Freedom and Independence Association (, or WiN) was a Polish underground

anticommunist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

organisation founded on September 2, 1945, and active until 1952.

Political goals and realities

The main purpose of its activity was to prevent

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

domination over Poland and to fight

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. Although the pursuit of those goals was supposed to be largely peaceful, the fact of Soviet domination over Poland and the increasingly hostile and provocative behavior of local communists frequently resulted in WiN having its hand forced and in military confrontation. Although the WiN forces were well-armed and highly disciplined, they could not hope to fight a prolonged guerrilla war against the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

units, a fact clearly understood by the leadership. Thus, to the extent possible WiN attempted instead to concentrate not on military action but rather on providing assistance (false documents and money) for former soldiers of

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

National Armed Forces National Armed Forces (; NSZ) was a Polish right-wing underground military organization of the National Democracy (Poland), National Democracy operating from 1942. During World War II, NSZ troops fought against Nazi Germany and Gwardia Ludowa, c ...

and other Polish resistance organizations believed not to be allied with the Soviets.Dr. Janusz Marek Kurtyka, Ph.D.
WiN , Freedom and Independence – A Historical Brief
by Instytut Pamięci Narodowej IPN, Poland.

Initial activities

The WiN was the first to carry the news of the falsification of the

1946 Polish people's referendum 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

in an announcement to the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. Members of the organization were persecuted by both the Soviets and the local communists.

soldiers and Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego agents carried out a bloody war with its 30,000 men in Mazowsze and Lubelskie region. The WiN's soldiers liberated many Soviet jails in Poland and killed collaborators and communist agents. However, the organization was penetrated by

Urząd Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security (), was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it was known as the Security Office (, UB), and from 1956 to 1990 as the Security ...

agents, and its security compromised as early as late 1945. In 1946, the new WiN leadership decided to subordinate the organization's structures to the Polish Supreme Commander in the West. Simultaneously, it limited its support for the

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party (, PSL) is a conservative political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although its name was changed to the pre ...

, which had also been infiltrated by Soviet agents). Thereafter, the organization was run by former members of the Home Army. WiN was initially divided into three different geographical operational theatres: Western, run out of

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

; Central, run out of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

; and Southern, run out of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. By 1946, that was reduced to Central and Southern. In January 1947 WiN called on the Polish People's Party to boycott the Soviet-sponsored elections and to await intervention by Western Allies. In October 1949, Tomasz Gołąb, one of its members, founded the anticommunist underground organization of the Underground Home Army, which operated in

Prudnik Prudnik (, , , ) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Prudnik County and Gmina Prudnik. Its population numbers 21,368 inhabitant ...

and its vicinity until 1952.

Talks with Ukrainian underground

Despite protests by the DSZ leadership, recognizing their common origins and similar goals of ridding both Poland and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

of the Soviets, WiN engaged in talks with the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

(UPA). By spring 1945 in the Lublin region and Podlasie, the WiN had signed an armistice with the UPA. Occasionally, WiN and UPA cooperated in destroying

establishments (such as in a joint May 1946 attack on secret police headquarters in

Hrubieszów Hrubieszów (; ; , or ) is a town in southeastern Poland, with a population of around 18,212 (2016). It is the capital of Hrubieszów County within the Lublin Voivodeship. Throughout history, the town's culture and architecture was strongly shaped ...

). Similar agreements were reached in May 1945 in

Ruda Różaniecka Ruda Różaniecka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Narol, within Lubaczów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately west of Narol, north of Lubaczów, and east of the regional capi ...

, as well as April 1945 in Siedliska.

Final days

In April 1947, many WiN members came out of hiding to take advantage of an apparent

amnesty Amnesty () 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 officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

issued by the communist authorities. Instead, many were killed. Members of the organization were accused of plotting the overthrow of the People's Republic along with the Polish leaders in the West such as General

Władysław Anders Władysław Albert Anders (11 August 1892 – 12 May 1970) was a Polish military officer and politician, and prominent member of the Polish government-in-exile in London. Born in Krośniewice-Błonie, then part of the Russian Empire, he serv ...

and the CIA. The show trials for most of the leadership took place in 1947. The Communist repression apparatus under Jakub Berman and Stanislaw Radkiewicz exterminated most of the leadership, and by 1953, the organization had been destroyed. Nonetheless, individual units continued to fight for Polish independence until 1963.Doomed Soldiers – The Untold Story
homepage. Information published later indicated that one of the reasons for the failure of the WIN mission to Poland by the Gehlen Organization was that inside information had been provided to the Soviet Intelligence services by "moles". The Gehlen Organization was an intelligence agency that was established in June 1946 by US occupation authorities in West Germany and controlled by the CIA.

Presidents

#September 2, 1945, to November 5, 1945: Colonel Jan Rzepecki #November 1945 to October 18, 1946: Colonel Franciszek Niepokólczycki #October 1946 to January 5, 1947: Lieutenant-Colonel Wincenty Kwieciński #January 1947 to November 1947: Lieutenant-Colonel

Łukasz Ciepliński Łukasz Ciepliński (; 26 November 1913 – 1 March 1951) was a Polish soldier who fought in the Polish anti-Nazi and anti-communist resistance movements. He used various aliases: ''Pług'', ''Ostrowski'', ''Ludwik'', ''Grzmot'', and ''Bogdan' ...

References