The process of investigating Diocesan Curia in Lublin by the PRL’s apparatus of repression in the years 1946-1974
Authors: Kosobudzka Elżbieta 
Published: September 2013

The article below focuses on the source analysis of the process of investigating Diocesan Curia in Lublin in the years 1946-1947, during the period when two Lublin ordinaries were in charge: Bishop Stefan Wyszyński (1946-1948) and Bishop Piotr Kałwa (1949-1974). Diocesan Curia, as the most important institution in the Church administrative hierarchy, was subject to intensive surveillance by PRL’s apparatus of repression.

At the beginning, the process of investigating the management structure on the diocese level was not conducted by specially selected departments but was performed as a part of broadly conceived actions directed against Catholic clergy. In the years 1946-1948,when bishop Stefan Wyszyński was in charge, operational activities against the clergy and the bishops were led by 5th Section of 5th Department of Voivodeship Public Security Office (Sekcja V Wydziału V Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Bezpieczeństwa) in Lublin (until the February of 1953). It can be inferred from the recorded data that until 1949 the Diocesan Curia’s circle in Lublin was very poorly uncovered by Polish communist secret police and their activity amounted only to gathering and verifying data received from informants. The shortage of well-trained agents prevented taking more intensive actions against Bishop Wyszyński and Diocesan Curia in Lublin.

In the years 1949-1974, when Bishop Piotr Kałwa was in charge, the 5th Section of the 5th Department of VPSO continued their operational activities aimed against the Lublin’s Curia. In 1953 a new department was created on the basis of 5th Section. The so-called 11th Department took over the entirety of cases pertaining to the Catholic Church. In 1955 the 11th Department was transformed into 6th Department of VPSO in Lublin. 3rd Department of VPSO in Lublin and 1st Section of 6th Department of Polish communist secret police of Voivodeship Polish Citizen Militia Headquarters in Lublin (referat Służby Bezpieczeństwa w Komendzie Wojewódzkiej Milicji Obywatelskiej), respectively, also conducted investigation activities concerning the bishops and Curia.

As of 1949, the Diocesan Curia in Lublin was subject to intensive surveillance by the PRL’s security service apparatus. Its main aim at that point was to restrict the Curia’s activity so as to gain control over it. In order to achieve that, the activity of Curial employees and bishops was documented and revealed. Additionally, the conflicts between the bishops, Curial employees and KUL’s management were incited and deepened. What is more, the secret police attentively scrutinized bishops’ and Curial employees’ personal lives in order to gather compromising data, gained secret collaborators (47 secret agents were involved in the process) and limited Curia employees’ departures for studies abroad. Almost every type of operation activities was used against Bishop Piotr Kałwa. The secret police applied phone tapping, bugging, surveillance, reading mail and sending anonymous letters in order to undermine his authority. What is more, the secret police tried to set bishop Kałwa at variance with Primate Wyszyński. However, these actions did not change Bishops Kałwa’s stance who, until his death, unwaveringly defended the Catholic Church’s independence from the government.