Back in January, I went for a walk following steps of Jan Rodowicz alias “Anoda”. He was was a scout, soldier of the Grey Ranks of the Home Army during WW2. He received orders for bravery during the war. Yet, due to his involvement in the anti-communist movement, he was killed by Secret Service on 7th January 1949.
In his memory, the Jan Rodowicz “Anoda” prize was established by the Warsaw Rising Museum in 2011. It is an award for the “Insurgents” of the time of peace. The honorary medal is awarded annually in two categories: “the attitude of life that constitutes a role model for younger generations” and “exceptional action”.
The final point of the walk was at the “Cells of Secret Service” Museum, which is located in the former Ministry of Public Security and the cells served as a remand centre. Here, under inhumane conditions, people suspected of anti-communist activities were incarcerated.
Before World War 2, there was an American Embassy in the current Ministry of Justice building. In 1939, it was taken over by the German criminal police, which organized a prison here, and after the war, it was taken over by the Ministry of Public Security. In the years 1945-1954 in the basement, there was an arrest of the communist secret police.
The exhibition shows the post-war fates of the insurgents – communist repressions against young people who did not expect to be persecuted and tortured for the struggle for independence.
The building has original cells. In the windowless and unheated rooms, there was a rotten straw, scattered on a concrete ground as beds. Even more terrible conditions prevailed in detention rooms (“karcer”). One of the “karcers” was called “dog’s kennel” because a tall man was impossible to straighten up. On the walls, you can see traces left by the arrested – engraved initials, drawings, monograms.
Several thousand people passed through the arrest of the security services. The guards were mainly the French communists of Polish origin, who were told that the cells were held by fascists who worked with the Germans during the war. The guards wear slippers so that the prisoners could not hear them approaching the cell.
In the years 1944-1956 about 250,000 people were imprisoned, and 5,000 were sentenced to death. However, 20,439 people died in prisons (data from the Central Board of Criminal Offices from the 90s).
