Discovery by prosecutors Institute of National Memory In Koszalin, 1 of the most unclosed chapters of Polish fresh past opens again. In the basement of a retired Major Border defender Army found respective 1000 papers produced by the PRL repression apparatus – from WOP reconnaissance materials to files Security Service and Homeland Security.
Hundreds of SB files were found at the retired officer's house. The scale of the find is huge. Investigators have secured 172 archival units, over 8,000 loose papers and personnel files and the work of 15 secret associates. What is peculiarly crucial – any of these materials were formally considered destroyed or irretrievably lost. This means that for years they functioned outside the authoritative archival circuit, remaining in private hands.
The case besides has a legal dimension. A erstwhile WOP officer heard allegations of illegal retention of papers constituting a state resource, for which he was facing up to 8 years in prison. However, much more crucial than the work of the individual is the broader context – the question of the scale of the phenomenon and its consequences for historical memory.
The discovery in Koszalin is not isolated. The loudest example remains the alleged "Szaf Kiszczak", revealed at home in 2016 Czesław Kiszczak. About 50 kilograms of papers were found there, including material concerning agential cooperation, which for decades remained out of state control. Among another things, there was a folder of an highly disgusting and lying agent called “Bolka”, or Lech Wałęsa.
Another symbol of the unordered heritage of the services of the Polish People's Republic is the alleged "Szafa Lesiak" – a collection of papers related to operational activities towards the political environment in the 3rd Republic, which revealed the scale of usage of archives of the services in the current political struggle. Although the case had already taken place after 1989, she showed how easy operational materials can function outside authoritative supervision.
It is worth adding that, as the IPN investigators themselves admit, there are more akin proceedings. papers were found not only in private dwellings but besides during attempts to export abroad or during searches in different parts of the country. This means that the problem is not a casual one, but a systemic one.
It is peculiarly worrying that any of the materials found included agential papers – cooperation obligations, tips or operational notes. These are not only historical sources, but besides papers that can influence the assessment of circumstantial individuals and events. Even more alarming is the fact that any of them officially did not be in the records. As the IPN archivists pointed out, the records saw them as missing or destroyed. This means that for years there has been a parallel, informal "private archive" of erstwhile officers, outside any organization control.
The Koszalin case provokes the fundamental question: how many more specified “kitches” and “shaft” be in Poland? How many erstwhile officers keep papers that never went to the state archives? This question is not simply rhetorical. It is already known present that any of the materials were hidden, exported or transferred outside the authoritative circuit. Each subsequent discovery undermines the belief that the archival resource of the PRL has been full secured and developed.
The deficiency of full control over the documentation of peculiar services is not only a historical problem, but besides a public one. It means that cognition of the past – frequently crucial to knowing the mechanisms of power and dependence – can inactive stay in private hands.
The discovery in Koszalin shows that the past of PRL has inactive not been full accounted for or described. Each another “save” or “basement” with papers reminds us that the archives of the service are not only the past, but besides a real tool of influence, shaping the policy of our bantostan.
The key question is inactive open: how many more files, including unknown facts, names and mechanisms, are inactive waiting to be discovered in the homes of retired officers?
