View source for Trial of the Sixteen

{{Short description|Staged trial of 16 leaders of the Polish Secret State held by the Soviet Union}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Moscow Trial 1945.jpg|thumb|upright=2|The show trial of 16 leaders of the Polish wartime underground movement (including the Home Army and civil authorities) convicted of "drawing up plans for military action against the U.S.S.R.", Moscow, June 1945. All of them had been invited to help organize the new "Polish Government of National Unity" in March 1945 and were subsequently captured by the [[NKVD]].]]
The '''Trial of the Sixteen''' ({{langx|pl|Proces szesnastu}}) was a [[staged trial]] of 16 leaders of the [[Polish Underground State]] held by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet authorities]] in [[Moscow]] in 1945. All captives were [[kidnapping|kidnapped]] by the [[NKVD]] secret service and falsely accused of various forms of 'illegal activity' against the [[Red Army]].<ref name="Davies195"/>

==History==
The [[Government Delegate's Office at Home|Government Delegate]], together with most members of the [[Council of National Unity]] and the [[Commander-in-chief]] of the [[Armia Krajowa]], were invited by Soviet general [[Ivan Serov]] (with agreement of [[Joseph Stalin]]) to a conference on their eventual entry to the Soviet-backed Provisional Government.<ref name="Malcher73"/><ref name="Garlinski324"/> Some historical accounts say approaches were made in February, with others saying March 1945.<ref name="Malcher73">[[George Malcher|Malcher, G.C.]] (1993) ''Blank Pages'' Pyrford Press {{ISBN|1-897984-00-6}} p. 73</ref><ref name="Garlinski324">Garlinski, J.(1985) ''Poland in the Second World War'' Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-39258-2}} p. 324</ref><ref name="Prazmowska115">{{cite book |last1=Prazmowska |first1=Anita |year=2004 |title=Civil war in Poland, 1942-1948 |publisher=Palgrave (Springer) |isbn=0230504884 |pages=114–115 |author-link=Anita J. Prazmowska |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReF8DAAAQBAJ&q=sixteen |via=Google Books |chapter=The Liberation }}</ref><ref name="Mikolajczyk125">Mikolajczyk, S. (1948) ''The pattern of Soviet domination'' Sampson Low, Marston & Co p. 125</ref> The Polish politicians were presented with a warrant of safety, but were instead arrested in [[Pruszków]] and brutally beaten by the [[NKVD]] on 27 and 28 March.<ref name="Mikolajczyk125"/><ref name="Prazmowska116">Prazmowska, A. (2004), p. 116.</ref><ref name="Michta39">Michta, A. (1990) ''Red Eagle'' Stanford University {{ISBN|0-8179-8862-9}} p. 39</ref> [[Leopold Okulicki]], [[Jan Stanisław Jankowski]] and [[Kazimierz Pużak]] were arrested on the 27th with 12 others the following day. Alexander Zwierzyński had been arrested earlier. They were brought to [[Moscow]] for interrogation in [[Lubyanka (KGB)|the Lubyanka]].<ref name="Mikolajczyk125"/><ref name="Garlinski325">Garlinski, J.(1985) ''Poland in the Second World War'' Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-39258-2}} pp. 325–326</ref><ref name="Umiastowski462">Umiastowski, R. (1946) ''Poland, Russia and Great Britain 1941-1945'' Hollis & Carter pp. 462–464</ref><ref name="Piesakowski198">Piesakowski, T. (1990) ''The fate of Poles in the USSR 1939~1989'' Gryf pp. 198–199</ref>
{{Polish Underground State sidebar}}

After several months of brutal interrogation and torture<ref name="Garlinski335">Garlinski, J.(1985) ''Poland in the Second World War'' Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-39258-2}} p. 335</ref> they were presented with trumped-up accusations of:
#[[Collaboration]] with [[Nazi Germany]]<ref name="Garlinski336">Garlinski, J.(1985) ''Poland in the Second World War'' Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-39258-2}} p. 336</ref><ref name="Umiastowski467">Umiastowski, R. (1946) ''Poland, Russia and Great Britain 1941-1945'' Hollis & Carter pp. 467–468</ref>
#Carrying-out [[intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence gathering]] and [[sabotage]] at the rear of the [[Red Army]]<ref name="Umiastowski467"/>
#[[State terrorism]]<ref name="Umiastowski467"/>
#Planning a military alliance with Nazi Germany<ref name="Umiastowski467"/>
#Owning a radio transmitter, printing machines, and weapons<ref name="Umiastowski467"/>
#[[Propaganda]] against the Soviet Union<ref name="Umiastowski467"/>
#Membership in underground organizations.<ref name="Umiastowski467"/>

