Government Delegate's Office at Home
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Government Delegate's Office at Home (Polish Delegatura Rządu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na Kraj) was one of the agendas of the Polish Government in Exile during World War II. It was the highest authority of the Polish Secret State in occupied Poland and was headed by the Government Delegate at Home, a de facto deputy Prime Minister of Poland.
The Government's representative office in Poland was intended as a provisional government of Poland until the Exiled Government could return safely to the liberated country. Initially there were two delegates: one for the Polish areas annexed by Germany and one for the General Gouvernment. A delegate for the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union was never appointed. From 1942 the power was consolidated and there was only one delegate in the rank of a deputy prime minister. He had 6 deputies for each of the regions, whose responsibilities were further divided onto powiat-level delegate offices.
In July 1944 the three deputies of the delegate were promoted to ministers and the Home Council of Ministers (Krajowa Rada Ministrów) was created. The KRJ became the local counterpart of the Polish Government in Exile.
The political body of the Delegate's Office was Polityczny Komitet Porozumiewawczy, a council composed of 4 main political parties. On March 21, 1943 it was renamed to Home Political Representation and became an underground coalition parliament, composed of members of Polish Socialist Party, Stronnictwo Narodowe, Stronnictwo Ludowe and Stronnictwo Pracy parties. It became the controlling body of both the Delegate's Office and the Headquarters of the Armia Krajowa. On January 9, 1944 it was turned into Council of National Unity (Rada Jedności Narodowej), the underground parliament of Poland.
During the Operation Tempest in 1944 the local representatives of the council together with local commanders of the Armia Krajowa were coming out of the underground and welcomed the advancing Red Army as the sole representatives of the legitimate Polish government and the army. Despite several initial successes and several instances of successful cooperation with the Soviet Union, most of them were soon arrested by the NKVD and sent either to GULag or various prisons in Russia.
During the Warsaw Uprising the central Government Delegate's Office at Home also came out from the hiding and started to act officially as a Polish parliament on a liberated part of Poland. After the fall of the Uprising most of the members of the Office left Warsaw together with the civilian population and managed not to get caught by the Germans. However, the contact nets with both the local branches in the territories occupied by the Soviet Union and the areas still under German occupation were broken.
In February 1945 the Government Delegate together with most members of the Council of National Unity and the C-i-C of the Armia Krajowa were invited by Soviet general Ivan Sierov to a conference on their eventual entry to the Soviet-backed Provisional Government. They were presented with a warrant of safety, yet they were arrested by the NKVD and brought to Moscow where they were tried in a staged Trial of the Sixteen. The Delegate's Office has been reconstructed and continued its duties until disbanded on July 1, 1945.
[edit] Departments
The Delegates' activities encompassed all areas of organized society. The office was divided onto 18 branches which corresponded to the Government-in-Exile’s ministries in London.
- Internal Affairs
- defence of the Office
- Provisional Administration - shadow administration to take over the administrational duties after liberation or during an all-national uprising
- Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa -underground police
- Council to Aid the Jews
- preparing reports on the situation in occupied Poland
- Information and Press
- providing the society with news from abroad
- propaganda
- printing Rzeczpospolita, the official organ of the Office
- Labour and Social Affairs
- cooperation with Polish Red Cross and Central Welfare Council
- Education and Culture
- Organisation of the Underground schools and universities
- Industry and Trade
- Agriculture
- Justice
- Liquidation of the Effects of the War
- Public Works and Reconstruction
- National Defence
- Treasury
- Foreign Affairs
- Post Offices, Telegraphs and Communications
Other units and bureaus included:
- Biuro Ziem Nowych (Bureau of the Newly-Acquired Lands) (Established 1942) (Polish Biuro Ziem Nowych) The Bureau's main task was to document the Polish claims on German lands east of the Oder river and the area of Prussia as well as planning of their post-war development. Despite the Allies agreement to grant Poland with the lands east of the Oder-Neisse Line, the plans of the bureau were never fulfilled since most of its workers were arrested by the NKVD and sent to GULags across Russia.
- Kierownictwo Walki Cywilnej (Directorate of Civil Resistance) (since 1941)
[edit] Reference
- Waldemar Grabowski (1995). Delegatura Rządu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na Kraj. Warsaw: Pax, 293. ISBN 83-211-1392-3.
- Stanisław Dzięciołowski (2004). Parlament Polski Podziemnej 1939-1945. Warsaw: Chancellery of the Sejm and Sejm Press, 258. ISBN 83-7059-665-7.
