The Government Delegation for Poland () was an agency of the

Polish Government in Exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovere ...

during World War II. It was the highest authority of the Polish Secret State in

occupied Poland ' (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV 2 (Norway), TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. ...

and was headed by the Government Delegate for Poland, a ''de facto'' deputy Polish Prime Minister.Delegatura Rządu na Kraj
at ''Encyklopedia WIEM'' The Government Delegation for Poland was intended as the first provisional government of war torn Poland until the Exiled Polish Government could safely return from abroad to a liberated Poland.

History

Initially there were two Delegations formed, one for the Polish areas annexed by Germany, and one for the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

. A delegate for the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union was never appointed. From 1942, power was consolidated and there was only one delegate chosen, in the rank of deputy prime minister. He in turn had 6 deputies for each of the regions, whose responsibilities were further delegated to

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

-level officers. In July 1944 the delegate's three deputies were promoted to ministers, and a

Home Council of Ministers Council of Ministers at Home () was a part of the Polish Government in Exile residing in occupied Poland. It was the top executive of the Polish Underground State, created on 26 July 1944 from the Government Delegation for Poland. It was led by ...

('' Krajowa Rada Ministrów'') was created. The Home Council became the local counterpart of the

. The Delegation's political body was the Political Consultative Committee ('' Polityczny Komitet Porozumiewawczy''), a council comprising 4 main political parties. On 21 March 1943 it was renamed the Home Political Representation (''

Krajowa Reprezentacja Polityczna Home Political Representation (, ''KRP'') was the representation of the four major Polish political parties continuing their activities underground (Polish Socialist Party, PPS-WRN, People's Party (Poland), SL, National Party (Poland), SN and Labou ...

'') and became an underground coalition parliament, comprising members of the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

, National Party, People's Party and Labor Party. It became the controlling body of the Delegation and the Headquarters of the

Home Army The Home Army (, ; 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) established in the ...

(''Armia Krajowa''). On 9 January 1944 it was turned into a Council of National Unity (''Rada Jedności Narodowej''), the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of underground Poland. During

Operation Tempest file:Akcja_burza_1944.png, 210px, right Operation Tempest or Operation Burza (, sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Storm") was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish Home Arm ...

, in 1944, the Council's local representatives and local

commanders, as the representatives of the legitimate Polish government and the Polish Army, emerged from underground and welcomed the advancing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. Despite several instances of successful cooperation with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, most of the Polish representatives and commanders were soon arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

and sent to Russian prisons or to the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

. During the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

, the central Government Delegation for Poland likewise came out of hiding and began acting officially as the Polish parliament in the liberated areas of Poland. After the Uprising's suppression, most of the Delegation's members left Warsaw with the civilian population and managed to evade the Germans. However, contact with local branches in Soviet- and German-occupied areas was broken. In February 1945, the Government Delegation including most members of the Council of National Unity and the

Commander-in-Chief, were invited by Soviet General

Ivan Serov Ivan Alexandrovich Serov (; 13 August 1905 – 1 July 1990) was a Soviet intelligence officer who served as Chairman of the KGB from March 1954 to December 1958 and Director of the GRU from December 1958 to February 1963. Serov was NKVD Commis ...

to a conference on their eventual inclusion in the Soviet-backed Provisional Government. They were promised

safe conduct Safe conduct, safe passage, or letters of transit, is the situation in time of international conflict or war where one state, a party to such conflict, issues to a person (usually, an enemy state's subject) a pass or document to allow the enemy ...

beforehand but immediately arrested by the

, and brought to

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 ...

, where they were brutally tortured for several months and tried in a staged Trial of the Sixteen. All perished.The Moscow Trial of the 16 Polish Leaders
, ''Liberty Publications'',

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 1945, 24 pages with 2 ill. Meanwhile, in Poland, the Delegation was reconstructed and continued in its duties until finally disbanded on 1 July 1945.

Departments

The Delegation's activities encompassed all areas of organized society. It comprised 12 branches, roughly corresponding to the ministries of the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent Occupation ...

in London. #Internal Affairs #* Security of the Delegation #*

Provisional Administration {{Polish Underground State sidebar Provisional Administration (Polish language, Polish ''Administracja Zastępcza'') was one of the branches of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Government Delegate’s Office at Home in Poland during Worl ...

- shadow administration to take over the administrational duties after liberation or during an all-national uprising #* Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa -underground police #* Council to Aid the Jews #* preparing reports on the situation in occupied Poland # Information and Press #* providing the society with news from abroad #* propaganda #* printing Rzeczpospolita, the official organ of the Office # Labour and Social Affairs #* cooperation with Polish Red Cross and Central Welfare Council # Education and Culture #* Organisation of the Underground schools and universities # Industry and Trade # Agriculture # Justice # Liquidation of the Effects of the War # Public Works and Reconstruction # Treasury # Post Offices and Telegraphs # Communications Near the end of the war, Departments of Foreign Affairs and of War Matters were created, but they have not played any significant role. Other notable units and bureaus included: * Bureau of the Newly Acquired Lands ( Polish ''Biuro Ziem Nowych'') ** Established 1942. The Bureau's main task was to document the Polish claims on German lands east of the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

river and the area of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

as well as planning of their post-war development. Despite the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

agreement to grant

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

with the lands east of the

Oder–Neisse line The Oder–Neisse line (, ) is an unofficial term for the Germany–Poland border, modern border between Germany and Poland. The line generally follows the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, meeting the Baltic Sea in the north. A small portion ...

, the plans of the bureau were never fulfilled since most of its workers were arrested by the

and sent to

s across Russia (see, however,

Recovered Territories The Recovered Territories or Regained Lands () are the lands east of the Oder–Neisse line, Oder-Neisse line that over the centuries were gradually lost by Poland and colonized by the Germans, and that returned to Poland after World War II. T ...

). * '' Kierownictwo Walki Cywilnej'' (''Directorate of Civil Resistance'') (since 1941) With regard to territorial structure, there were: * in

: ** Regional Delegation for

Kielce Kielce (; ) is a city in south-central Poland and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the banks of the Silnic ...

** Regional Delegation for

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 ...

** Regional Delegation for

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 ...

** Regional Delegation for

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 ...

-City ** Regional Delegation for

voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in ...

* in the Polish territories annexed by Nazi Germany: ** Regional Delegation for

Ciechanów Ciechanów is a city in north-central Poland, seat of the Ciechanów County in the Masovian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 43,495. A city with almost a thousand years of history, recorded in 1065, Ciechanów is one of ...

** Regional Delegation for

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

** Regional Delegation for

Pomorze Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian, Pomeranian and Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodesh ...

(Pomerania) in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

** Regional Delegation for

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

** Regional Delegation for Śląsk (Silesia) in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

* in the Polish territories annexed by the Soviet Union: ** Regional Delegation for

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

** Regional Delegation for

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

(Lviv) ** Regional Delegation for Nowogródek (Navahrudak) ** Regional Delegation for Polesie ** Regional Delegation for

Wilno Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

(Vilnius) ** Regional Delegation for Wołyń (Volhynia)

References

* * *Grzegorz Ostasz
The Polish Government-in-Exile's Home Delegature
{{Authority control Government Delegation for Poland

History

Departments

See also

References