Communist crimes ( pl, zbrodnie komunistyczne) is a legal definition used in the

Polish Penal Code ''Kodeks Karny'' is Poland's criminal-law code. The name is often abbreviated ''KK''. Modern Polish legal history has seen the introduction of three penal codes: in 1932; in 1969, during the communist era; and in 1997. The last of those has been ...

. The concept of a communist crime is also used more broadly internationally, and is employed by

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

non-governmental organizations as well as government agencies such as the Unitas Foundation, the Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism, the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, the

Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania ( ro, Institutul de Investigare a Crimelor Comunismului în România) is a government-sponsored organization whose mission is to investigate the crimes and abuses conducted while R ...

, and the

Office for the Documentation and the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism The Office of the Documentation and the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism ( cz, Úřad dokumentace a vyšetřování zločinů komunismu, abbrev. ÚDV) is the Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a coun ...

Polish law

In legal terminology – as defined by the Article 2.1 of the Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw, DzU) of the Republic of Poland issued 18 December 1998, "communist crimes" constitute crimes committed by the functionaries of the communist apparatus between 17 September 1939 and 31 December 1989. The crimes defined therein form either political repression or direct violation of

of an individual or a group; including those, otherwise named in Polish criminal law of that particular time. The concept also covers several other illegal activities prohibited by Polish laws already in place since 1932, such as falsification of documents and using them with the intent to cause harm to people mentioned in them. . Art. 2.1. . Retrieved as of 8 May 2007. The concept of communist crimes was legally introduced in 1998 and revised several times.''Ustawa..'', see headings of document for list of legal acts published in

Dziennik Ustaw ''Dziennik Ustaw'' or ''Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej'' ( en, Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland, abbreviated Dz. U.) is the most important Polish publication of legal acts. It is the only official source of law for promulgati ...

modifying the original document It was designed to facilitate studies of events and

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

of people in authority who committed crimes against Polish citizens as well as the Polish state.The concept of a communist crime is also applicable if the victim was not a Polish citizen but was wronged on Polish territory. The definition is conceptually similar to the legal concept of a

Nazi crime Nazi crime or Hitlerite crime ( pl, Zbrodnia nazistowska or ''zbrodnia hitlerowska'') is a legal concept used in the Polish legal system, referring to an action which was carried out, inspired, or tolerated by public functionaries of Nazi Germany ...

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A functionary of a communist state is defined as a public official including those who received legal protection similar to public officials, particularly government officials and leaders of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

.''Ustawa..'', Art. 2.2. The functionaries involved would most likely work for

Polish intelligence This article covers the history of Polish Intelligence services dating back to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Commonwealth Though the first official Polish government service entrusted with espionage, intelligence and counter-intelligence ...

, security service and other internal affairs (particularly

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

and religious affairs) departments. Particular organisations named as examples include Ministry of Public Security of Poland,

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

and Główny Zarząd Informacji Wojska Polskiego.''Ustawa..'', Art. 5.1. The communist crimes could have also been committed in Poland by members of foreign civil or military services,''Ustawa..'', Art. 5.2. such as the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

SMERSH SMERSH (russian: СМЕРШ) was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Josep ...

, and Stasi. Crimes, recognised by

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

as crimes against humanity,

crimes against peace A crime of aggression or crime against peace is the planning, initiation, or execution of a large-scale and serious act of aggression using state military force. The definition and scope of the crime is controversial. The Rome Statute contains an ...

, and war crimes, are not affected by the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

in Poland. Those crimes are not affected either by the former

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

or abolition decrees issued in communist Poland before 7 December 1989.''Ustawa..'', Art. 4.3. In case of murders, the Polish statute of limitations begins on 1 August 1990 and runs for 40 years, and for 30 years for other crimes.''Ustawa..'', Art. 4.1. The concept has replaced the term Stalinist crime (''zbrodnia stalinowska'') previously used in Polish law for similar acts, just as the concept of

has replaced that of the Hitlerite crime. Both ''Stalinist'' and ''Hitlerite'' crimes were first defined by Polish legislation in 1991. While drafting the concept of the communist crime, Polish legislators specifically discarded the notion that a communist crime is equal to a Nazi crime, or that the legislation of the communist crime can be based on that of the Nazi crime (already defined in the legislation of 31 August 1944), as while similar on some levels they are different enough on others to make

analogies Analogy (from Greek ''analogia'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "against", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning" is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject ...

unacceptable. Communist crimes are primarily investigated by the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation ( pl, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state resea ...

, a special research institute with

powers, created by the same legislation that defined the concept of the communist crime in 1998. Two examples of such unsolved communist crimes are the Augustów roundup and Kąkolewnica massacre, also known as the Baran Forest massacre.

Sources

Communist Crimes (hosted by the Unitas Foundation)

* ttp://www.doomedsoldiers.com/augustow-roundup.html The Augustow Roundup
Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Killed More? by Timothy Snyder

Notes and references

{{Prague Process Decommunization Law of Poland Crimes Commemoration of communist crimes

Polish law

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See also

Sources

Notes and references