Glossary

Glossary

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A dictionary of terms and detailed explanations regarding the functioning of state security organizations facilitates the interpretation of published data.

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ZABEZPIECZENIE (ZABEZPIECZENIE OPERACYJNE) | ‘SECURING’ (OPERATIVE ’SECURING’)

Zabezpieczenie (zabezpieczenie operacyjne) (‘Securing’ (operative ’securing’) a term used to describe the registration and type of operative case. Initially, "securing" was a general and ambiguous term, virtually synonymous with the covering of a person, environment or institution under the "operative interest" or the registration of a person in the Security Service (SB) recording means (records, card-indexes etc.) with the annotation "securing"; from 1960 onwards, persons registered in "securing" category (in the procedure applicable to the registration of a candidate for secret collaborator – kandydat na tajnego współpracownika, KTW) were treated as various categories of "citizen assistance" (pomoc obywatelska); in the 1970s and 1980s, the SB started to more often register persons as "operative securing", "secured persons", which could mean placing them under observation, albeit with a lower level of operative involvement than the record questionnaire (kwestionariusz ewidencyjny, KE) or operative check case (sprawa operacyjnego sprawdzenia, SOS) (de facto, this was to record a "hostile act" in the operative card-index). Much more common, however, was the concealment by this form of registration of the agent nature of contacts with those registered in the SB operative card-index. If an operative ‘securing’ dossier was submitted to the relevant "C" division of the SB field unit or Bureau "C" of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs and registered in the archival log under reference I, i.e. in the inventory of agent files, it could be provisionally assumed that indeed the person registered as "securing", to whom such files refer, maintained contacts of an agent nature with the SB or was subject to "preparation" similar to that of the KTW (kandydat na tajnego wspólpracownika, candidate for secret cooperator). "Securing" was also a category of registration in the registry instruments of Bureau "C" of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs, applicable to persons registered in the card-index means of Department I of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs and the Bureau of Studies of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs. The actual nature of the registrations was captured in the files and registry instruments kept by these units. Department I of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs and the Bureau of Studies of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs entered "securing" to the records of the "C" divisions to conceal the real nature of the registration and gather, through coordination procedures, intelligence concerning the actions of other SB units towards the registered person and exclude the possibility of another unit registering the person in question. However, the archiving of the “secured persons” files under the “I” reference symbol could as well mean the highest category of secrecy keeping. There was also a procedure for "securing foreign travel", which meant informing the operative unit that had registered the person in the registry instruments of Bureau "C" of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs every time such a person was applying for a passport (or other document authorizing travel abroad). The word "securing" also functioned in the SB's parlance to denote the inclusion of data about a person in registry instruments, i.e. registration ("secure in card-index").

ZABEZPIECZENIE [WSW] | 'SECURING' [WSW]

Zabezpieczenie (‘Securing’) [WSW] according to the 1987 regulations of the Internal Military Service (WSW), ‘securing’ meant "the securing unit's assurance of the exclusivity of its counter-intelligence activities concerning the secured person and of the receiving of information about another unit's interest in that person". ‘Securing’ meant registering a civilian person in the WSW and the Ministry of the Internal Affairs registry instruments (logs, card-indexes) to coordinate operative activities concerning person affected before registering him or her as a collaborator or as part of an operative case.

ZABEZPIECZENIE WYJAZDÓW ZAGRANICZNYCH | FOREIGN TRAVEL RESTRICTION

Zastrzeżenie wyjazdów zagranicznych (Foreign travel restriction) a ban imposed secretly by the Security Service (SB) operative units on citizens of the Polish People's Republic (PRL). The restriction was imposed by a foreign travel restriction order issued by an SB operative officer, approved by his superior and recorded in the registration log of foreign travel restrictions. Information about the restriction was placed in the passport card-index and on the covers of the passport file. The restriction was valid for two years from the date of issue, with an option of virtually unlimited renewal by the operative unit. When a citizen subject to a restriction applied for a passport, the operative unit that issued the restriction was notified; refusals to issue a passport were officially motivated by "important state reasons".

ZAKRYTY PUNKT OBSERWACYJNY (ZPO) | CONCEALED OBSERVATION POINT

Zakryty Punkt Obserwacyjny (Concealed observation point) (ZPO) a method of conducting surveillance by the "B" division of the Security Service (SB); a room (flat) from which people (also buildings or flats) were surveilled (filmed, photographed) by officers of the "B" division. ZPOs were registered in the "C" division (registration) and in the operative records of the "B" division. The ZPO was understood to be a room in the sole disposition of the officers of the "B" division ("T" division), enabling them to work in a clandestine manner using operative technical measures. ZPOs were arranged when ad hoc observation in a particular location was impossible without revealing the presence of secret agents or when it was necessary to observe houses, flats and other objects on a permanent or long-term basis. ZPOs were arranged according to the rules applicable to contact flats (safehouses); the owner of the flat or room in which the ZPO was set up was recruited according to the rules applicable to the contact flat holders. There were two ZPO types: temporary and permanent. A relevant file was set up for each ZPO after registration.

