Józef Światło, born Izaak Fleischfarb (1 January 1915 – 2 September 1994), was a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Public Security of Poland (UB) who served as deputy director of the 10th Department run by Anatol Fejgin. Known for supervising the torture of political prisoners, he was nicknamed "the Butcher" by the detainees. After the 1953 death of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and arrest of

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

, Światło traveled to

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

on official business. While on the Berlin subway with Fejgin, passing through

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, on 5 December 1953, he "slipped away" and defected to the West. Afterwards he worked for the American

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

and

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

. Światło's written and broadcast denunciations shook the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parti ...

. This ultimately contributed to post-Stalinist reforms of the Polish security apparatus and to Poland's political liberalisation in the socialist

Polish October The Polish October ( ), also known as the Polish thaw or Gomułka's thaw, also "small stabilization" () was a change in the politics of the Polish People's Republic that occurred in October 1956. Władysław Gomułka was appointed First Secretar ...

revolution.

Biography

Józef Światło was born on 1 January 1915 as Izaak Fleischfarb (also Fleichfarb, Licht, or Lichtstein, sources vary), into a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish family in Medyn village near Zbarazh in Galicia (now

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

).Józef Światło - biography, photos, documents
at

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecutio ...

. Retrieved 6 April 2011 In the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

he was first a

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

and later, a communist activist. He was arrested twice for his illegal activities. Conscripted in 1939, he served in the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

( Polish 6th Infantry Division) during the German invasion that year. Taken prisoner by the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, he escaped, only to be taken prisoner by the

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 ...

, which invaded Eastern Poland where his family lived and was deported east along with hundreds of thousands of others. It was also in that period that, on 26 April 1943, he married Justyna Światło, taking her more Polish-sounding surname. Światło eventually joined the Polish Forces in the East ( Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division, Berling's Army), becoming a political officer; he was also promoted to junior lieutenant ('' podporucznik'') and became involved in organising state administration in areas taken from the Germans. In 1945, he was transferred to the newly formed Ministry of Public Security of Poland (officially MBP, but commonly abbreviated to UB). In his work, Światło, like many other communist secret police agents, used

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

and forgery. He was involved in arresting hundreds of members of Polish underground organization,

Armia Krajowa 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 ...

, its leadership (the Trial of the Sixteen) and falsifying of the 1946 Polish referendum. In time he was promoted to lieutenant colonel () and served in various offices and departments. In 1951 he ended up in the 10th Department, where he was one of the leading officers. The 10th Department was responsible for handling the Party members themselves. He received orders personally from the

First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led List of political parties in Poland, two other legall ...

Bolesław Bierut Bolesław Bierut (; 18 April 1892 – 12 March 1956) was a Polish communist activist and politician, leader of History of Poland (1945–1989), communist-ruled Poland from 1947 until 1956. He was President of the State National Council from 1944 ...

, and arrested such notable people as politicians

Władysław Gomułka Władysław Gomułka (; 6 February 1905 – 1 September 1982) was a Polish Communist politician. He was the ''de facto'' leader of Polish People's Republic, post-war Poland from 1947 until 1948, and again from 1956 to 1970. Born in 1905 in ...

and Marian Spychalski, General

Michał Rola-Żymierski Michał Rola-Żymierski (; 4 September 189015 October 1989) was a Polish high-ranking Polish United Workers' Party, Communist Party leader, communist military commander and NKVD secret agent. He was appointed as Marshal of Poland, and served in t ...

, and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. He had access sometimes unique to many secret documents. He interrogated Noel Field on 27 August 1949 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

as well as his brother, Herman Field (a US citizen who went to Poland to look for his brother). Herman would be secretly imprisoned for five years, until the information on him was revealed - by Światło himself.

Defection to the West

In November 1953, the

asked

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

member Jakub Berman to send Światło on an important mission to

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

. Światło, deputy head of UB's 10th Department, together with Colonel Anatol Fejgin, were asked to consult with

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

chief

Erich Mielke Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (; 28 December 1907 – 21 May 2000) was a German communist official who served as head of the East Germany, East German Ministry for State Security (''Ministerium für Staatsicherheit'' – MfS), better known as the Sta ...

about eliminating . Światło, however, after the death of Stalin in March 1953 and arrest of

in June that year, became afraid for his own life. He suspected that Bierut in Poland might turn on him and other members of the Ministry, attempting to make them into scapegoats. The two officers traveled to Berlin and spoke with Mielke. On 5 December 1953, the day after meeting the Stasi chief, Światło defected to the U.S. military mission in

. He left family, including a wife and two children, in Poland. The next day, American military authorities transported Światło to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and by Christmas he had been flown to Washington, D.C., where he underwent an extensive debriefing. It has been reported that his interrogations were compiled into about fifty long reports. The United States gave him political asylum with the full knowledge that "he would have to be protected for the rest of his life because the number of his victims and relatives of victims sworn to exact retribution was so great."

Aftermath

Światło's defection was revealed in Poland by the Polish Press Agency on 25 October 1954, with Światło labelled a

traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

and provocateur. It was widely publicised in the United States and Europe by the US authorities, as well as in Poland via

(RFE), embarrassing the Communist authorities in Warsaw. The first international press conference with Światło took place on 28 September 1954. He had intimate knowledge of the internal politics of the Polish government, especially the activities of the various secret services. Over the course of the following months, US newspapers and RFE (in the "Behind the Scenes of the Secret Police and the Party" cycle) reported extensively on political repression in Poland based on Światło's revelations.Jan Skorzynski
"1956 - a european date" From Thaw to Restoration: A Chronology
. Retrieved 13 April 2007 Capitalising on them, in what was known as "Operation Spotlight", RFE broadcast some 140 interviews by Światło, and 30 programs on him. Światło's RFE broadcasts were not only serialized but even distributed over Poland by special

balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...

s. Światło detailed the torture of prisoners under interrogation and politically motivated executions and struggles inside the

. Leszek Szymowski
Brawurowa ucieczka najsłynniejszego zbiega
Onet.pl, 26 January 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2011 None of the Polish Communists' intelligence, counterintelligence and public security agencies escaped unscathed and without some of their secrets being revealed. The highly publicised defection of Colonel Światło, not to mention the general hatred of the Ministry of Public Security among Poles, led to changes in late 1954, as first the 10th Department and soon the entire Ministry was broken up and reorganised; many officials were arrested. Paweł Machcewicz, "Social Protest and Political Crisis in 1956", which appears on pp. 99-118 of ''Stalinism in Poland'', 1944-1956, ed. and tr. by A. Kemp-Welch, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1999, . Światło's scandal contributed to the events of political liberalisation in Poland, known as the

. For a long time, it was uncertain if Światło was dead or still alive. Piotr Zychowicz
''Poszukiwany Józef Światło''
Rzeczpospolita, 18 December 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2011 Information on him was protected by the US witness protection program; there were rumours that he died in the late 1960s, 1975 or 1985. In 2010, the United States government stated that he had died on 2 September 1994.''Światło zmarł w 1994 roku''
Rzeczpospolita, 18 December 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2011 Documents relating to him are still classified in the United States and not available to researchers.

Biography

Defection to the West

Aftermath

Awards

See also

Notes

References

Further reading