Anatol Fejgin (25 September 1909 – 28 July 2002) was a Polish

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

activist before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and after 1949, commander of the

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 ...

political police at the Ministry of Public Security of Poland,Poland: Last surviving leader of 1950s political police dies
/ref> in charge of its notorious Special Bureau (the 10th Department). During the

Polish October The Polish October ( ), also known as the Polish thaw or Gomułka's thaw, also "small stabilization" () was a change in the politics of the Polish People's Republic that occurred in October 1956. Władysław Gomułka was appointed First Secretar ...

of 1956, his name – along with a number of others including his colleague Col. Józef Różański, and Minister Jakub Berman – came to symbolize communist terror in postwar

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

."Zmarl Anatol Fejgin,"

Gazeta Wyborcza (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), t ...

, 11 September 2002,

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 ...

Fejgin was born into a middle-class Jewish family, and in 1927 began medical studies in Warsaw, which he never finished. In 1928, he joined the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland (, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) and the ...

and in 1929 was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison for communist agitation. Released, Fejgin was arrested again in 1932 and incarcerated for four years. After the outbreak of

in 1939, Fejgin escaped to

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

, got in touch with the

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 ...

and began working for the Soviet authorities. In May 1943 he joined the Soviet sponsored Polish 1st Tadeusz Kosciuszko Infantry Division, where he became a propaganda officer, a

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

rank commonly feared. In January 1945, Fejgin took the post of the director of personal department of the political bureau of the pro-Soviet

Ludowe Wojsko Polskie The Polish People's Army (, ; LWP) was the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East during the latter stages of the World War II, Second World War (1943–1945), and subsequently the armed forces of the History of Poland (1945 ...

The interrogator

In October 1949, Fejgin was moved to the Ministry of Public Security of Poland (MBP and UB), where he was appointed director of the Special Bureau (renamed in 1951 as the 10th Department), which was formed for ''protecting the Party from provocateurs'' (in reality, the murderous persecution of political opponents and army officers from

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 ...

). Suspended after the 1953 defection of deputy director Józef Światło (Izaak Fleischfarb) who incriminated him and other Stalinists, Fejgin was fired from UB during the Polish political thaw and arrested on 23 April 1956, along with his own boss, vice-minister Roman Romkowski. Tadeusz Piotrowski
''Poland's holocaust''. Page 60
McFarland, 1998 . 437 pages.) He was brought to trial at the end of the Stalinist period, and on 11 November 1957 sentenced to 12 years in prison for violations of human rights law and abuse of power. Charged along with co-defendants, Romkowski and Józef Różański, Fejgin was found guilty of torturing 28 named victims during interrogations, including innocent women and

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 ...

members. His sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1958. Fejgin was kept in Racibórz. He was pardoned and released from prison on 1 October 1964, having served 8 years.Barbara Fijałkowska
RÓŻAŃSKI "LIBERAŁEM"
15 December 2002, Fundacja Orientacja "abcnet"; see also: B. Fijałkowska, ''Borejsza i Różański. Przyczynek do dziejów stalinizmu w Polsce'', In 1985 Fejgin became a member of the state-controlled veterans association, the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy (ZBoWiD), and acquired privileges of a war veteran. In 1990, however, following the collapse of the Soviet empire, he was stripped of the privileges due to his Stalinist past. Fejgin appealed this decision to the

Supreme Administrative Court of the Republic of Poland The Supreme Administrative Court of the Republic of Poland ( , NSA ) is the court of last resort in administrative cases e.g. those betweens private citizens (or corporations) and administrative bodies. This court deals with appeals from lower ad ...

, but his claim was rejected. The court emphasized that Fejgin's post-World-War-Two activities were harmful to the Polish nation and the Polish legal system, and as such ought to be condemned. At the time of his death in 2002, Fejgin was still the subject of investigation by the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecutio ...

for the crimes he committed as an interrogator.

Awards and decorations

Silver Cross of

Order of Virtuti Militari The War Order of Virtuti Militari (Latin: ''"For Military Virtue"'', ) is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was established in 1792 by the last King of Poland Stanislaus II Augustus ...

Knight's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

Cross of Grunwald The Order of the Cross of Grunwald (') was a military decoration created in Poland in November 1943 by the High Command of Gwardia Ludowa, a World War II Polish resistance movement organised by the Polish Workers Party. On 20 February 1944 it ...

, 3rd Class

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fejgin, Anatol 1909 births 2002 deaths Polish intelligence officers (1943–1990) Ministry of Public Security (Poland) officials 20th-century Polish Jews Jewish socialists Recipients of the Virtuti Militari (1943–1989) Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1944–1989) Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald Polish People's Army personnel People convicted of torture Polish police officers convicted of crimes Polish prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Poland Political repression in Poland Recipients of Polish pardons