Directorate of Civil Resistance ( Polish ''Kierownictwo Walki Cywilnej'', short KWC) was one of the branches of the Polish Government Delegate’s Office during World War II. Its main tasks were to maintain the morale of the Polish society, encourage passive resistance, report German atrocities and cruelties to the

Polish Government in Exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

, and to organize sabotage. In addition, it was responsible for the law and justice in occupied Poland. It organized trials of

traitors Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, collaborators and provocateurs as well as the most cruel members of the Wehrmacht, Gestapo and SS. The verdicts varied from

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

, fines, and

lash Lash or Lashing may refer to: * Eyelash * Whiplash (disambiguation) * Lashing (ropework), a form of connecting solid objects tightly using rope or cord * Flagellation, a form of torture or punishment involving a whip * Backlash (engineering), cle ...

to capital punishment. The trials were carried out by civil

Underground court Underground Court ('' pl, Sądy podziemne'') were World War II underground courts in occupied Poland, organized by the Polish government in exile, Polish Government-in-Exile. The courts determined punishments for Polish people, citizens of Polan ...

and the verdicts were enforced by the

Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa (Polish for "National Security Corps", abbreviated ''PKB''; sometimes also called ''Kadra Bezpieczeństwa'') was a Polish underground police force organized under German occupation during World War II by the Poli ...

. From 1942 on, the KWC also prosecuted crimes such as theft, rape, and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

. The KWC was headed by Stefan Korboński. In 1943 it was joined with Directorate of Covert Resistance and formed the Directorate of Underground Resistance.

References

Poland in World War II Polish Underground State {{WWII-stub

See also

References