Ministry of the Interior and Administration is an administration structure controlling main administration and security branches of the Polish government. Current Minister is Jerzy Miller.

History and function

The ministry was originally founded in 1918 as the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych). During a reform of the Polish government in 1996 the administration branch was merged into the Ministry and it was renamed to its current name (on 24 December).

It is today is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, The ministry if currently responsible for the following:

• The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes
  • including the major law-enforcement forces (see law enforcement in Poland
    Law enforcement in Poland
    Law enforcement in Poland consists of the police force, independent judiciary, prosecutors , and smaller, specialized formations.-Pre 20th Century:...
    
    )
    • the Polish National Police
      Policja
      Policja is the generic name for the police in Poland. The Polish police force was known as policja throughout the Second Polish Republic , and in modern post-communist Republic of Poland since 1990. Its current size is 103.309 officers and ca. 12.000 civilian employees...
      
       (Policja)
    • the Polish Border Guard
      Border Guard (Poland)
      Border Guard is a Polish state security agency tasked with patrol of the Polish border. It existed in the Second Polish Republic from 1928 to 1939 and was recreated in Third Polish Republic in 1990.- 1928-1939 :...
      
       (Straż Graniczna)
  • Civil defence
    • the State Fire Brigade (Straż Pożarna)
    • Search and rescue and the oversight of ambulance services
      Emergency medical services in Poland
      Emergency Medical Services in Poland is a service of public pre-hospital emergency healthcare, including ambulance service, provided by individual Polish cities and counties. These services are typically provided by the local, publicly operated hospital, and funded by the government of Poland...
      
      
• the granting of identity documents (Polish passport
  Polish passport
  Visa requirements for Polish citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Poland.-Europe: Freedom of movement Other European Countries:-Africa:-Americas:-Asia:...
  
  s, identity cards) and driving licenses through the network of voivodeship
  Voivodeship
  Voivodship is a term denoting the position of, or more commonly the area administered by, a voivod. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Serbia....
  
  s
• relations between the central government and local governments (except in the case of regional development, which is undertaken by the Ministry of Regional Development
• logistics
  Logistics
  Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
  
   and organization of political election
  Election
  An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
  
  s, at the national and voivodeship levels (but the results of the elections are overseen by the Constitutional Tribunal and administrative courts)
• regulation of immigration and preventing illegal immigration
• integration and registration of legal immigrants

While the ministry of the Interior supervises police forces, it does not supervise criminal enquiries; criminal enquiries are conducted under the supervision of the judiciary

Judiciary

The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...

.

The Ministry's headquarters are located on the Stefan Batory Street, south of Warsaw's city centre and the governmental district which surrounds the Belweder

Belweder

Belweder is a palace in Warsaw, a few kilometers south of the Royal Castle. The President of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, resides at Belweder.-History:...

. The Ministry can be referred to by its initials 'MSWiA'.

The current Minister of the Interior and Administration is Jerzy Miller.

Ministers of Internal Affairs of the Second Republic of Poland

• Stanisław Thugutt 17 November 1918 – 16 January 1919
• Stanisław Wojciechowski 16 January 1919 – 9 December 1919
• Stanisław Wojciechowski 13 December 1919 – 9 June 1920
• Józef Kuczyński (kierownik) 23 June 1920 – 24 July 1920
• Leopold Skulski
  Leopold Skulski
  Leopold Skulski was prime minister of Poland from 1919 to 1920.He was involved in politics from at least the mid 1910s, and served as mayor of Łódź between 1917 an 1919. He became a deputy in the Polish parliament after the 1919 elections, and on 13 December 1919 he became the Prime Minister of...
  
