Ofiara komunistycznego eksperymentu czy pragmatyzmu? Rzecz o kapitanie Jerzym Szematowiczu – funkcjonariuszu SB

A victim of communist experiment or pragmatism? On Captain Jerzy Szematowicz, an SB officer

By means of a concise confrontation of the views of a revolutionary and a politician of the interwar period with the figure of a Security Service officer, the author attempts to analyze the issue of the evolution of patterns of behavior in the structures of the security apparatus. The repressive apparatus, which started from an ideological stance, over the years leaned towards pragmatism. The evolution of the communist system, which referred to the downgrading of the ideocratic foundations of the existing order and the insertion of bureaucratic elements degrading its essence, led in consequence to its downfall. In such an assumed juxtaposition of extreme elements, the aim was to identify the mechanism that caused the emergence of a new type of officer free of ideology, but manifesting the attitude of a pragmatist. Research on the security service has not been exhausted. The 1970s was a time of changes not only in the administrative structure of the country, but also of adapting the structure of the repressive apparatus to the changes. Some of the Citizen’s Militia headquarters were liquidated and many more were established in their place. The post-wildfire period is much less scientifically recognized compared to previous years. Several reasons contribute to this fact. Analyzing this issue achronologically, documentation from the years 1975-1989 was largely destroyed (burned, privatized), which also makes research on the last decade of the People’s Republic of Poland the most difficult. The analyzed period was characterized by strong opposition to the system. Many times in the dispute between the party and the „Solidarity”; opposition, security officers appeared, who, having in mind the fight against the enemy, knew that he should also be respected. Awareness of the future and the changes that could occur in the political situation prompted individual representatives of the security apparatus to maintain a pragmatic attitude towards the surrounding reality.
The figure of captain Jerzy Szematowicz allows us to observe the changes that occurred in the ethos of the officers of the Security Service.