Amnesty of 1947
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The Amnesty of 1947 in Poland was an
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 ...
directed at soldiers and activists of the Polish anti-communist underground, issued by the authorities of People's Republic of Poland. The law on amnesty was passed by the Polish
Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...
on 22 February 1947. The actual purpose of the amnesty was the liquidation of coordinated resistance to the newly-established communist regime. The promise of amnesty was not kept. Information collected during questioning of the "
cursed soldiers The "cursed soldiers" (also known as "doomed soldiers", "accursed soldiers" or "damned soldiers"; pl, żołnierze wyklęci) or "indomitable soldiers" ( pl, żołnierze niezłomni) is a term applied to a variety of anti-Soviet and anti-communist ...
" who had revealed themselves led to a later round of arrests and repression, including of those who stayed in hiding. It was the second amnesty in Poland after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
; the first had lasted from 22 July to 15 October 1945.


Amnesty

The amnesty was in effect for two months, from 25 February until 25 April 1947. There was no provision for its extension. The execution of the amnesty law was placed in the hands of the Ministry of Public Security (UB). The amnesty did not apply to the members of the Ukrainian nationalist organizations, such as 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 ...
, as were considered allies of Nazi Germany by the communist government.Philipp Ther, Ana Siljak
''"Redrawing nations: ethnic cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948."''
Marek Jasiak, "Overcoming resistance." '' Rowman & Littlefield'', 2001, pg. 182. .
Throughout Poland, special "National Amnesty Committees" were formed, attached to the local stations of the Polish political police, UB. Each person who gave himself up as part of the amnesty had to give up his weapons, if he had any, fill out a detailed form in which he revealed the underground resistance group he was a member of, as well as his conspiratorial code name and other information.Ewa Blankiewicz
"Ostatni Lesni - Wystawa IPN" (The last Forest brothers - An IPN presentation).
''Gazeta Ciechanow'', March 2005
During the amnesty, 53,000 to 55,000 people came out of the underground and presented themselves to the authorities. A further 23,257 persons who had already been imprisoned declared themselves members of underground organizations in order to take advantage of the law. All together the amnesty ended up covering 76,774 people. For the most part, they were soldiers from various underground organizations, such as
Freedom and Independence Freedom and Independence Association ( pl, Zrzeszenie Wolność i Niezawisłość, or WiN) was a Polish underground anticommunist organisation founded on September 2, 1945 and active until 1952. Political goals and realities The main purpose of it ...
(WiN) and
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 ...
(NSZ), as well as deserters from the
Polish People's Army The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Pe ...
, the
milicja ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, , mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə) was the name of the police forces in the Soviet Union (until 1991) and in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), as well as in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992). The ...
(MO) and the UB. According to official statistics of the Ministry of Public Security, 90% of all members of the organization Freedom and Independence revealed themselves, and about 60% of all members of the National Armed Forces. For comparison, in the previous amnesty of 1945, only 30,217 persons left the underground resistance many of whom soon returned to actively fighting the communist government.


Consequences

As a result, after the expiration of the deadline in 1947, there remained no more than 2000 soldiers in the armed anti-communist underground.Sławomir Poleszak
"Ostatni Niezlomni" (The Last Unbroken).
''
Rzeczpospolita () is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin ''rés pública'' ( "thing" + "public, common"), i.e. ''republic'', in Engli ...
'', 17 December 2007.
A well-organized resistance practically ceased to exist. Thanks to the information obtained from those who gave themselves up, the UB quickly hunted down and eliminated those who remained in the underground. Almost as soon as the amnesty had expired, the communist authorities began to go back on their promises. All of the information was analyzed and many of the former soldiers were called back to give more information about their friends and fellow soldiers who remained in the underground. Many of them were consequently arrested on trumped-up charges. Between 1948 and 1950 more were arrested on charges which were supposed to have been covered by the amnesty. A number of those who had given themselves up, as a result, returned to the underground although most had ceased participation in armed resistance.


References

{{History of the People's Republic of Poland 1947 in Poland Legal history of Poland Polish People's Republic