   24 July 1920 – 28 June 1921
• Władysław Raczkiewicz 28 June 1921 – 13 September 1921
• Stanisław Downarowicz 19 September 1921 – 5 March 1922
• Antoni Kamieński 10 March 1922 – 6 June 1922
• Antoni Kamieński 28 June 1922 – 31 July 1922
• Antoni Kamieński 31 July 1922 – 16 December 1922
• Władysław Sikorski 16 December 1922 – 26 May 1923
• Władysław Kiernik 28 May 1923 – 15 December 1923
• Władysław Sołtan 17 December 1923 –21 March 1924
• Zygmunt Hubner 21 March 1924 – 17 November 1924
• Cyryl Ratajski
  Cyryl Ratajski
  Cyryl Ratajski was a Polish politician and lawyer.He was the president of Poznań in the years 1922-1924, 1925-1934 and in September 1939. In the years 1924-1925 he was the Polish Minister of the Interior.From 1937 he was a member of Labour Party, Stronnictwo Pracy...
  
   17 November 1924 – 14 June 1925
• Władysław Raczkiewicz 15 June 1925 – 13 November 1925
• Władysław Raczkiewicz 20 November 1925 – 5 May 1926
• Stefan Smólski 10 May 1926 – 15 May 1926
• Kazimierz Młodzianowski 15 May 1926 – 8 June 1926
• Kazimierz Młodzianowski 8 June 1926 – 24 November 1926
• Kazimierz Młodzianowski 27 September 1926 – 30 September 1926
• Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski 2 October 1926 – 27 June 1928
• Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski 27 June 1928 – 13 April 1929
• Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski 14 April 1929 – 29 December 1929
• Henryk Józewski
  Henryk Józewski
  Henryk Józewski was a Polish visual artist, politician, a member of government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, later an administrator during the Second Polish Republic....
  
   29 December 1929 – 17 March 1930
• Henryk Józewski
  Henryk Józewski
  Henryk Józewski was a Polish visual artist, politician, a member of government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, later an administrator during the Second Polish Republic....
  
   29 March 1930 – 3 June 1930
• Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski 3 June 1930 – 23 August 1930
• Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski 25 August 1930 – 4 December 1930
• Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski 4 December 1930 – 26 May 1931
• Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski 27 May 1931 – 23 June 1931
• Bronisław Pieracki 23 June 1931 – 9 May 1933
• Bronisław Pieracki 10 May 1933 – 13 May 1934
• Bronisław Pieracki 15 May 1934 – 15 June 1934
• Leon Kozłowski 16 June 1934 – 28 June 1934
• Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski 28 June 1934 – 28 March 1935
• Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski 28 March 1935 – 12 October 1935
• Władysław Raczkiewicz 13 October 1935 – 15 May 1936
• Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski 16 May 1936 – 30 September 1939

Ministers of Public Security

• Stanisław Radkiewicz
  Stanisław Radkiewicz
  Stanisław Radkiewicz was a Polish communist activist with Soviet citizenship, member of the pre-war Communist Party of Poland and of the post-war Polish United Workers' Party...
  
   (PPR
  PPR
  PPR may refer to:* Pipe Penetrating Radar, Ground Penetrating Radar performed from inside buried pipe and conduit infrastructure* PPR , a French luxury goods and retail distribution company...
  
  ) 31 December 1944 - 7 December 1954

Ministers of Internal Affairs of People's Republic of Poland

• Władysław Wicha (PZPR) 7 December 1954 - 12 December 1964
• Mieczysław Moczar (PZPR) 12 December 1964 - 15 July 1968
• Kazimierz Świtała (PZPR) 15 July 1968 - 13 February 1971
• Franciszek Szlachcic (PZPR) 13 February 1971 - 22 December 1971
• Wiesław Ociepka (PZPR) 22 December 1971 - 28 February 1973
• Stanisław Kowalczyk (PZPR) 22 March 1973 - 8 October 1980
• Mirosław Milewski (PZPR) 8 October 1980 - 31 July 1981
• Czesław Kiszczak (PZPR) 31 July 1981 - 6 July 1990

Ministers of Internal Affairs of Third Polish Republic

• Krzysztof Kozłowski (non-partisan) 6 July 1990 - 14 December 1990
• Henryk Majewski (non-partisan) 12 January 1991 - 5 December 1991
• Antoni Macierewicz
  Antoni Macierewicz
  Antoni Macierewicz is a Polish Catholic politician, anti-communist activist, member of Sejm, journalist and a former internal affairs minister, former vice-minister of national defence in Jarosław Kaczyński's government, and current parliamentary representative.-Early years and activity during...
  
