Jakub Berman

Jakub Berman was a gray eminence, a man of confidence in Moscow, an apparatchik, a co-creator of People's Poland, responsible for Stalinist crimes. It was he, together with Minc and Zambrowski, who exercised real power in the Polish People's Republic, isolating to some extent the less intelligent Bierut from making the most important decisions. Despite this, they were friends in private life. He never pushed himself to the top of power. He went down in history as one of the symbols of communist crimes committed in Poland after 1944, as one of the main Stalinist politicians responsible for terror before 1956.

He came from a well-to-do family of Jewish intelligentsia. His father was the Zionist Iser Lejba Berman, the mother of Gut née Bernikier. In 1925, he graduated from law at the University of Warsaw, and also all his siblings received a thorough education. However, he did not complete the attorney apprenticeship of his own choice. He pursued his professional passions mainly as a journalist.

In 1928, Berman joined the Communist Party of PolandCommunist Party of Poland (KPP, polish: Komunistyczna Partia Polski) – a communist party operating from 1918 to 1938., an illegal organization entirely led from Moscow, an instrument in the hands of Stalin and his team. KPP was a criminal organization and was banned in the Second Polish Republic. It recognized the activities of the "German" communist parties in the Western Borderlands and the Belarusian and Ukrainian communist parties in the Eastern Borderlands. Its activists and functionaries fiercely fought the Polish state, denying it its raison d'être. They questioned its limits. They acted, not only spreading the ideology, but also using terror, sabotage, subversion and assassinations committed against the officials of the Polish state, as well as common robberies in order to supplement the organizational funds that flowed abundantly from the Moscow headquarters.

After the war, the "backside murderer," as he was called, coordinated the preparation of hundreds of political trials, the persecution of several hundred thousand members of the Home ArmyHome Army (AK, polish: Armia Krajowa) – the clandestine armed forces of the Polish Underground State during World War II., Peasant BattalionsA clandestine armed organisation of the Polish peasant movement numbering around 170,000 people. Active during World War II in the General Government and Greater Poland to defend the Polish countryside against German terror and economic exploitation. After the Home Army, it was the largest Polish underground armed formation; it had 70 partisan detachments and about 400 special detachments carrying out sabotage and combat actions. and the National Armed ForcesNational Armed Forces (NSZ, polish: Narodowe Siły Zbrojne) – Polish underground military organization of the national camp, operating in the years 1942–1947, with around 75,000 people at its peak. During the German occupation, it fought with the Germans and fought against Polish communist formations: the People’s Guard, the People’s Army, as well as the Soviet partisans and robber gangs., and a ruthless, systematic struggle against the Church. He exterminated the most distinguished Polish patriots.

He pursued a consistent policy of Sovietization and Russification of Polish culture, striving to exterminate Polish national thinking. Due to Berman's simultaneous supervision of security and culture, it became popular to say that henceforth only three directions would be allowed in painting: "formalism, [ub]ism, and repression."

Berman had at his disposal journalists and publicists who, on his orders, patiently falsified even historical sources. For example, Arnold MostowiczArnold Mostowicz (born 6 April 1914 in Łódź as Arnold Moszkowicz, died 3 February 2002 in Warsaw) - a recognised Polish writer, journalist, translator and populariser of science, born in Łódź to a Jewish family. Before the war he worked as a doctor. He was held in the German concentration camps of Auschwitz, Bad Warmbrunn, Dörnhau, Jelenia Góra and Cieplice. prepared a new version of the memoirs of General Józef RybakJózef Artur Rybak (born on 7 April 1882 in Delatyń, died on 8 May 1953 in Kraków) - a decorated major general of the Polish Army, army inspector, knight of the Order of Virtuti Militari. Arrested by the communist Security Office, but released soon due to poor health. Author of memoirs., a participant in the war of 1920.

In the interview with Teresa TorańskaTeresa Slawomira Torańska (born 1 January 1944 in Wołkowysk, died 2 January 2013 in Warsaw) is a Polish journalist and writer. She was awarded two Orders of Polonia Restituta and prizes for her journalistic work., Berman spoke about his role in shaping the Stalinist regime:

I was aware, however, that I should not or could not hold the highest positions as a Jew. Besides, I did not care to line up in the first rows. Not even because I'm so modest by nature. Actual possession of power does not necessarily entail self-exposure. I wanted to make my contribution, to leave a mark on this complex form of power that was taking shape, but without exposing myself. It took, of course, a certain skill.

In fact, he made an enormous contribution to the murder of Polish patriots in manipulated show trials, often falsifying evidence. He even liquidated those heroes of the Polish underground who saved Jews. Yes, for example, Adam Doboszyński was convicted on the basis of falsified espionage evidence for many countries, then he was cruelly tortured and murdered. Berman wrote in his case to another communist criminal, Romkowski - deputy minister of the Ministry of Public SecurityMinistry of Public Security (UB, polish: Urząd Bezpieczeństwa) - secret police, intelligence and counterintelligence agency operating during the communist era of the Polish People's Republic. Identified with communist crimes; murders and bestial torturing of those fighting for independent Poland.:

I am sending the indictment with one amendment, c. Tomasz [camrade Bolesław Bierut] also has no objections. It is worth working in this direction so that the role of the Vatican, especially the pro-German circles in the Vatican, and the specific forms of their actions, appear more clearly in the course of the trial, so that it would be convincing for believing Catholics. Against the background of the planned talks and actions, this could be quite important. Old and new materials have to be mobilized and handled in the process.

The use of violence, torture and murder against the opposition was not unusual. In 1945, Berman said:

You need to keep a strong hand not only outside but also inside towards the administration, party members, etc. A strong hand in security [Ministry of Public Security] can help a lot.

In a speech at a meeting of the Communist Politburo of the Central Committee of the PPRPolish Workers' Party (PPR, polish: Polska Partia Robotnicza) - a Polish communist party operating from 1942 to 1948 in Warsaw during the German occupation by Polish communists from the so-called Initiative Group (parachuted by the Soviet Air Force in 1941) by merging several communist organisations. From 1944, the party ruled in Poland as a non-sovereign state, under the domination of the USSR., immediately after the rigging of the elections in 1947, he said:

I mobilized all the moral and physical pressure I could. If the world found out about the real results of the elections in the whole territory of Poland, we would be attacked.

In Teresa Torańska's interview with Jakub Berman, we can read:

Torańska: - And what about imprisoning? At the turn of 1948/1949 you arrested members of the Home Army Council to Aid Jews "Żegota".
Berman: - Well, yes, all organizations related to the Home Army had been widely embraced.
Torańska: - Sir! UB, in which all or almost all of the directors were Jews, arrests Poles for saving Jews during the occupation, and you say that Poles are anti-Semites, not nice.
Berman: - It's bad. It must have happened badly.

Attempts to bring Berman's accounts to justice only concerned his crimes against his own party activists. Berman, an intelligent and cautious man, he almost always said "I don't recallect", "I don't remember." Finally, in the discussion inside the party, words full of sarcasm were uttered: “All of Warsaw knew that there were detention arrests, where people were standing in excrement up to their ankles. All of Warsaw knew that Różański personally tears off people's toenails. Camrade Berman, chairman of the Safety Committee - didn't know." During his tenure at least 200,000 people were imprisoned for real or imagined political offenses, of whom some 6,000 were executed.

SOURCES
https://www.radiomaryja.pl/bez-kategorii/jakuba-bermana-biografia-ulomna/