Freedom and Independence Association ( pl, Zrzeszenie Wolność i Niezawisłość, or WiN) was a Polish underground

anticommunist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

organisation founded on September 2, 1945 and active until 1952.

Political goals and realities

The main purpose of its activity was to prevent

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

domination over Poland and to fight

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

. Although the pursuit of those goals was supposed to be largely peaceful, the fact of Soviet domination over Poland and the increasingly hostile and provocative behavior of local communists frequently resulted in WiN having its hand forced and in military confrontation. Although the WiN forces were well-armed and highly disciplined, they could not hope to fight a prolonged guerrilla war against the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

and

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

units, a fact clearly understood by the leadership. Thus, to the extent possible WiN attempted instead to concentrate not on military action but rather on providing assistance (false documents and money) for former soldiers of

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) est ...

National Armed Forces National Armed Forces (NSZ; '' Polish:'' Narodowe Siły Zbrojne) was a Polish right-wing underground military organization of the National Democracy operating from 1942. During World War II, NSZ troops fought against Nazi Germany and communist p ...

and other Polish resistance organizations believed not to be allied with the Soviets.Dr. Janusz Marek Kurtyka, Ph.D.
WiN , Freedom and Independence – A Historical Brief
by

Instytut Pamięci Narodowej The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation ( pl, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state resea ...

IPN, Poland.

Initial activities

The WiN was the first to carry the news of the falsification of the

1946 Polish people's referendum The people's referendum ( pl, referendum ludowe) of 1946, also known as the Three Times Yes referendum (''Trzy razy tak'', often abbreviated as 3×TAK), was a referendum held in Poland on 30 June 1946 on the authority of the State National Counc ...

in an announcement to the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. Members of the organization were persecuted by both the Soviets and the local communists.

soldiers and

Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

agents carried out a bloody war with its 30,000 men in

Mazowsze Mazovia or Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centurie ...

and Lubelskie region. The WiN's soldiers liberated many Soviet jails in Poland, and killed collaborators and communist agents. However, the organization was penetrated by

Urząd Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

agents, and its security compromised as early as late 1945. In 1946, the new WiN leadership decided to subordinate the organization's structures to the Polish Supreme Commander in the West. Simultaneously, it limited its support for the

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although i ...

, which had also been infiltrated by Soviet agents). Thereafter, the organization was run by former members of the Home Army. WiN was initially divided into three different geographical operational theatres: Western, run out of

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

; Central, run out of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

; and Southern, run out of Cracow. By 1946, that was reduced to Central and Southern. In January 1947 WiN called on the Polish People's Party to boycott the Soviet-sponsored elections and to await intervention by Western Allies. In October 1949, Tomasz Gołąb, one of its members, founded the anticommunist underground organization of the Underground Home Army, which operated in

Prudnik Prudnik (, szl, Prudnik, Prōmnik, german: Neustadt in Oberschlesien, Neustadt an der Prudnik, la, Prudnicium) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the ...

and its vicinity until 1952.

Talks with Ukrainian underground

Despite protests by the DSZ leadership, recognizing their common origins and similar goals of ridding both Poland and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

of the Soviets, WiN engaged in talks with the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...

(UPA). By spring 1947 in the Lublin region and Podlasie, the WiN had signed an armistice with the UPA. Occasionally, WiN and UPA cooperated in destroying communist establishments (such as in a joint May 1946 attack on secret police headquarters in

Hrubieszów Hrubieszów (; uk, Грубешів, Hrubeshiv; yi, הרוביעשאָוו, Hrubyeshov) is a town in southeastern Poland, with a population of around 18,212 (2016). It is the capital of Hrubieszów County within the Lublin Voivodeship. Through ...

). Similar agreements were reached in May 1945 in Ruda Różaniecka, as well as April 1945 in Siedliska.

Final days

In April 1947, many WiN members came out of hiding to take advantage of an apparent

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

issued by the communist authorities. Instead, many were killed. Members of the organization were accused of plotting the overthrow of the

People's Republic People's republic is an official title, usually used by some currently or formerly communist or left-wing states. It is mainly associated with soviet republics, socialist states following people's democracy, sovereign states with a democratic- ...

along with the Polish leaders in the West such as General

Władysław Anders ) , birth_name = Władysław Albert Anders , birth_date = , birth_place = Krośniewice-Błonie, Warsaw Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = London, England, United Kingdom , serviceyear ...

and the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. The show trials for most of the leadership took place in 1947. The Communist repression apparatus under

Jakub Berman Jakub Berman (23 December 1901 – 10 April 1984) was a Polish communist politician. Was born in Jewish family, son of Iser and Guta. An activist during the Second Polish Republic, in post-war communist Poland he was a member of the Politburo ...

and Stanislaw Radkiewicz exterminated most of the leadership, and by 1953, the organization had been destroyed. Nonetheless, individual units continued to fight for Polish independence until 1963.Doomed Soldiers – The Untold Story
homepage. Information published later indicated that one of the reasons for the failure of the WIN mission to Poland by the Gehlen Organization was that inside information had been provided to the Soviet Intelligence services by "moles". The Gehlen Organization was an intelligence agency that was established in June 1946 by US occupation authorities in West Germany and controlled by the

Presidents

#September 2, 1945 to November 5, 1945: Colonel Jan Rzepecki #November 1945 to October 18, 1946: Colonel

Franciszek Niepokólczycki Franciszek Niepokólczycki alias Teodor, Szubert, Franek, Żejmian, Halny (27 October 1900 – 11 June 1974) was a colonel of Polish Army. During World War II, commander of the Union of Retaliation, officer of the Union of Armed Struggle and the ...

#October 1946 to January 5, 1947: Lieutenant-Colonel Wincenty Kwieciński #January 1947 to November 1947: Lieutenant-Colonel

Łukasz Ciepliński Łukasz Ciepliński [] (26 November 1913 – 1 March 1951) was a Polish soldier who fought in the Polish Polish resistance movement in World War II, anti-Nazi and Cursed soldiers, anti-communist resistance movements. He used various aliases: ''P ...

References