Stalinist prisons in Poland in books: Rawicz, Wronki, Sztum, Jaworzno

In brief

• Elwira J. Kryńska names Rawicz, Wronki, Sztum, Strzelce Opolskie and Fordon as the high-security prisons to which young people convicted of political activity were sent¹.
• Rawicz, where Bogumił Studziński served his sentence, and Wronki are described by former prisoners in the anthology „W złowieszczych murach Wronek i Rawicza lat 1945–1956” (1995)^2,3.
• The largest item is the volume „Więźniowie Wronek w okresie stalinowskim” published by the IPN in 2016 — 1,140 pages on the years 1945–1948⁴.
• The oldest book in the list came out in the underground press: Andrzej Sołdrowski's „Spisani na straty” (1987), published under a pen name — a year before „W lochach socjalizmu”^5,6.

This list covers books on the prisons and camps where the communist authorities held political prisoners in 1944–1956: memoirs, studies, lists of prisoners and conference papers. We chose them from the National Library of Poland catalogue — by the subject headings of particular prisons (for example “Zakład Karny (Wronki)” and “Progresywne Więzienie dla Młodocianych (Jaworzno)”) and by the heading “Więźniowie polityczni” (political prisoners). They are ordered by year of publication. The descriptions give the title, publisher, length and subject headings according to the National Library catalogue, and information about the authors according to its authority file; we do not review the books. All are in Polish.

1. „Spisani na straty” (1987)

The title means Written off; full title: „Spisani na straty. W stalinowskich więzieniach PRL” (Written off: in the Stalinist prisons of the Polish People's Republic). According to the Museum of Free Speech bibliography, the underground publisher Wydawnictwo Most issued it in Warsaw (1987, A5 format, 61 pages, offset print) under the pen name Władysław Łużyczański; the author was Andrzej Sołdrowski^5,7. The National Library authority file describes him as a Home Army soldier and a political prisoner in 1950–1955, a specialist in industrial construction⁸. The next edition, under the author's own name, came out in Wrocław in 1996 (Nortom, 89 pages)⁵.

2. Stanisław Krupa, „X Pawilon” (1989)

Full title: „X Pawilon: wspomnienia AK-owca ze śledztwa na Rakowieckiej” (Pavilion X: a Home Army soldier's memoir of interrogation in Rakowiecka Street). Published by Omnipress (Warsaw 1989, 102 pages); the National Library catalogue describes it with the headings Pavilion X (a prison in Warsaw) and prisons in Warsaw, 1944–1956⁹. According to the National Library authority file, the author was a soldier of the “Zośka” battalion, a journalist and writer¹⁰.

3. Franciszek Chmielewski, „»Kwadrans« na Rakowieckiej” (1992)

Full title: „»Kwadrans« na Rakowieckiej: 1948–1956” (“A quarter of an hour” in Rakowiecka Street, 1948–1956). Published by Bellona (Warsaw 1992, 212 pages); the National Library catalogue describes it as a memoir¹¹. According to the National Library authority file, the author was a surgeon¹².

4. „Wronki: 1945–1956” (1994)

A 16-page brochure connected with the first national reunion of political prisoners of the Central Prison in Wronki, 1945–1956, held on 22 May 1993; published by the District Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Poznań¹³.

5. „Straceni w polskich więzieniach” (1994)

Full title: „Straceni w polskich więzieniach: 1944–1956” (Executed in Polish prisons, 1944–1956), edited by Sławomir Pająk. Published by Retro in Lublin (1994, 166 pages). The National Library catalogue describes it as a list and a source edition, with the headings death penalty, the political and armed underground (1944–1956) and political prisoners¹⁴.

6. „W złowieszczych murach Wronek i Rawicza lat 1945–1956” (1995)

The title means Within the sinister walls of Wronki and Rawicz, 1945–1956; subtitle: „wspomnienia więźniów politycznych” (memoirs of political prisoners). The anthology was prepared by the Wielkopolska branch of the Association of Political Prisoners of the Stalinist Period, edited by Witold Jóźwiak and Witold de Mezer; it was published in Poznań (1995, 191 pages, with photographs). National Library headings: Rawicz, Wronki, the Home Army, political prisoners³.

