This national research-educational programme has been launched as the result of the process of accumulating archival documents of the former special services. The goal of the programme is a multifaceted analysis and dissemination of knowledge on the Communist security apparatus functioning in Poland in the years 1944-1989, with an emphasis on its role in combating opposition and civil resistance phenomena.

The research programme on the Security Apparatus and Civil Resistance focuses on the analysis of two phenomena:

• functioning of the repression apparatus (state security and justice organs) - its organizational structure, cadres and relations with other state authority and party organs;

• activities of the repression apparatus directed against particular selected social groups and organizations.

The research is based on the documentation which has been gradually being gathered in the IPN's archives and encompasses seven projects which are either devoted to particular, clearly defined periods or focus on the process which continued throughout the whole period of 1944-1989.

1. Structure and methods of functioning of the People's Poland security apparatus

Branch Public Education Offices as well as the main Public Education Office are engaged in the project which is co-ordinated by dr. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk (Branch Public Education Office in Wrocωaw). The first stage of the project will be devoted to the elaboration of the data concerning the following posts (names of people as well as dates of assuming the posts):

• Ministry of Public Security (1944-1954), Commission for Public Security (1954-1956) and Ministry of Internal Affairs (1954) - ministers and vice-ministers, directors and heads of departments and units as well as their deputies;

• Voievodship Offices of Public Security - directors of the Voievodship Offices , their deputies, heads of units and their deputies;

• Provincial Offices of Public Security - heads and their deputies.

The list containing these data will be available on the Internet site.

Simultaneously, the project envisions the elaboration of three publications: Territorial Security Apparatus in the Years 1944-1956 (a collection of analyses edited by K. Szwagrzyk concerning various aspects of the functioning of Voievodship and Provincial Offices of Public Security, such as their human resources, disputes concerning the allocation of responsibilities between them, contact with the Polish United Workers' Party); Security Apparatus in Poland 1953-1954 (a selection of documents illustrating the activities of the Communist special services, such as minutes of the meetings, speeches, reports, analyses and elaborations, selected and edited by G. Majchrzak and A. Paczkowski); Normative Acts of the Ministry of Public Security 1944-1950 (the first out of two volumes of orders, instructions, and directives produced by the security organ, selected and elaborated by B. Kopka).

A publication encompassing the panoramic view of the researched state security apparatus will constitute an educational element of the research project.

An international conference will be organized in 2004. Its aim will be to exchange the experience of Polish and foreign historians in their work on examining the structures and methods employed by the totalitarian state security organs, especially in the Soviet type regimes.

2. Security apparatus in the combat with political and military underground 1944-1956

The goal of the project, co-ordinated by dr. Rafaω Wnuk (Branch Public Education Office in Lublin), is to depict various organizations of the Polish military and political underground in the territories of today's Poland as well as the combat of these formations by the Communist security apparatus.

A publication entitled The Underground as the Object of the Security State Apparatus' Operational Activities. Studies and Materials will be prepared within the frames of the project. 

The second stage of the project will be devoted to the elaboration of the Atlas of the Polish Independence Underground 1944-1956 which will include maps illustrating the activities of various conspiracy organizations in particular region of the country. They will be accompanied by descriptions of particular organizations and most important military units as well as iconographical materials. The Atlas will consists of two parts covering respectively the 1944-1947 and 1948-1956 years.

3. Activities of the security apparatus against the political emigration

The project, co-ordinated by Professor Ryszard Terlecki (Branch Public Education Office in Krak󷩬 will result in the elaboration of a volume of studies devoted to various aspects of Communist special services' activities against Poles who lived abroad. The following topics will be included:

• Security apparatus and emigration - structure, methods and directions of activities of the Radio Free Europe in the documents of the Security Office and Security Service;

• Scope and forms of invigilation of the Joseph Piωsudski Institute in New York;

• The Berg's Case;

• Activities of the Security Office and Security Service towards the Literary Institute in Paris;

• Invigilation of the co-operation among scientific circles in Poland and abroad.

4. Security apparatus in the combat with the Church and freedom of believes

The project, co-ordinated by dr. Adam Dziurok (Branch Public Education Office in Katowice), is going to lead to the elaboration of a volume of documents on Methods of the security apparatus operational work against Churches and religious organizations in the years 1944-1989.

Simultaneously, the participants of the project conduct individual research on issues related to the anti-Church repressions, such as, among others, security apparatus against the Catholic Church in the Katowice Diocese in the years 1945-1989, security apparatus against non-Catholic religions; repressions against priests in the years 1944-1956, authorities' attitude towards the visits of John Paul II in Polish People's Republic, repressions against the Catholic Church in Lower Silesia and Opole Silesia in the years 1945-1956, Karol Wojtyωa in the documents of the Polish People's Republic documents; Polish and German authorities' policies towards the Catholic Church in Wielkopolska in the years 1939-1956.

5. Authorities vis-a-vis social crises and democratic opposition in the years 1956-1989

The goal of the project , co-ordinated by dr. Antoni Dudek (Public Education Office in Warsaw), is to show the reaction of the Polish People's Republic authorities to the cyclically re- appearing social crises as well as the reconstruction of the fate of the anti-systemic opposition and methods of its combat by the security services.

A seminar devoted to Forms of oppositional activities in the years 1956-1989 will be organized in 2003. Seminar presentations will include excerpts of research conducted within the frames of the project. The presentations will then be published either in the form of a separate publication or on the pages of the periodical Remembrance and Justice as well as on the Internet site. 

Three publications on the March 1968 by Jerzy Eisler, Lower Silesian Society vis-a-vis the crises in the Polish People's Republic by ωukasz Kami񳫩 and on the decomposition of the monopolistic authority of the United Polish Workers' Party in 1989 by Antoni Dudek are envisioned as follow-ups of the project.

6. List of the repressed and sentenced to death

This project, conducted by all Branch Public Education Offices, will include the following tasks:

• Filling in the personal questionnaires of people sentenced to death (with the exception of criminals) in the years 1946-1956 by Regional Military Courts and national courts;

• Collecting testimonies of people sentenced to death for political reasons;

• Preparing the elaboration on the activities of the Regional Military Courts as an instrument of political repressions;

• Making results of the project available on the Internet site.

The project is co-ordinated by Jan ωaryn (Public Education Office in Warsaw).

7. Bibliography of the conspiracy, resistance and repression 1944-1989

The preparation of the list is under way in the Branch Public Education Office in Krak󷮠Wojciech Frazik is in charge of the project.