The trial took place between 18 and 21 June 1945 with foreign press and observers from the United Kingdom and United States present. The date was chosen carefully to be at the same time as a conference on the creation of the Soviet-backed Polish puppet government was organized.<ref name="Prazmowska117">Prazmowska, A. (2004), p. 117.</ref><ref name="Umiastowski465">Umiastowski, R. (1946) ''Poland, Russia and Great Britain 1941-1945'' Hollis & Carter pp. 465–471</ref> The verdict was issued on 21 June, with most of the defendants coerced into pleading guilty by the [[NKVD]]. General [[Leopold Okulicki|Okulicki]]'s [[witness]]es for the defense were declared unreachable "owing to bad atmospheric conditions", and no evidence was offered during the trial.<ref name="ihug">{{cite book |url=http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~antora/WYDAW/TRIAL/TEXT/TRIAL-TX1.HTM |title=The Moscow Trial of the 16 Polish Leaders |publisher=Liberty Publications |location=[[London]] |year=1945 |at=24 pages, 2 ill |id=Electronic version by Roman Antoszewski, Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand; July 2000 |via=Internet Archive |access-date=30 March 2017 |chapter=No Witnesses for the Defence Allowed |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204061943/http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~antora/WYDAW/TRIAL/TEXT/TRIAL-TX1.HTM#21%20ACCUSED |archive-date=4 February 2012 }}</ref> Of the sixteen defendants, twelve were sentenced to prison terms ranging from four months to ten years, while charges against the four others were dropped by the prosecution.<ref name="ihug" />

Immediately after the arrest of all the leaders, the [[Polish government in exile]] sent a protest note to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] and [[London]] demanding their release. At first the Soviets declared that the whole case was a bluff by the "Fascist Polish government". When they finally admitted that the leaders had been arrested (on 5 May), the American envoy of [[Harry S. Truman]], [[Harry Lloyd Hopkins]], was told by Joseph Stalin that "there is no point in linking the case of the Trial of the Sixteen with the support for the Soviet-backed government of Poland because the sentences will not be high." Both British and American governments shared this view.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

==People involved==
# Lt. General [[Vasili Ulrikh]], notable for playing a major role in the [[Great Purge]] trials, served as the main [[judge]] and issued the following sentences:<ref name="ihug"/>
#Commander in Chief of the [[Armia Krajowa]], [[Leopold Okulicki]] (''Niedźwiadek'') – 10 years in prison,<ref name="Prazmowska117"/><ref name="Mikolajczyk145">Mikolajczyk, S. (1948) ''The pattern of Soviet domination'' Sampson Low, Marston & Co p. 145</ref> may have been murdered on Christmas Eve of 1946 but may have died due to complications caused by hunger strike.<ref name="Prazmowska117"/>
#Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and the [[Government Delegate's Office at Home|Government Delegate]], [[Jan Stanisław Jankowski]] – 8 years in prison,<ref name="Prazmowska117"/><ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/> never released, died in a Soviet prison on 13 March 1953, two weeks before the end of his sentence; probably murdered.<ref name="Prazmowska117"/>
#Minister of Internal Affairs, [[Adam Bień]] – 5 years<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/>
#Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, [[Stanislaw Jasiukowicz]] – 5 years<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/>
#Head of the [[Council of National Unity]] and [[PPS-WRN]] socialist party – [[Kazimierz Pużak]] – 1.5 years,<ref name="Prazmowska117"/><ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/> released in November 1945 and returned to Poland. Refused to emigrate, Pużak was again arrested by the [[Urząd Bezpieczeństwa]] in 1947 and sentenced to 10 years in prison; died 30 April 1950
#Deputy head of the Council of National Unity and head of the [[Labour Faction (1937)|Labor Party]], [[Aleksander Zwierzyński]] – 8 months<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/>
#Member of the Council of National Unity, Kazimierz Bagiński – 1 year,<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/> later released and forced to emigrate to the United States
#Member of the Council of National Unity, Head of ''Zjednoczenie Demokratyczne'', Eugeniusz Czarnowski – 6 months<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/>
#Member of the Council of National Unity, Head of the [[Labour Faction (1937)|Labor Party]], [[Józef Chaciński]] – 4 months<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/>
#Member of the Council of National Unity, Stanisław Mierzwa – 4 months<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/>
#Member of the Council of National Unity, [[Zbigniew Stypułkowski]] – 4 months,<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/> later released and forced to emigrate to the United Kingdom
#Member of the Council of National Unity, Franciszek Urbański – 4 months<ref name="Mikolajczyk145"/>
#Member of the Council of National Unity, Stanisław Michałowski – acquitted of all the charges
#Member of the Council of National Unity, Kazimierz Kobylański – acquitted of all the charges
#Member of the Council of National Unity, interpreter for the group, Józef Stemler – acquitted of all the charges
#Deputy Government Delegate – [[Antoni Pajdak]] was sentenced to 5 years in prison in a [[secret trial]] in November; he was not released until 1955.