7. Mateusz Wyrwich, „Łagier Jaworzno” (1995)

Full title: „Łagier Jaworzno: z dziejów czerwonego terroru” (The Jaworzno lager: from the history of the red terror). Published by Editions Spotkania (Warsaw 1995, 175 pages); National Library headings: the Jaworzno labour camp, political persecution¹⁵. A second edition was published in 2013 by Oficyna Wydawnicza “Rytm”¹⁶. According to the National Library authority file, the author is a political scientist and journalist¹⁷.

8. „Więźniowie polityczni na Zamku Lubelskim (1944–1954)” (1996)

Political prisoners in Lublin Castle, 1944–1954: papers from a conference (Lublin, 8–9 December 1993) edited by Alina Gałan and Zygmunt Mańkowski, prepared by the District Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Lublin. Published by “Czas” (Lublin 1996, 143 pages, with a bibliography and an index)¹⁸.

9. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk, „Jaroszów” (2006)

Full title: „Jaroszów: Ośrodek Pracy Więźniów – więzienie (1950–1965)” (Jaroszów: a prisoners' labour centre and prison, 1950–1965). Published by the Wrocław branch of the Institute of National Remembrance (2006, 51 pages, illustrated, with an index); National Library headings: the Jaroszów labour camp, political prisoners¹⁹. Elwira J. Kryńska draws on the same author's research for her figures on juvenile political prisoners in 1951–1954¹.

10. „Jaworzniacy” (2011)

Full title: „Jaworzniacy: opór młodzieży przeciwko sowietyzacji Polski” (The Jaworzno prisoners: young people's resistance to the Sovietisation of Poland). An album based on the 2007 exhibition of the same subtitle; its publishers include the “Jaworzniacy” Association of Juvenile Political Prisoners of 1944–1956 (Warsaw 2011, 40 pages, with colour illustrations)²⁰.

11. Krzysztof Czermański, „Więzienie w Sztumie w epoce totalitaryzmów 1933–1956” (2014)

The prison in Sztum in the age of totalitarianisms, 1933–1956. Published by Wydawnictwo “Bernardinum” (Pelplin 2014, 359 pages, illustrated, with a bibliography)²¹. According to the National Library authority file, the author was a guard and an educator at the Sztum prison²².

12. „Więźniowie Wronek w okresie stalinowskim” (2016)

Full title: „Więźniowie Wronek w okresie stalinowskim. Cz. 1, Lata 1945–1948” (Prisoners of Wronki in the Stalinist period, part 1: 1945–1948), compiled by Grzegorz Barczykowski and Łukasz Przybyłka. Published by the Poznań branch of the Institute of National Remembrance (2016, 1,140 pages, illustrated, in the series „Studia i Materiały Poznańskiego IPN. Dokumenty”, vol. 30). The National Library catalogue describes it as a list⁴.

13. Małgorzata Gałęziowska, „Cechy instytucji totalnej” (2019)

Full title: „Cechy instytucji totalnej na przykładzie kultury organizacyjnej Więzienia Progresywnego w Jaworznie (1951–1956)” (Features of a total institution: the organisational culture of the Progressive Prison in Jaworzno, 1951–1956). Published by the Jagiellonian University Press (Kraków 2019, 607 pages, illustrated). The National Library catalogue describes it as a monograph, with the headings Progressive Prison for Juveniles (Jaworzno), total institutions, organisational culture, prison service²³.

Where next

Rawicz in the years when Studziński served his sentence there is covered in our article “Rawicz prison in the Stalinist years”; the personal files of prisoners of the Central Prison in Rawicz are kept at the IPN archive branch in Poznań²⁴. Władysław Minkiewicz's memoir „Mokotów, Wronki, Rawicz” (1988) is described in our list “Memoirs of communism's prisoners”²⁵, and memoirs by the author's contemporaries, including some from Jaworzno, in “Young political prisoners in Poland, 1944–1956”. How families can check the files is explained in our guide to IPN files.