Ministry of Interior (Poland)

The seat of the ministry on Stefan Batory Street, Warsaw.

The Ministry of the Interior (Polish: Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych, MSW) is an administrative structure responsible for internal security, law enforcement, civil defence and registry functions in Poland. The current ministry was formed on 18 November 2011, when after the parliamentary election of 9 October 2011 there was a call to restructure the then Ministry of Interior and Administration, from which it was split. In late 2015 it was folded back to Ministry of Interior and Administration.

The last minister was Mariusz Błaszczak.

History and function

The ministry was founded in 1918. It has gone through several reforms, including partial splits and mergers, throughout its history.

The post of Minister of the Interior is one of the most important cabinet positions in Poland,^[1] According to the directive of the 'President of Council of Ministers' (Prime Minister) from the 18th of November 2011, the Minister of the Interior is responsible for:

• The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes
  • including the major law-enforcement agencies (see law enforcement in Poland)
    • the Polish National Police - safety and public order protection
• State borders' protection, regulation of migration policy and preventing illegal immigration
  • the Polish Border Guard (Straż Graniczna)
• Civil defence and crisis management
  • the State Fire Service
  • Search and rescue and the oversight of ambulance services
• the granting of identity documents (Polish passports, identity cards) and driving licenses through the network of voivodeships
• 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 and organization of political elections, at the national and voivodeship levels (but the results of the elections are overseen by the Constitutional Tribunal and administrative courts)
• integration and registration of legal immigrants
• civil registry functions: marital status registration, change of names or surnames

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.

The ministry's seat is located on Stefan Batory Street, south of Warsaw's city centre and in the governmental district which surrounds the Belweder. The Ministry can be referred to by its initials 'MSW'.

Ministers of the Interior (since 1989)

Political Party:   PO   PiS   SLD   UW   PZPR   SDPL

Portrait		Name (Born-Died)	Party	Term of Office		Prime Minister (Cabinet)
		Krzysztof Kozłowski (1931-2013)	Nonpartisan	6 July 1990	14 December 1990	Tadeusz Mazowiecki (Mazowiecki)
		Henryk Majewski (1951–)	Nonpartisan	12 January 1991	5 December 1991	Jan Krzysztof Bielecki (Bielecki)
		Antoni Macierewicz (1948–)	Christian National Union	23 December 1991	5 June 1992	Jan Olszewski (Olszewski)
		Andrzej Milczanowski (1939–)	Nonpartisan	11 July 1992	22 December 1995	Hanna Suchocka (Suchocka) Waldemar Pawlak (Pawlak II)
		Jerzy Konieczny (1950-)	Nonpartisan	29 December 1995	26 January 1996	Józef Oleksy (Oleksy)
		Zbigniew Siemiątkowski (1957–)	Democratic Left Alliance	15 February 1996	4 February 1997	Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (Cimoszewicz)
	For ministers of the interim Ministry of Interior and Administration (1997-2011) see: Ministers of Internal Affairs and Administration
		Jacek Cichocki (1971-)	Nonpartisan	18 November 2011	25 February 2013	Donald Tusk (Tusk II)
		Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz (1961-)	Nonpartisan	25 February 2013	22 September 2014	Donald Tusk (Tusk II)
		Teresa Piotrowska (1955-)	Civic Platform	22 September 2014	16 November 2015	Ewa Kopacz (Kopacz)
		Mariusz Błaszczak (1955-)	Law and Justice	16 November 2015	Incumbent	Beata Szydło (Szydło)

Other officeholders

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 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 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 29 December 1929 – 17 March 1930
• Henryk Józewski 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 (PPR) 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 and Administration of the Third Republic of Poland

• Leszek Miller (SLD) 1 January 1997 – 17 October 1997
• Janusz Tomaszewski (AWS) 31 October 1997 – 3 September 1999
• Marek Biernacki (AWS) 7 October 1999 – 19 October 2001
• Krzysztof Janik (SLD) 19 October 2001 – 21 January 2004
• Józef Oleksy (SLD) 21 January 2004 – 21 April 2004
• Jerzy Szmajdziński (SLD) 21 April 2004 – 2 May 2004
• Ryszard Kalisz (SLD) 2 May 2004 – 31 October 2005
• Ludwik Dorn (PiS) 31 October 2005 – 7 February 2007,
• Janusz Kaczmarek (independent) 8 February 2007 – 8 August 2007
• Władysław Stasiak (independent) 8 August 2007 – 16 November 2007
• Grzegorz Schetyna (PO) 16 November 2007 – 13 October 2009
• Jerzy Miller (PO) 14 October 2009 – 17 November 2011

References