Lustration in Poland
Encyclopedia
Lustration in Poland refers to the policy of limiting the participation of former communists, and especially informants of the communist secret police
(from the years 1944–90), in the successor government
s or even in civil service
positions.
in 1992, was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland. Several other projects were then submitted and reviewed by a dedicated commission, resulting in a new law passed in 1996.
(pol. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej - IPN) was changed and came into effect on 15 March 2007. This change gave IPN new lustration
powers . The first Polish lustration laws were adopted in 1997; only since 2007 do they officially involve IPN, which has now replaced the old Polish lustration institution, the Public Interest Spokesman. According to the revised Chapter 5a of the Act of 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (Ustawa z dnia 18 grudnia 1998 r. o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej — Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu), the Lustration
bureau of the Institute of National Remembrance performs the following functions:
Lustration by IPN was to be obligatory for 53 categories of people born before August 1st, 1972 and holding positions of significant public responsibility, including lawyers, public notaries, attorneys, journalists and academic workers. However, key articles of that law were judged unconstitutional by Poland's Constitutional Court or Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland on May 11, 2007, making the role of IPN unclear and putting the whole process into question. Most importantly, the part of the law that would have required about 700,000 people in the above 53 categories to submit declarations on whether they had spied for the secret services has been thrown out.. With this key change, the role of IPN in the lustration process is at present highly unclear. Some influential opinionmakers and politicians in Poland are now declaring that, since the whole lustration process in the old format is essentially over, the secret police archives should simply be thrown open. Others oppose such a move, arguing that the release of all of the personal and confidential information contained in the files would cause unacceptable harm to innocent people.
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
(from the years 1944–90), in the successor government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
s or even in civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
positions.
1992–1997
The first lustration bill, passed by the Polish ParliamentSejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
in 1992, was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland. Several other projects were then submitted and reviewed by a dedicated commission, resulting in a new law passed in 1996.
1997–2007
In the years 1997–2007 lustration was dealt with by the office of Public Interest Spokesperson (Rzecznik Interesu Publicznego), who analyzed lustration declarations and could initiate further proceedings, including submitting a request to the courts to initiate a legal lustration proceeding.2007
On 18 December 2006 Polish law regulating Institute of National RemembranceInstitute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...
(pol. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej - IPN) was changed and came into effect on 15 March 2007. This change gave IPN new lustration
Lustration
Lustration is the government process regulating the participation of former communists, especially informants of the communist secret police, in the successor political appointee positions or in civil service positions in the period after the fall of the various European Communist states in 1989 –...
powers . The first Polish lustration laws were adopted in 1997; only since 2007 do they officially involve IPN, which has now replaced the old Polish lustration institution, the Public Interest Spokesman. According to the revised Chapter 5a of the Act of 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (Ustawa z dnia 18 grudnia 1998 r. o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej — Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu), the Lustration
Lustration
Lustration is the government process regulating the participation of former communists, especially informants of the communist secret police, in the successor political appointee positions or in civil service positions in the period after the fall of the various European Communist states in 1989 –...
bureau of the Institute of National Remembrance performs the following functions:
- maintains the register of lustration statements;
- analyzes lustration statements and collects information necessary for its correct assessment;
- prepares lustration procedures;
- notifies the respective bodies about non-performance by non-judicial bodies of obligations in accordance with this Law;
- prepares and publishes catalogues of documents containing personal data:
-
- a) produced by this individual (or with their participation) in connection with their activities as a secret informant
- b) from the content of which it follows that the relevant individual was regarded by security services as a secret informer or operational assistant collecting information.
Lustration by IPN was to be obligatory for 53 categories of people born before August 1st, 1972 and holding positions of significant public responsibility, including lawyers, public notaries, attorneys, journalists and academic workers. However, key articles of that law were judged unconstitutional by Poland's Constitutional Court or Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland on May 11, 2007, making the role of IPN unclear and putting the whole process into question. Most importantly, the part of the law that would have required about 700,000 people in the above 53 categories to submit declarations on whether they had spied for the secret services has been thrown out.. With this key change, the role of IPN in the lustration process is at present highly unclear. Some influential opinionmakers and politicians in Poland are now declaring that, since the whole lustration process in the old format is essentially over, the secret police archives should simply be thrown open. Others oppose such a move, arguing that the release of all of the personal and confidential information contained in the files would cause unacceptable harm to innocent people.
See also
- communist crimeCommunist crimeCommunist crimes , is a legal definition used notably in Polish criminal law. The concept is also used more broadly internationally, and is employed by human rights NGOs as well as government agencies such as the Foundation for the Investigation of Communist Crimes, the Institute for Information on...
- lustration in other countriesLustrationLustration is the government process regulating the participation of former communists, especially informants of the communist secret police, in the successor political appointee positions or in civil service positions in the period after the fall of the various European Communist states in 1989 –...
- Thick line (gruba kreska)
- Instruction UOP nr 0015/92Instruction UOP nr 0015/92UOP Instruction nr 0015/92 was an internal instruction of Urząd Ochrony Państwa issued on October 1992, which allowed illegal surveillance and the alleged formenting of the dissolution of Polish political parties who were in opposition to cabinet of Hanna Suchocka and the then president Lech...
Further reading
- Mark S. Ellis, Purging the past: The Current State of Lustration Laws in the Former Communist Bloc (pdf), Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 59, No. 4, Accountability for International Crimes and Serious Violations of Fundamental Human Rights (Autumn, 1996), pp. 181-196], covering a dozen former Communist countries in 1996
- "Explaining Lustration in Eastern Europe: 'A Post-communist politics approach'", Szczerbiak, Aleks, Brigid Fowler and Kieran Williams. SEI Working Paper No 62.
- Lavinia Stan, "Transition, Justice and Transitional Justice in Poland," Studia Politica, Vol. 6, No. 2 (July 2006), pp. 257-284.
- Lavinia Stan, "The Politics of Memory in Poland: Lustration, File Access and Court Proceedings," Studies in Post-Communism Occasional Paper No. 10 (April 2005).