Służba Bezpieczeństwa Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych (Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), or just SB, was the name of communist internal intelligence agency and secret police, established in the People's Republic of Poland in 1956. It was the main organ in PRL responsible for political repression.

SB replaced the earlier Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (UB, Office of Security) which was the unofficial but popular name of the Ministry of Public Security of Poland (Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego). Until 1990, the name Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (UB) has remained the common form of referring to the SB, and its agents were referred to as ubecy (plural, sigular ubek).

It was replaced by the Urząd Ochrony Państwa in 1990 after the fall of communism.

History

Służba Bezpieczeństwa (lit. "Security Service", functioning as Secret Police) was established in November 1956 after the dissolution of the Komitet do spraw Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego (Committee for Public Security), which was responsible for the political police, counter-intelligence, intelligence, personal protection and confidential communications. It was the well-known successor of Ministry of Public Security of Poland (Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), better known as the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, or UB (Office of Security).

After these changes, the main structure responsible for political police, counter-intelligence, intelligence, criminal police, border guards, correctional facilities, and fire rescue was the Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych or MSW, (Ministry of Internal Affairs), which had been established two years earlier (in 1954) for administrative duties. Służba Bezpieczeństwa became the III Department of MSW.

SB activities

After it was renamed as the SB in 1956, it entered a period of relative inaction during the era of reform instituted by Władysław Gomułka. However, after 1968, it was revived as a stronger body and became responsible for implementing political repression (mostly by murdering hostile citizens), most notably in the case of the Solidarity movement, the leader of which, Lech Wałęsa, was under constant SB surveillance, until its replacement by the Urząd Ochrony Państwa in 1990 after the fall of communism.

SB victims

Those executed by the SB included TAP co-founder Witold Pilecki; the commander of Kedyw, General Emil August Fieldorf "Nil"; Major Zygmunt Szendzielarz; Cichociemni member Major Hieronim Dekutowski "Zapora"; Scoutmaster Jan Rodowicz "Anoda"; Catholic priest Jerzy Popiełuszko; and Cichociemni member Bolesław Kontrym. Since 1990, many SB operatives have been tried for their crimes.

References

• Henryk Piecuch, Brudne gry: ostatnie akcje Służb Specjalnych (seria: Tajna Historia Polski) [Dirty Games: the Last Special Services Operations ("Secret History of Poland" series)], Warsaw, Agencja Wydawnicza CB, 1998.

See also

• Instytut Pamięci Narodowej
• Rakowiecka prison
• Montelupich prison