Rok 1948 w Departamencie Więziennictwa Ministerstwa Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego

The article overviews the operations of the Prison Department of the Ministry of Public Security in 1948, and it paints a gloomy picture of an institution subjected to totalitarian rule. This fragmentary analysis of a government department mirrors the policies enacted by the broader state apparatus. Similarly to other state institutions, the Prison Department initiated a series of purge campaigns in 1948. The same year witnessed the creation of the Polish United Workers’ Party and changes in the composition of top-level party authorities. Both events necessitated new propaganda efforts, and a series of political and educational campaigns were launched in Polish prisons in 1948. The analyzed year was a break-through period which shaped the ideological foundations of a rising totalitarian state.