ZAPYTANIE (SPRAWDZENIE) | ENQUIRY (CHECK)

Zapytanie (sprawdzenie) (Enquiry (check)) an enquiry by a Security Service (SB) unit (operative unit or command level) to a "C" division unit to obtain information about a person. An enquiry was submitted on the E-15 card or in cases of emergency (need for immediate arrest, setting up an ambush or concealed observation point, search, conducting an operative reconnaissance) by cryptogram (see szyfrogram). Following an enquiry, information was provided on the person concerned under the rules of coordination; this information concerned the files kept or records on the person concerned, including weeded files (no files); if the files were restricted by the unit which archived them, or if the person concerned was actively registered in the context of an operative case, "secured" or as a collaborator, the "C" division unit carried out the so-called coordination of operative interests and provided information in accordance with the decision of the operative unit which registered the person concerned (or restricted access to archived files; see zastrzeżenie; i.e. restriction). The performance of checks, i.e. making the relevant enquiries and obtaining answers to them, was a condition for opening and registering operative cases, setting up a candidate for secret collaborator (kandydat na tajnego współpracownika, KTW) dossier and registering the KTW, setting up concealed observation points (zakryty punkt obserwacyjny, ZPO), special concealed points (specjalny punkt zakryty, SPZ), ambushes, etc. In addition, enquiries were also routinely made about persons belonging to the family of the person being checked, persons residing in the planned ZPO, contact premises (lokal kontaktowy, LK) and persons mentioned in denunciations and other operative documents included in the case file. In the SB, it was obligatory to complete a check "before carrying out any operative activity concerning a person of interest to it [i.e. the operative unit]"; persons residing abroad were also to be checked in the card-index of Department I of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs. E-15 cards could only be signed by a division head (or a deputy or authorized officer), not by the officer preparing the enquiry (and handling the case to which the enquiry pertained). For enquiries concerning persons to be recruited (KTW), owners/occupiers of flats to be used as LK, secret flat (mieszkanie konspiracyjne, MK), address boxes, or persons who were to be placed under surveillance as part of operative cases, the "reason for enquiry" (or cryptogram) on the E-15 card was to state "prior to [opening of] case". In other cases (planned arrests, operative reconnaissance, ambushes, etc.), the "actual reason for enquiry" was to be stated – hence the entries "before the interview", "before the arrest", or even "registered as?". In the case of urgent checks (enquiries sent to the "C" division unit by cryptogram), the "C" division unit did not carry out all the coordination but only informed the checking unit that the person concerned had been registered by another unit, at the same time informing the registering unit that the check had been made. There were also the so-called permanent enquiries filed in the "C" division to periodically check certain data and signal the receipt of new information regarding the person concerned. As a rule, checks were carried out only in the general information card-index; in cases where it was necessary to obtain specific information (e.g. selecting collaborators living in a particular place or a particular neighbourhood, working at a particular establishment or institution, speaking specific foreign languages, of the appropriate nationality, etc., checking the address where an LK, MK, ZPO, SPZ or an ambush was to be set up, etc.), it was permissible to carry out checks in the thematic card-indexes. The SB leadership could make enquiries of an analytical nature, making it possible, for example, to identify collaborators from a particular circle or institution. Performing checks was the primary method for operative units to obtain information on the contents of SB card-indexes and archives, on which the procedures for registering and opening operative cases (files of secret collaborators) formally depended. The correct submission of enquiries also resulted in coordination procedures being carried out by the units of the "C" division, thus eliminating the duplication of activities of the various SB units, or starting the coordination of their activities or the secret supervision by higher-level units of the activities undertaken by the operative units.

ZASTRZEŻENIE | RESTRICTION

Zastrzeżenie (Restriction) 1. a general term for a ban issued by the Security Service (SB) operative units, including the foreign travel restriction (see zastrzeżenie wyjazdów zagranicznych); 2. an SB operative unit could, when archiving files, "restrict" their release due to the operative reasons, i.e. make their lending from Division II of Bureau "C" of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs or field unit divisions "C" conditional on the consent of the head of the unit that archived the files. Information on the restriction of archived files by the SB operative unit was placed next to the archival reference number of the files in the general information card-index.

ZASTRZEŻENIE WYJAZDÓW ZAGRANICZNYCH | FOREIGN TRAVEL RESTRICTION

Zastrzeżenie wyjazdów zagranicznych (Foreign travel restriction) a ban imposed secretly by the Security Service (SB) operative units on citizens of the Polish People's Republic (PRL). The restriction was imposed by a foreign travel restriction order issued by an SB operative officer, approved by his superior and recorded in the registration log of foreign travel restrictions. Information about the restriction was placed in the passport card-index and on the covers of the passport file. The restriction was valid for two years from the date of issue, with an option of virtually unlimited renewal by the operative unit. When a citizen subject to a restriction applied for a passport, the operative unit that issued the restriction was notified; refusals to issue a passport were officially motivated by "important state reasons".

ZESZYT EWIDENCYJNY TECZEK PRACY AGENTA DEPARTAMENTU I MSW | REGISTRY FASCICLE OF THE SERVICE DOSSIERS OF AN AGENT OF DEPARTMENT I OF THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Zeszyt ewidencyjny teczek pracy agenta Departamentu I MSW (Registry fascicle of the service dossiers of an agent of Department I of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs) an auxiliary registry instrument for documenting the issue of covers of a service dossier of an agent of Department I of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs. The service dossier volumes were kept by the heads of the operative divisions of Department I of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs; the issue of the service dossier covers was kept secret from the operative registry of Department I of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs so as not to reveal the nature of the operative case-file being proceeded (the fact that an agent had been recruited). The service dossier registry fascicles of agents of all operative divisions of Department I of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs, except for Division XI, have been preserved.