Amnesties in Poland, 1945–1956: what the acts granted and to whom

In brief

• In 1945–1956 four amnesty acts were published: the decree of 2 August 1945 and the acts of 22 February 1947, 22 November 1952 and 27 April 1956^1,2,3,4.
• The amnesties of 1945 and 1947 forgave membership of an illegal association on a condition: within a short deadline the person had to leave the association (1945) or cease the activity and declare it to the authorities (1947)^1,2.
• The 1952 act reduced sentences according to their length, but for those convicted under, among others, Articles 85 and 86 of the Polish Army Criminal Code a court could grant it only on the prosecutor's motion — except for those who were minors at the time of the offence³.
• The 1956 act forgave some political offences punishable by up to five years and treated the conviction as void⁴.

The table gives selected provisions that mattered to political prisoners: the date before which offences were covered, how prison sentences were reduced, what happened to death sentences, and the conditions. Each act contained more detail — before relying on a particular provision, read its text; links to the scans of the Journal of Laws are in the notes. All the texts are in Polish.

The table

“The 1946 decree” is the decree of 13 June 1946 on crimes particularly dangerous during the reconstruction of the state. Bogumił Studziński, among others, was sentenced under that decree and the Polish Army Criminal Code⁵.

1945: “on the anniversary of the PKWN”

The decree of 2 August 1945 was issued “to commemorate the Feast of Poland's Rebirth on the anniversary of the creation of the Polish Committee of National Liberation and the formation of the Government of National Unity”. It covered offences committed before 22 July 1945. It forgave membership of an illegal association to anyone who “left the ranks of the association and returned to normal life” within a month of the decree's entry into force; those who held top leading positions in the association and did not leave it together with their subordinates were excluded¹. A decree of 22 September 1945 extended these deadlines to 15 October 1945⁶.

1947: disclosure

The act of 22 February 1947 was passed “to commemorate the opening of the Legislative Sejm” and the election of the president. It covered offences committed before 5 February 1947. It forgave membership of a “criminal association” to anyone who voluntarily ceased the activity and declared this to the public security authorities — or did so within two months before a commission of representatives of the security authorities and the national council. Separate conditions applied to weapons and desertion².

1952: “to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution”

The act of 22 November 1952 was passed to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution on 22 July 1952. Sentences already reduced under the 1945 or 1947 amnesty could not be reduced again. For those convicted under, among others, Articles 85 and 86 of the Polish Army Criminal Code, a court could apply the amnesty only on the prosecutor's motion and only if they had not been organisers of the association, had not held leading positions in it and had not taken part in attacks; these restrictions did not apply to those who were under 18 at the time of the offence³. This is most probably the act Bogumił Studziński's biographies refer to — see our article on Rawicz prison.

1956: “the conviction is treated as void”

The act of 27 April 1956 covered offences committed before 15 April 1956. It listed by name the provisions it applied to — among others Chapters I and II of the 1946 decree and Chapter XVII of the Polish Army Criminal Code. For forgiven offences the conviction was treated as void and criminal records were removed from the register of convicts⁴. After this amnesty political prisoners were released from Rawicz⁷.

Where the data come from

All the acts come from the Journal of Laws; the Polish Sejm publishes the scans through its legal acts interface (ELI). We read them on the page images, because the automatically recognised text contains errors. Whether an amnesty was applied in a particular person's case is shown by the court files; how to request them is explained in our guide to IPN files.