From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
Trial of the Generals
(
Polish
:
proces generałow
) was a totalitarian
show trial
organized by the communist authorities of the
Government
of the
Polish People's Republic
, (
Today
Poland
), between July 31 and August 31, 1951. Its purpose was to cleanse the new pro-Soviet
Polish Army
of officers who had served in the armed forces of the
interwar Poland
or in the
anti-Nazi resistance
during
World War II
. The trial was used by the authorities in the political struggle for power within the new communist administration, and against Marshal of Poland
Michał Rola-?ymierski
as well as Generals
Marian Spychalski
and
Wacław Komar
, whose political faction had fallen out of grace. The trial was led by the Stalinist Colonel
Stanisław Zarakowski
.
All of the arrested officers were falsely accused of conspiracy against the
Polish United Workers' Party
and collaboration with
British
and
American
intelligence services. The following so-called
TUN court case
? an acronym for the names of three most notable participants: Tatar-Utnik-Nowicki, was launched in 1951 against the custodians of the Fund of National Defense (FON) secretly stolen by
Jakub Berman
's security forces in 1947.
[1]
[2]
[3]
All of the accused generals were sentenced to life imprisonment, including
Franciszek Herman
,
Jerzy Kirchmayer
,
Stefan Mossor
and
Stanisław Tatar
.
[4]
The colonels
Marian Jurecki
,
Marian Utnik
and
Stanisław Nowicki
were sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Major Roman and Commander Wacek were sentenced to 12 years. In the so-called "splinter trials", an additional 86 officers of the Polish Army, Navy and Air Forces were arrested and tried. Most of them were tortured by the secret police (
Urz?d Bezpiecze?stwa
) under
Roman Romkowski
.
[5]
Around 40 indicted officers were condemned to death. Only the first 20 executions were carried out (see also:
1951 Mokotow Prison execution
).
[2]
[3]
In 1956, after the
end
of
Stalinism
in Poland, all of the imprisoned were set free, and
rehabilitated
soon afterwards during the
Polish October
, except for Gen. Herman who was killed in prison. It was not until 1990 before
War of Laws
that all wrongfully accused were fully rehabilitated (except for General Mossor).
See also
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edit
]
References
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edit
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