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| | occupation = Vice-minister, security agent | | occupation = Vice-minister, security agent | ||
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| General '''Roman Romkowski''' (born ''Natan Grinszpan-Kikiel'') (May 22, 1907, ] – July 1, 1965, ]) was a ] ], and second in command (deputy minister) in Poland's ] (MBP) during the 1940s and the beginning of 1950's. He was responsible for the workings of departments: I<sup>st</sup> (counter-espionage), VII<sup>th</sup> (espionage), X<sup>th</sup> security in ]/], and more.{{cn}} | |||
| '''Roman Romkowski''' born '''Natan Grünspan-Kikiel''',<ref name="T-P">], McFarland, 1998. {{ISBN|0-7864-0371-3}}. 437 pages.</ref> (May 22, 1907 – July 1, 1965) was a Polish ] of Jewish background trained by ] in ],<ref name="republika" /> who changed his name and settled into ] after the Soviet takeover,<ref name="TP-64"></ref> and became second in command (the deputy ])<ref name="T-P" /> in Berman's ] (MBP) during the late 1940s and early 1950s.<ref name="T-P" /> Along with several other high functionaries including Dir. ], Col. ], Dir. ] and the chief supervisor of Polish State Security Services, Minister ] from the ], Romkowski came to symbolize communist terror in postwar Poland.<ref name="gazeta">{{cite web |url=http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,969036.html |title="Zmarl Anatol Fejgin, ostatni z kierownictwa UB," |accessdate=2013-06-21 |deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811040557/http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,969036.html |archivedate=August 11, 2011 |df= }} ], 11 Sept. 2002, ]. Retrieved from Internet Archive, June 21, 2013.</ref> He was responsible for the work of departments: Counter-espionage (1st), Espionage (7th), Security in the {{nowrap|]–]}} (10th Dept. run by Fejgin), and others.<ref name="republika">, "Niewinnie straceni w latach 1945–56". OptimusNet. {{pl icon}}</ref><ref name="B-F" /> | |||
| == Arrest == | |||
| Romkowski was arrested on April 23, 1956, during the socialist ] revolution,<ref name="B-F" /> and brought to trial along with functionaries responsible for gross violations of human rights law and their abuse of power.<ref name="H-L">Heather Laskey, , McGill-Queen's Press MQUP, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7735-2606-4}}. 254 pages.</ref> Historian Heather Laskey alleges that it was probably not a coincidence that the high ranking Stalinist security officers put on trial by Gomułka were {{nowrap|Jews.<ref name="H-L" />}} ] was captured by ] and imprisoned by Romkowski in 1951 on Soviet orders, and interrogated by both, him and Fejgin. Gomułka escaped physical torture only as a close associate of ],<ref name="LIFE"> ]</ref> and was released three years later.<ref name="Memoirs">Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, Sergeĭ Khrushchev, George Shriver, Stephen Shenfield, Penn State Press, 2007. {{ISBN|0-271-02935-8}}. 1126 pages.</ref> | |||
| ==The court proceedings== | |||
| At trial, Col. Różański didn't deny that he routinely tortured prisoners including ] members, and he didn't apologize for his actions. Instead, he pointed a finger at Romkowski and continuously repeated the ] of justification of any means to an end. For him, torturing people was a daily double-shift job, nothing more, nothing less. He admitted that all charges against his victims were falsified on site by his department.<ref name="H-L" /> | |||
| Roman Romkowski had been put on trial along with Józef Różański and a second Jewish defendant from his department, Anatol Fejgin. Romkowski insisted that Różański should have been removed already in 1949 for his destructive activities, even though, Romkowski himself taught Różański everything about torture.<ref name="H-L" /> Both, Romkowski and Różański, were sentenced to 15 years in prison on 11 November 1957,<ref name="B-F" /><ref name="J-T">Jacek Topyło, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003095500/http://www.glaukopis.pl/pdf/pafddxmbp.pdf |date=2011-10-03 }} ''Glaukopis'' Magazine, 2007. {{cite web|url= |title=Page 3. }}Page 3. {{small|(210.5 KB)}} {{ISSN|1730-3419}} {{pl icon}}</ref> for unlawful imprisonment and mistreatment of innocent detainees. Feign was sentenced to 12 years, on similar charges.<ref name="B-F">Barbara Fijałkowska, {{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 15 December 2002, Fundacja Orientacja ''abcnet''; see also: B. Fijałkowska, ''Borejsza i Różański. Przyczynek do dziejów stalinizmu w Polsce'', {{ISBN|83-85513-49-3}}. {{pl icon}}</ref><ref name="H-L" /><ref name="J-T" /> | |||
