Józef Światło
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Józef Światło (1915-1975) was a Polish Jew, a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Public Security of Poland (deputy director of 10th Department). After the death of Stalin and the arrest of Lavrentiy Beria in 1953, by accident he was travelling on Berlin subway and ended up in West Berlin sector. Lured by what he saw, he defected to the West on 5 December of that year in Berlin. He was taken by CIA and used for propaganda purposes. This event shook the Polish United Workers' Party, caused the reform of the Polish security apparatus and was one of the factors leading to the liberalization of the Polish October.
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[edit] Biography
Józef Światło, b. Izaak Fleischfarb or Izaaak Lichtstein[1] was born in a Polish Jewish family in Medyn village near Zbarazh (now Ukraine).[2] In the Second Polish Republic he was first a Zionist and later a communist activist; he was arrested twice for his activity.[2] Conscripted in 1939, he served in the Polish Army (Polish 6th Infantry Division)[3] during the Polish September Campaign.[2] Taken prisoner by the Germans, he escaped, only to be taken prisoner by the Red Army,[3] which invaded the East Poland where his family lived and deported east along with hundred thousands of others.[2] It was also in that period that he married Justyna Światło and changed his name to a more Polish-sounding one, Światło.[2] He eventually joined the Polish Forces in the East (Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division,[3] Berling Army),[2] becoming a political officer;[3] he was also promoted to junior lieutenant (podporucznik) and became involved in organizing state administration in areas taken from the Germans.[3]
In 1945 he was transferred to the newly-formed Ministry of Public Security of Poland (MBP).[2] In time he as promoted to colonel; he served in various offices and departments, eventually in 1951 ending up in the 10th Department,[2] where he was one of the leading officers. Department 10 dealt with the members of the party, from the political bureau – the highest authority – to the lowest cells.[3] He received orders personally from First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party Bolesław Bierut, and arrested such notable people as politician Władysław Gomułka,[3] General Michał Rola-Żymierski[3] and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.[3] He had access - sometimes unique - to many secret documents. He had carried out an interrogation of Noel Field on 27 August 1949 in Budapest 44 and was involved in the arrest and subsequent interrogation of Noel's brother, Herman Field, a United States citizen, who went to Warsaw in 1949 to look for Noel but was secretly detained at the airport and kept in a 10th Department prison for five years, until Światło broke the story in his radio broadcasts.[3] In his work, Światło, like many other communist secret police agents, used torture and forgery.[3]
In November 1953, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party Bolesław Bierut asked Politburo member Jakub Berman to send MBP Lieutenant Colonel Józef Światło on an important mission to East Berlin. Światło, deputy head of MBP Department X, together with Colonel Anatol Fejgin, were asked to consult with Stasi chief Erich Mielke about eliminating Wanda Brońska.[3] Światło, however, after the death of Stalin in March 1953 and arrest of Lavrentiy Beria in June that year, became afraid for his own life.[3]
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 West Berlin.[3] He left family - wife and two children - in Poland. The next day, American military authorities transported Światło to Frankfurt and by Christmas Światło had been flown to Washington, D.C., where he underwent an extensive debriefing.[3] It has been reported that US intelligence put together some fifty lengthy reports from Swiatlo's interrogations.[3]
Światło's defection was revealed in Poland by the Polish Press Agency on 25 October,[2] with Światło labelled a traitor and provocateur.[3] It was, however, widely publicized in the United States and Europe by the American authorities, as well as in Poland via Radio Free Europe, embarrassing the Communist authorities in Warsaw - the first international press conference with Światło took place on 28 September.[2] Światło 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, American newspapers and Radio Free Europe (in the "Behind the scenes of the secret service and the party" cycle) reported extensively on political repression in Poland based on Światło revelations.[2][4]
Capitalizing on them, in what was known as "Operation Spotlight", RFE saturated the airwaves with some 140 broadcasts by Światło as well as 30 special programs.[3] Światło's RFE broadcasts were not merely serialized but subsequently air dropped by special balloons over Poland.[3] Światło detailed the torture of prisoners under interrogation and politically motivated executions and struggles inside the Polish United Workers' Party. Among other activities, Światło had been ordered to falsify evidence that was used to incriminate communist politician Władysław Gomułka, who would become first secretary of the Polish United Worker's Party in 1956, and personally arrested him. He had also arrested and created evidence against Marian Spychalski, the future Minister of National Defense, who was at the time a leading politician and high ranking military officer. All the intelligence, counterintelligence, and public security institutions of Peoples’ Poland were compromised.[3]
Światło wrote a memoir about his life.
[edit] Significance
The highly publicized 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 the Ministry was broken up and reorganized; many officials were arrested.[2][5] Światło's scandal contributed to the events of political liberalization in Poland, known as the Polish October.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Sources vary in giving his original surname; most sources cite Fleischfarb but some Lichtstein - for example, Zbigniew Błażyński: Mówi Józef Światło. Za kulisami bezpieki i partii 1940–1955. Wydawnictwo LTW, Warszawa, 2003, p.9.)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l (Polish) Józef Światło - biography, photos, documents at Institute of National Remembrance
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t The defection of Jozef Swiatlo and the Search for Jewish Scapegoats in the Polish United Workers' Party, 1953-1954 (PDF). Fourth Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities. Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York City (April 15-17, 1999). Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
- ^ Jan Skorzynski, "1956 - a european date" FROM THAW TO RESTORATION: A CHRONOLOGY. Last accessed on 13 April 2007
- ^ a b 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, ISBN 0-312-22644-6.
[edit] External links
- Sobor-Swiderska A., JOZEF SWIATLO - MYTH AND REALITY, Studia Historyczne (Historical Studies), year: 2006, vol: 49, number: 1(193), pages: 41-63 abstract
- (Polish) Andrzej Bąkowski, Józef Światło na falach RWE
- (Polish) Józef Światło - biography
- (Polish) Official commentary on Światło defection
- (Polish) Departament X MBP w latach 1949 – 1954
[edit] Further reading
- (Polish) Zbigniew Błażyński, Mówi Józef Światło: Za kulisami bezpieki i partii 1940-1955, POLSKA FUNDACJA KULT, 2003, ISBN 8388736345
