Marceli Nowotko
Encyclopedia
Marceli Nowotko was a Polish communist activist and first secretary of the Polish Workers Party (PPR).
Nowotko was a self-educated locksmith. He was a member of the SDKPiL from 1916 and the KPP
from 1918. He organised a soviet communist agency in Ciechanów in 1918 and was a member of the soviet (wywiad) in Łapy during the Polish-Soviet War
of 1920.
He was a middle-ranking KPP functionary between the wars, serving as a local party organiser and on the agriculture section of the central committee. From 1923 he was a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine
.
He fled from Rawicz prison to Soviet-occupied eastern Poland in September 1939 and once politically rehabilitated (he had for a time been regarded by the NKVD
as a 'provocateur' in the KPP leadership), he served in the Soviet local administration in the Białystok area, as head of the soviet in Łapy.
Following the German invasion
of the USSR in 1941 he was assigned to the 'Initiative Group' parachuted into Poland in December 1941 to establish the Polish Workers Party (PPR). He headed the leadership troika with Bolesław Mołojec and Paweł Finder. The efforts to re-group the Polish communist movement achieved little and by autumn 1942 the organization was under severe pressure from the Gestapo
.
The available evidence appears to support the claim that Mołojec was responsible for Nowotko's murder, but his motivation is unknown. Various explanations have been suggested: a power struggle in the PPR leadership resulting from Mołojec's personal ambitions or differences over strategy; mutual rivalries arising from factional struggles and the purge of the KPP in the late 1930s and conflicting or misunderstood signals from the various Soviet agencies handling the PPR.
Nowotko was a self-educated locksmith. He was a member of the SDKPiL from 1916 and the KPP
KPP
KPP may refer to:* The Communist Party of Poland* Kernel Patch Protection, a security feature of Microsoft Windows* The Kinetic PreProcessor* Kids Pick the President...
from 1918. He organised a soviet communist agency in Ciechanów in 1918 and was a member of the soviet (wywiad) in Łapy during the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
of 1920.
He was a middle-ranking KPP functionary between the wars, serving as a local party organiser and on the agriculture section of the central committee. From 1923 he was a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine
Communist Party of Western Ukraine
Communist Party of Western Ukraine was a political party in eastern interbellum Poland. Until 1923 it was known as the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia.Young Communist League of Western Ukraine was the youth league of the party....
.
He fled from Rawicz prison to Soviet-occupied eastern Poland in September 1939 and once politically rehabilitated (he had for a time been regarded by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
as a 'provocateur' in the KPP leadership), he served in the Soviet local administration in the Białystok area, as head of the soviet in Łapy.
Following the German invasion
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
of the USSR in 1941 he was assigned to the 'Initiative Group' parachuted into Poland in December 1941 to establish the Polish Workers Party (PPR). He headed the leadership troika with Bolesław Mołojec and Paweł Finder. The efforts to re-group the Polish communist movement achieved little and by autumn 1942 the organization was under severe pressure from the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
.
Murder of Nowotko
Nowotko was murdered on 28 November 1942 in mysterious circumstances, a cause celebre in Polish communist history that has never been fully explained. His body was found in a street near the Western Station in Warsaw with bullet wounds. The last person to be seen with Nowotko was Mołojec who claimed that they had been attacked by unknown assailants, and that he (Mołojec) had fled the scene. Mołojec took control of the party leadership and communications with Moscow. Finder, Małgorzata Fornalska, Władysław Gomułka and Jozwiak, the other party leaders, regarded this as a usurpation and suspected that Mołojec had been responsible for Nowotko's murder. A planned attempt to kill Mołojec at a central committee meeting in mid-December had to be abandoned, after which Fornalska took charge of the arrangements for his assassination. It appears that Mołojec was executed by Jan Krasicki, probably in the Old City of Warsaw at the end of December 1942. The new leadership of the PPR under Finder informed Moscow that Mołojec had ordered the killing of Nowotko which was carried out by his brother, Zbigniew Mołojec.The available evidence appears to support the claim that Mołojec was responsible for Nowotko's murder, but his motivation is unknown. Various explanations have been suggested: a power struggle in the PPR leadership resulting from Mołojec's personal ambitions or differences over strategy; mutual rivalries arising from factional struggles and the purge of the KPP in the late 1930s and conflicting or misunderstood signals from the various Soviet agencies handling the PPR.