International Scientific Conference

The apparatus of repression – the executive body in the Soviet system – history and research perspectives

(Lublin, 6–7 June 2024)

Historical Research Office of the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin invites you to participate in an international scientific conference entitled The apparatus of repression – the executive body in the Soviet system – history and research perspectives (6–7 June 2024).

Its aim is to summarise the current state of research on issues such as: political police, army, judiciary and prosecutor’s office, treated as integral elements of the apparatus of repression, and to draw attention to areas insufficiently explored by historians. An equally important issue is also identify problems and obstacles related to conducting research on the broadly understood apparatus of repression in Poland and other countries of the Soviet bloc. We are also interested in comparative analyses of the organisation and various manifestations of the activities of the apparatus of repression in Poland and other communist states in the years 1944–1989/1990. Case studies will be appreciated if they refer to the broader issues of the operation of the apparatus of repression and its specific conditions of a given country.

The date and place of the conference have not been chosen randomly. In July 2024, eighty years will have passed since the rise of communism in Poland. Its first institutions began their operation in Lublin. The creation of a monocentric system also began in this very city. Its essential element was to control and terrorise almost all citizens, groups and milieus, regardless of their actual conduct. This function was entrusted to employees of the apparatus of repression consisting not only of the political police, but also of the army, the prosecutor’s office and the judiciary.

The indicated date of establishment of the terror apparatus refers only to the Polish territory. However, this anniversary may be an incentive to discuss its history also in other countries of the Soviet bloc. 

Specific issues:

• the state of research on the broadly understood apparatus of repression;
• the source database and searching for new sources;
• research postulates and problems;
• the Sovietization process (general characteristics, comparative perspective – the scope, differences in individual countries, including the situation in the Baltic States, Ukraine and Belarus – Sovietization in the years 1939/40–1941);
• the origins of the apparatus of repression in Poland and other countries of the Soviet bloc – the influence of the Soviets on the construction and operation of the apparatus of repression; specificity or application of the Soviet model; comparison of the structures of the repression apparatus in individual regions of Poland – application of the experience gained in the so-called “Lublin” Poland or modification depending on the area;
• the people of the apparatus of repression in Poland and other countries of the Soviet bloc – a collective portrait, staff turnover and retention, forms of recruitment, pathologies and crimes, a closed caste or part of society;
• the scope of activity - defining the “enemy” in response to the top-down needs of those in power and the conditions in a given country;
• the methods and forms of activity – the specificity of a given country as a determinant of the selection of methods;
• relations with other state institutions – primarily the scope and methods of control exercised by the central authorities of the communist party.

Conference Location: Lublin, Conference and Exhibition Hall, Institute of National Remembrance, Branch in Lublin, ul. Wodopojna 2.

Conference languages: Polish and English (simultaneous interpretation)

Speeches: 20 minute-long (a laptop and a multimedia projector will be available to the speakers), please send your presentation and the text of the paper to the interpreters in advance.

The organizers reserve the right to select papers from among the submitted proposals. Selected speakers will be informed about acceptance of their papers by e-mail. When registering for the conference, please send an abstract of your presentation (up to approx. 1,000 characters with spaces) along with a biographical note.

Submission deadline: 29 February 2024

Deadline for approval of the list of participants: 31 March 2024

Publications: Articles in Polish or English will be published in the next issue of the magazine Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944–1989/90 for 2025 (40 points as ranked by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science). Due to the publishing process, please submit your completed texts by 7 June 2024.

The organisers do not charge a conference fee and provide speakers with free accommodation, meals and travel expenses. IPN employees settle participation in the conference as business trips.

Please send your submission to:

dr hab. Jacek Wołoszyn, tel. +48 81 536 34 69, e-mail: jacek.woloszyn@ipn.gov.pl

dr Justyna Dudek, tel. +48 81 536 34 64, e-mail: justyna.dudek@ipn.gov.pl