deviationists, usually linked with charges of espion-
age, and (3) trials against political opponents of the present regime and
men linked with past Polish governments and political parties.
The suit of Father Kaczynski and Tygodnik Warszawski, a Catholic weekly,
is meant to hit the Catholic Church. The Polish Police closed down the
weekly at the end of August 1948. Studentowicz, the weekly's editor, was
arrested while trying to escape abroad. Father Kaczynski and the two Kwa-
sieborski brothers were also arrested.
The news of the arrests of Gomulka and General Spychalski may be re-
garded as highly probable. Even if the police have not yet thrown them,in
Jail, their arrest is simply a matter of time. The charges made at the
plenary session of the Communist Party in November 1949 indicate that court
proceedings against them are almost certain.
However, other high government officials will be tried first because
their testimony will gravely incriminate both Gomulka and Spychalski. These
officials are: Woldzi.:.ierz Lechowicz, Minister of Food, arrested in October
1948., and charged with spying on government and Party members; Jaroszewicz,
Vice-Minister of Food; and Jozef Dubiel, Vice-Minister for Recovered Terri-
tories, believed to be a Gomulka protege. The latter is also accused of hav-
ing barn a Gestapo agent.
g
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F.-nil~~1
Stanislaw Kowalewski, former Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Ryszard Borowy,
former Vice-Minister of Forestry, and Tadeusz Kochanowicz, Vice-Minister of
Social Security, have been in jail without trial since fall 1949.
Trials against former leaders of the PSL (Polish Peasant Party) come in
the third category. Bryja and Mrs Hulewicz have been awaiting trial since
October 1947. They were seized while attempting to cross the border at the
time of Mikolajczyk's escape. P. Siudak, another of Mikolajczyk's collabo-
rators, is also in prison. Franciszek Wojcicki, a PSL leader, was arrested
in January 1949 while trying to escape across the border. His two compan-
ions, Banczyk and Wojcik, succeeded in crossing the border. Another impris-
oned PSL leader is Kulerski.
In Fetruary 1949, there were mass arrests of former members of the Home
Army (AK), particularly of those who once belonged to the famous Zoska and
Parasol formations. Col Jan Mazurkiewica (Radoslaw) had been arrested and
charged with subversive activities, and with plotting the assassination of
Bierut and Cyrankiewica.
It has been rumored in Warsaw that Col J. Rzepecki will also be brought
to trial. The latter was convicted in January 1947, but was later pardoned
by Bierut. Reports of his arrest began to circulate in January 1949.
Colonel Utnik, well known in Polish circles in London, is in jail. His
name was frequently mentioned during the Doboszynsk= trial in July 1949.
Last fall, Colonel U::nik, an attache of the Polish Embassy in London, re-
turned to Poland, where he was arrested.
FORMER POLISH CONSUL REQUESTS ASYLUM IN SWEDEN -- Svenska Dagbla4et,No 92,
5 APr 50
The former Polish consul in Goteborg, Marian BSrtzel-Szuch, who was re-
called in connection with the closing of the consulate in Goteborg on 28 Feb-
ruary, has decided not to return. He intends to seek the right of asylum in
Sweden.
IZYDORCZYK NAMED AMBASSADOR TO GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC -- Wola Ludu, No 31,
.31 Jan 50
Jan Izydorczyk has been appointed chief of the Diplomatic Mission of the
Republic of Poland to the German Democratic Republic to replace Karol Tkocz,
who was obliged to refuse the appointment on account of ill health.
Jan Izydorczyk was born in 1900. His father was a farm laborer. In his
early youth, Izydorczyk also worked as a farm laborer and later as a metal-
worker. In 1919, he was active in the KPP (Polish Communist party) and in
1930 was chosen to the Central Committee of the KPP. He was often imprisoned
by the Sanacja governments,
Izydorczyk spent the entire period of the occupation in concentration
camps: Oswiecim, Brzezinka, and Buchenwald, where he promoted political ac-
tivity. He became secretary of the PPR (Polish Workers' Party) in Buchenwald.
Since the liberation, he has held high positions in the Party and the
State Administration. His most recent position was Vice-Minister of Public
Administration. He is a member of the Central Committee, Polish United Workers
Party and a delegate to the Legislative Sejm.
Izydorczyk was decorated with the Grunwald Cross, III Class, for his serv-
ices in the reconstruction of Poland, and has received other high citations..
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CONFIDENTIAL
GERMANS TO BE EXPELLED FROM POLAND -- Polak, No 10, 9 Mar 50
The Warsaw regime has decided, to expel the rest of the Germans from Po-
land. The first transports are composed of the sick and those unable to
work.
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