==Aftermath==
{{Main|Cursed soldiers}}

In his book, ''[[Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory|Europe at War]]'', [[Norman Davies]] described it as "obscene", that there was no official protest abroad.<ref name="Davies195">{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Norman |title=Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory |date=4 September 2008 |publisher=Pan Books |isbn=978-0330472296 |pages=195, 448 |via=Google Books |author-link=Norman Davies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KzNrLAcGTW0C&q=Moscow+sixteen }}</ref> As a result of the trial, the [[Polish Secret State]] was deprived of most of its leaders. Its structures were soon rebuilt, but were never able to fully recover. On 6 July 1945 the United Kingdom and the United States withdrew support for the legitimate [[Polish government in exile]],<ref name="Hope">Hope, M. (2005) ''The Abandoned Legion'' Veritas {{ISBN|1-904639-09-7}} p. 76</ref> and all its agendas in Poland. Soviet and Polish [[History of Poland (1945–1989)|Communist repressions]] aimed at former members of the Polish Secret State and the [[Armia Krajowa]] lasted well into the 1960s, corporal [[Józef Franczak]] being killed in a shootout with [[ZOMO|paramilitary-police]] in 1963.

==See also==
* [[Anti-Polonism]]
* [[Western betrayal]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==

===English language===
* [[Norman Davies]], ''Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw''. Viking Books, 2004. {{ISBN|0-670-03284-0}}. Hardcover, 784 pages.
* [[Jan Karski]], ''Story of a Secret State''. Simon Publications, 2001. {{ISBN|1-931541-39-6}}. Paperback, 391 pages.
* [[Edward Bernard Raczyński|Edward Raczynski]], ''In allied London'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962 pp.&nbsp;284–285, 295
* Zbigniew Stypulkowski, "Invitation to Moscow", 1950, 1951.

===Polish language===
* Waldemar Strzałkowski, [[Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert]], Andrzej Chmielarz, <cite>''Proces Szesnastu. Dokumenty NKWD''</cite>. Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM, [[Warsaw]], 1995. {{ISBN|83-86678-07-0}}. Paperback, 543 pages.
* Eugeniusz Duraczyński, <cite>''Generał Iwanow zaprasza. Przywódcy podziemnego państwa polskiego przed sądem moskiewskim''</cite>. Warsaw, Wydawnictwo ALFA, 1989. {{ISBN|83-7001-305-8}}

==External links==
*''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120204061943/http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~antora/WYDAW/TRIAL/TEXT/TRIAL-TX1.HTM#21%20ACCUSED The Moscow Trial of the 16 Polish Leaders.]'' Liberty Publications, [[London]], 1945, 24 pages, 2 ill. Electronic version, via Internet Archive.
* [[Michael Sayers]] and [[Albert E. Kahn]], [https://archive.today/20130104152946/http://www.shunpiking.com/books/GC/GC-AK-MS-chapter24.htm "The Case of the Sixteen"]. Chapter 24 of ''The Great Conspiracy: The Secret War Against Soviet Union'', a pro-Soviet view of the trial. Excerpt archived 4 January 2013.

{{History of the People's Republic of Poland}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trial Of The Sixteen}}
[[Category:1945 in case law]]
[[Category:1945 in international relations]]
[[Category:1945 in Poland]]
[[Category:1945 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1940s trials]]
[[Category:Aftermath of World War II in Poland]]
[[Category:Aftermath of World War II in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Anti-communism in Poland]]
[[Category:People from wartime administrations in Poland (1939–1947)]]
[[Category:Poland–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Political repression in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet military occupations]]
[[Category:Soviet show trials]]
[[Category:Stalinism in Poland]]