   23 December 1991 - 5 June 1992
• Andrzej Milczanowski 11 July 1992 - 22 December 1995
• Jerzy Konieczny 29 December 1995 - 26 January 1996
• Zbigniew Siemiątkowski
  Zbigniew Siemiatkowski
  Zbigniew Siemiątkowski is a Polish politician. He was Minister of Internal Affairs, 1996–97, and head of the Intelligence Agency , 2002 – April 2004.- Life :...
  
   (SLD
  Democratic Left Alliance
  Democratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
  
  ) 15 February 1996 - 4 February 1997

Ministers of Internal Affairs and Administration of Third Polish Republic

• Leszek Miller
  Leszek Miller
  Leszek Cezary Miller is a Polish central-left-wing politician, leader of the Democratic Left Alliance , Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.-Childhood and youth:...
  
   (SLD) 1 January 1997 - 17 October 1997
• Janusz Tomaszewski
  Janusz Tomaszewski
  Janusz Tomaszewski is a Polish politician. A Solidarity activist, member of Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność. He was a vice-prime minister and Minister of Internal Affairs from 31 October 1997 to 3 September 1999. He was forced to resign his official position due to lustration controversy...
  
   (AWS) 31 October 1997 - 3 September 1999
• Marek Biernacki
  Marek Biernacki
  Marek Biernacki is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 41336 votes in 26 Gdynia district, candidating from Civic Platform list....
  
   (AWS) 7 October 1999 - 19 October 2001
• Krzysztof Janik
  Krzysztof Janik
  Krzysztof Janik is a Polish left-wing politician. He is a member of the Democratic Left Alliance and from March 6, 2004 to December 18, 2004 was the leader of this party....
  
   (SLD) 19 October 2001 - 21 January 2004
• Józef Oleksy
  Józef Oleksy
  Józef Oleksy is a post-communist Polish politician, former chairman of Democratic Left Alliance ....
  
   (SLD) 21 January 2004 - 21 April 2004
• Jerzy Szmajdziński
  Jerzy Szmajdzinski
  Jerzy Andrzej Szmajdziński was a Polish politician who was a Vice-Marshal of Polish Sejm and previously served as Minister of Defence. He was a candidate for President of Poland in the 2010 election....
  
   (SLD) 21 April 2004 - 2 May 2004
• Ryszard Kalisz
  Ryszard Kalisz
  Ryszard Kalisz is a Polish leftist politician and a member of the Democratic Left Alliance party. In early years he joined the Socialist Union of Polish Students, where he was deputy director of the Main Auditing Committee...
  
   (SLD) 2 May 2004 - 31 October 2005
• Ludwik Dorn
  Ludwik Dorn
  Ludwik Dorn is a Polish conservative politician, former Deputy Prime Minister and member of Sejm elected on November 5, 2007.From October 31, 2005 to February 7, 2007 he was Minister of Interior and Administration, resigned after conflict with the Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński...
  
   (PiS) 31 October 2005 - 7 February 2007,
• Janusz Kaczmarek
  Janusz Kaczmarek
  Janusz Kaczmarek is a Polish lawyer, prosecutor and politician. He was National Public Prosecutor from October 31, 2005, to February 8, 2007, and Polish Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration from February 8, 2007, to August 8, 2007.He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration...
  
   (independent) 8 February 2007 - 8 August 2007
• Władysław Stasiak (independent) 8 August 2007 - 16 November 2007
• Grzegorz Schetyna
  Grzegorz Schetyna
  Grzegorz Juliusz Schetyna is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm as a candidate of the Civic Platform on September 25, 2005 after receiving 14,978 votes in 1 Legnica district...
  
   (PO
  Civic Platform
  Civic Platform , abbreviated to PO, is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the 2007 general election, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President...
  
  ) 16 November 2007 - 13 October 2009
• Jerzy Miller (independent) 14 October 2009 – present