Roman Romkowski born Menasche Grünspan also known as Nasiek (Natan) Grinszpan-Kikiel, Tadeusz Piotrowski
''Poland's holocaust''. p. 60
McFarland, 1998. . 437 pp. (February 16, 1907 – July 12, 1968) was a Polish communist official trained by

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. After the Soviet takeover of Poland Romkowski settled in

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 ...

Piotrowski 1998, ibid, p. 64.
/ref> and became second in command (the deputy minister) 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 ...

(MBP or colloquially UB) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Along with several other high functionaries including Stanisław Radkiewicz, Anatol Fejgin, Józef Różański, Julia Brystiger and the chief supervisor of Polish State Security Services, Minister Jakub Berman from the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

, Romkowski came to symbolize communist terror in postwar Poland.

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 Sept. 2002,

. Retrieved from Internet Archive, June 21, 2013. He was responsible for the work of departments: Counter-espionage (1st), Espionage (7th), Security in the (10th Dept. run by Fejgin), and others. Roman Romkowski biography
, "Niewinnie straceni w latach 1945–56". OptimusNet.

De-Stalinization De-Stalinization () comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and Khrushchev Thaw, the thaw brought about by ascension of Nik ...

brought about Romkowski's downfall. He was arrested in 1956 and sentenced to prison for gross violations of human rights and abuse of power.

Early life

Romkowski was born on February 16, 1907, into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

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 ...

, as the fourth child of Stanisław (originally Izaak) and Maria (originally Amalia) née Blajwajs (Bleiweis). His father was a butcher by profession, employed at a sausage factory. His mother worked intermittently as a cook and a maid at a public bathhouse. He had seven siblings. Romkowski began his political activities by joining the youth section of the Woodworkers' Trade Union and later the

Poale Zion Poale Zion (, also romanized ''Poalei Tziyon'' or ''Poaley Syjon'', meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire at about the turn of the 20th c ...

, which at that time had significant influence among the workers in that union. The progressive radicalization of his views led him to join the Young Communist League of Poland (ZMKwP), established on March 17, 1922. His initial tasks included conducting communist agitation in the youth sections of trade unions and performing tasks within the so-called "technique," which involved, among other things, distributing leaflets and illegal publications, organizing meetings, and hiding communist activists sought by the police. In 1924, Romkowski became the head of the "technique," which also meant joining the District Committee of the Union of Communist Youth in Kraków. During preparations for the first anniversary of the Kraków riot in November 1923 (the so-called Kraków Uprising), Romkowski was arrested for the first time for his activities. On March 5, 1925, the court sentenced him to three years of imprisonment at hard labor. He initially served his sentence at St. Michael's Prison on Senacka Street in Kraków, then was transferred to Bastion III "Kleparz" of the Kraków Fortress on Kamienna Street. As he claimed, he actively participated in the life of the prison commune during this time, including leading hunger strikes and catching up on Marxism-Leninism studies. In September 1926, he was released early under an amnesty for minors. After regaining freedom in 1926, Romkowski returned to work in the Young Communist League of Poland in Kraków under the pseudonym "Stanek". He quickly rose to leadership positions in the ZMK and 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 ...

(KPP). In 1927–1928, he was arrested multiple times for communist activities but released after short detentions. In 1929, Romkowski began working as a paid party functionary, liaising between regional KPP committees. His activities drew police attention, leading to further arrests and restrictions on his movements. In 1930, he represented the Kraków district at the 5th KPP Congress in

Petergof Petergof (), known as Petrodvorets () from 1944 to 1997, is a administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, located ...

. Later that year, he was sent to

to study at the Communist University of the National Minorities of the West, where he adopted the name "Roman Stanislavovich Romkowski". He completed his studies in 1934 and attended additional political and military training courses before returning to Poland in 1935.

Work in security services

From 1941, he fought in the Soviet partisan unit 'Stalin Brigade' in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, serving as a unit commander, political commissar, and head of intelligence for the Brigade. After the formation 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 July 1944, Romkowski was assigned to help establish Poland's new security apparatus. On August 1, 1944, he became head of the Operational (Counterintelligence) Department of the Public Security Resort in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

. From 1944 to 1948, he was a member of the

Polish Workers' Party The Polish Workers' Party (, PPR) was a communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948. It was founded as a reconstitution of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) and merged with the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in 1948 to form the Polish United W ...

(PPR) – from December 12, 1945, to December 21, 1948, he was a member of the Central Committee (KC), and subsequently 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 ...

(PZPR) – from December 21, 1948, to January 24, 1955, he was also a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party. He was a delegate to the I and II Congress of the PPR and the I and II Congress of the PZPR. Romkowski played a key role in organizing the security apparatus, creating its first operational guidelines and training its officers. He drafted important instructions on investigative procedures and managing informant networks. On January 1, 1945, Romkowski was appointed director of Department I (

Counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

) in the new

. Initially, he oversaw most of the ministry's operational work. On January 15, 1946, he was promoted to Assistant Minister of Public Security for operational work, coordinating and directing key departments including counterintelligence, operational technology, economic protection, and the fight against the independence underground. Romkowski focused on developing methods for managing informant networks to combat the anti-communist underground and political opposition. He oversaw major operations against resistance groups. In later years, Romkowski applied his methods of managing informant networks to combat various " enemies of the people's government", including the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and alleged economic saboteurs. He played a key role in organizing two amnesties in 1945 and 1947, which were considered successful in weakening the anti-communist underground. In 1947, he interrogated Captain Witold Pilecki in the X Pavilion of the Mokotów Prison (Romkowski's handwritten notes can be found on the interrogation protocols). In 1948, Romkowski was tasked with overseeing the internal party purge against the "right-nationalist deviation" (Gomułka faction). He was promoted to Deputy Minister of Public Security in 1949 and joined the

's Commission for Public Security. In 1949, he was appointed Brigadier General of Public Security. From the same year, he served as Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Public Security. From February 24, 1949, to 1954, he was a member of the Security Commission of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party (KC PZPR), which supervised the apparatus of Stalinist repression in Poland. Romkowski directly supervised investigations and interrogations of suspected party members, including the arrest and questioning of

Władysław Gomułka Władysław Gomułka (; 6 February 1905 – 1 September 1982) was a Polish Communist politician. He was the ''de facto'' leader of Polish People's Republic, post-war Poland from 1947 until 1948, and again from 1956 to 1970. Born in 1905 in ...

in 1951-1952. His career began to unravel in late 1953 after the defection of his close associate Józef Światło to the

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. Światło's revelations about the regime's inner workings in 1954 led to Romkowski's downfall and the restructuring of the security apparatus.

Arrest

Romkowski was arrested on April 23, 1956, 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 ...

, and brought to trial along with functionaries responsible for gross violations of human rights law and their abuse of power.Heather Laskey
''Night voices: heard in the shadow of Hitler and Stalin''. pp. 191–194
McGill-Queen's Press MQUP, 2003. . 254 pp. Historian Heather Laskey alleges that it was probably not a coincidence that the high ranking Stalinist security officers put on trial by Gomułka were

was captured by Światło and imprisoned by Romkowski in 1951 on Soviet orders, and interrogated by both, him and Fejgin. Gomułka escaped physical torture only as a close associate of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, "Poland's New Chief", LIFE Magazine, 26 November 1956. pp. 173–182

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

and was released three years later.Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, Sergeĭ Khrushchev, George Shriver, Stephen Shenfield
''Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Statesman, 1953-1964.'' p. 643.
Penn State Press, 2007. . 1126 pp.

The court proceedings

At trial, Col. Różański didn't deny that he routinely tortured prisoners including

members, and he didn't apologize for his actions. Instead, he pointed a finger at Romkowski and continuously repeated the Leninist argument that " the end justifies the means". For him, torturing people was a daily double-shift job, nothing more, nothing less. He admitted that all charges against his victims were falsified on site by his department. Roman Romkowski had been put on trial along with Józef Różański and a second Jewish defendant from his department, Anatol Fejgin. Romkowski insisted that Różański should have been removed already in 1949 for his destructive activities, even though, Romkowski himself taught Różański everything about torture. Both, Romkowski and Różański, were sentenced to 15 years in prison on 11 November 1957, for unlawful imprisonment and mistreatment of innocent detainees. Romkowski was pardoned and released from prison on 1 October 1964. Feign was sentenced to 12 years, on similar charges.Barbara Fijałkowska
RÓŻAŃSKI "LIBERAŁEM"
15 December 2002, Fundacja Orientacja ''abcnet''; see also: B. Fijałkowska, ''Borejsza i Różański. Przyczynek do dziejów stalinizmu w Polsce'', . A well-known writer Kazimierz Moczarski from AK, interrogated by Romkowski's subordinates from January 9, 1949, till June 6, 1951, described 49 different types of torture he endured. Beatings included truncheon blows to bridge of nose, salivary glands, chin, shoulder blades, bare feet and toes (particularly painful), heels (ten blows each foot, several times a day), cigarette burns on lips and eyelids and burning of fingers. Sleep deprivation, resulting in near-madness – meant standing upright in a narrow cell for seven to nine days with frequent blows to the face – a hallucinatory method called by the interrogators "Zakopane". General Romkowski told him on November 30, 1948, that he personally requested this "sheer hell".Stéphane Courtois, Mark Kramer
''Livre noir du Communisme: crimes, terreur, répression''.
The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, ''

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

'', 1999, 858 pp. . pp. 377–378. The court announced that the actions of Roman Romkowski and his Ministry demoralised the Party as much as its own functionaries. Jakub Berman, the chief supervisor of State Security Services incriminated by Józef Światło who defected to

the West West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NAT ...

, resigned from his

post in May and was evaluated by the 20th Congress, which launched a process of partial democratisation of Polish political as well as economic life. The number of security agents at the ministry was cut by 22%, and 9,000 socialist and populist politicians were released from prison on top of some 34,644 detainees across the country. "The routing of the Polish Stalinists was indeed complete."A. Kemp-Welch
''Poland under Communism: a Cold War history''. pp 83–85.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2008. . 444 pp.

Awards and decorations

Order of the Banner of Labour (18 JUly 1954) * Cross of Grunwald, 2nd Class (19 July 1946) * Commander's Cross of

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 ...

(22 July 1947) * POL Polonia Restituta Oficerski BAR

Officer's Cross of

(10 October 1945) * SU Order of the Red Banner ribbon

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

, twice (USSR) * SU Order of the Red Star ribbon

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

(USSR)

References