Adam Humer
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Adam Teofil Humer (April 27, 1917 – November 12, 2001) was a Polish communist activist and high-ranking official of the
Ministry of Public Security of Poland 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 ...
(deputy director of Investigations Bureau). Known for particular brutality, Humer tortured political prisoners whom he interrogated during the 1940s and 1950s.


Biography

Humer was born into a Polish working-class family in the United States. His father who was a communist activist was killed by underground anti-communists partisans in 1946. He and his family returned to Poland in 1921 and Humer later joined the Communist Youth Union of Western Ukraine. During the Nazi invasion of Poland he remained in
Tomaszów Lubelski Tomaszów Lubelski is a town in south-eastern Poland with 19,365 inhabitants (2017). Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, near Roztocze National Park, it is the capital of Tomaszów Lubelski County. History The town was founded at the end of the ...
. After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 Humer and other activists of the Communist Youth Union created the Poviat Revolutionary Committee which he became its vice-chairman. After the Red Army withdrew and German–Soviet Frontier Treaty was signed Humer was evacuated to the Soviet occupation zone and entered the
University of Lviv The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (named after Ivan Franko, ) is a state-sponsored university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1940 the university is named after Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. The university is the oldest institution of highe ...
where he was engaged in propaganda and joined the
Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...
in 1941. After the start of the German-Soviet War and the occupation of Lviv, Humer returned Tomaszów Lubelski and remained in hiding. With the entry of the Red Army in July 1944, he participated in the organization of local national councils in the local poviat on behalf of the
Polish Committee of National Liberation The Polish Committee of National Liberation ( Polish: ''Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego'', ''PKWN''), also known as the Lublin Committee, was an executive governing authority established by the Soviet-backed communists in Poland at the la ...
. In the period from August 13 to September 8, 1944, he was the head of the Propaganda and Information Department at the County National Council in Tomaszów Lubelski. After the end of the war, Humer and his brother Edward, particularly threatened by attacks under the sentence of the
Polish Underground State The Polish Underground State (, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Government of the Republic of Poland ...
, were moved to Lublin, and soon to Warsaw. Adam ended up in the
Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Public Security can refer to: * Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil) * Ministry of Public Security of Burundi * Ministry of Public Security (Chile) * Ministry of Public Security (China) * Ministry of Public Security of Co ...
and his brother was sent to work in the Main Directorate of Military Information. An officer of the Ministry of Public Security in the
People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...
he was in the Department of Public Security from September 12, 1944 (including head of the Investigative Section of WUBP in Lublin, from February 15, 1945 head of Section VIII of Division I, from August 31, 1945 deputy head of Department VII of Department I of the Ministry of Public Security, from September 16, 1945 deputy head of Department IV) Independent MBP, from July 1, 1947 deputy director, at the same time head of the II Department of the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Public Security, from September 1, 1951 deputy director of the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Public Security). He actively participated in the suppression of the Polish anti-communist underground. Humer participated in the trial of
Witold Pilecki Witold Pilecki (; 13 May 190125 May 1948), known by the codenames ''Roman Jezierski'', ''Tomasz Serafiński'', ''Druh'' and ''Witold'', was a Polish World War II cavalry officer, intelligence agent, and resistance leader. As a youth, Pilecki ...
, confirmed the indictment, on the basis of which Pilecki was executed. In March 1955, during the beginning of de-Stalinization, Humer was removed from office. His methods were qualified as "unlawful" by a special commission of the Politburo of the
Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parti ...
Central Committee. From the security forces, Humer had to move to a secondary position in the Ministry of Agriculture. He was not persecuted, was not stripped of his military rank and retained the previously received award, Silver Cross of Merit. Arrested in 1994, in March 1996 Humer and 11 other functionaries of the UB were convicted as Poland's first post-independence
Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...
criminals for their role in the routine torture and execution of members of the Polish Underground Resistance during the Stalinist era. Sentenced to nine years in prison, he died during a break in sentence.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Humer, Adam 1917 births 2001 deaths American emigrants to Poland Ministry of Public Security (Poland) officials Polish communists Recipients of the Silver Cross of Merit (Poland) Polish Workers' Party politicians Polish United Workers' Party members Police officers convicted of murder Polish people convicted of murder Polish police officers convicted of crimes People convicted of murder by Poland Political repression in Poland