| A well-known writer ] from ], interrogated by Romkowski's subordinates from January 9, 1949 till June 6, 1951, described 49 different types of torture he endured. Beatings included truncheon blows to bridge of nose, salivary glands, chin, shoulder blades, bare feet and toes (particularly painful), heels (ten blows each foot, several times a day), cigarette burns on lips and eyelids and burning of fingers. Sleep deprivation, resulting in near-madness – meant standing upright in a narrow cell for seven to nine days with frequent blows to the face – a hallucinatory method called by the interrogators "Zakopane". General Romkowski told him on November 30, 1948, that he personally requested this "sheer hell".<ref name="SC-MK">Stéphane Courtois, Mark Kramer, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, '']'', 1999, 858 pages. {{ISBN|0-674-07608-7}}. Pages 377–378.</ref> | |||
| The court announced that the actions of Roman Romkowski and his Ministry demoralised the Party as much as its own functionaries. Jakub Berman, the chief supervisor of State Security Services incriminated by ] who defected to ], resigned from his ] post in May and was evaluated by the 20th Congress, which launched a process of partial democratisation of Polish political as well as economic life. The number of security agents at the ministry was cut by 22%, and 9,000 socialist and populist politicians were released from prison on top of some 34,644 detainees across the country.<ref name="Gluchowski">{{cite web | url=https://independent.academia.edu/LeszekGluchowski/Books/536583/Gluchowski_Leszek._The_Collapse_of_Stalinist_Rule_in_Poland_The_Polish_United_Workers_Party_from_the_XX_CPSU_Congress_to_the_VIII_KC_PZPR_Plenum_February-October_1956._Unpublished_Doctoral_Dissertation_University_of_Cambridge_September_1991 | title=The Collapse of Stalinist Rule in Poland | publisher=], ] Faculty of Social and Political Sciences | year=1991 | accessdate=June 1, 2011 | author=Leszek Wlodzimierz Gluchowski | page=100 | deadurl=yes | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006085156/http://independent.academia.edu/LeszekGluchowski/Books/536583/Gluchowski_Leszek._The_Collapse_of_Stalinist_Rule_in_Poland_The_Polish_United_Workers_Party_from_the_XX_CPSU_Congress_to_the_VIII_KC_PZPR_Plenum_February-October_1956._Unpublished_Doctoral_Dissertation_University_of_Cambridge_September_1991 | archivedate=October 6, 2011 | df= }}</ref> "The routing of the Polish Stalinists was indeed complete."<ref name="AKW">A. Kemp-Welch, ], 2008. {{ISBN|0-521-71117-7}}. 444 pages.</ref> | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
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Revision as of 10:53, 29 May 2019
| Roman Romkowski | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Roman Romkowski aka Natan Grinszpan-Kikiel | |
| Born | (1907-05-22)May 22, 1907 Moscow, Russian Empire |
| Died | July 1, 1965(1965-07-01) (aged 58) Warsaw, Poland |
| Other names | Natan Grünspan |
| Citizenship | Polish |
| Occupation(s) | Vice-minister, security agent |
| Known for | State Security Services (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa) |
General Roman Romkowski (born Natan Grinszpan-Kikiel) (May 22, 1907, Moscow – July 1, 1965, Warsaw) was a Polish communist, and second in command (deputy minister) in Poland's Ministry of Public Security (MBP) during the 1940s and the beginning of 1950's. He was responsible for the workings of departments: I (counter-espionage), VII (espionage), X security in PPR/PZPR, and more.
See also
Notes and references
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