FROM SB TO PUBLIC MEDIA – Dorota Kania

A erstwhile safety Service officer, a Communist intelligence officer and then the State Protection Office, has a broadcast on Polish Radio as an authority from matters of peculiar services. Public medium. In a program with the suggestive title "Do Spies regulation the World?". The hotel kid Vincent V. Severski, or Włodzimierz Sokołowski – a man whose résumé is simply a textbook example of the continuity of the personnel of the safety apparatus of the Polish People's Republic of Poland. His father - Alexy Sokołowski - was a LWP soldier, and an informant of communist military security.

The second lead is compromised Piotr NiemczykFormer officer Office for State Protection, has been present in the media for years as a commentator and “expert”. This summary itself tells more about the state of public debate.

From Communist safety to the 3rd Polish Intelligence

Włodzimierz Sokołowski's career began in the realities of PRL. In the 1980s, he was a safety service officer associated with the Department of I the MMA – civilian intelligence of the PRL. A formation that was tasked with operating against the West, political emigration and the environment considered hostile by the communist authorities.

It was not an episode or a “short mistake of youth”. According to papers and analyses of historians, Sokołowski was 1 of the officers prepared for long-term service. Polish intelligence didn't invest in random people.

After 1989 – like many of his colleagues – was not verified negativelyit has not been removed from work, it has not been considered a burden on the fresh country. On the contrary: it went smoothly to UOP structures and then to the service environment of the III Republic. A mechanics known, repeatedly described, never realistically uncut.

‘New State’, old staff

UOP was expected to be a symbol of breaking up with the past. In practice, it became the place where erstwhile SB officers found themselves without much trouble. Names changed, signs changed and communicative – people remained the same.

Sokolovski has been operating in this strategy for years. He gained experience, contacts, symbolic capital. After leaving the service, he began a fresh phase of his career – this time as a author and public intelligence commentator.

Under a pseudonym Vincent V. Severski He built an image of an “insider”, a man who “knows what it truly looked like.” His books sold well, and he himself became a frequent guest of the media, literary festivals and debates.

Problem is, The biography is not gone.. She was only wrapped in an attractive form.

Public radio and public money

Program announcement in Polish Radio raises fundamental questions. Should a public average give the antenna to erstwhile Communist service officers as moral and analytical authorities? Are there truly no historians, researchers, experts not connected with the PRL repression apparatus in Poland?

The programme title – “Do Spies regulation the World?” – sounds ironic. due to the fact that in Polish realities the question should be different: Were they spies inactive moving the communicative of their own past?

Piotr Niemczyk – the another side of the same coin

The presence of Piotr Niemczyk in this task is not accidental. erstwhile UOP official, for years a media commentator, repeatedly criticized for his own decisions and function in the 1990s, besides became a beneficiary of a strategy in which accounts replaced by self-promotion.

This is characteristic: the same people who co-founded the service apparatus during the transition now explain to society how to realize the past and safety of the state.

Vladimir Sokołowski's career in SB. Facts and documents

Before Vincent V. Severski He became a media commentator, author and guest of public programs, for years was an officer of the PRL safety apparatus. His professional way began not in free Poland or under the conditions of a democratic regulation of law, but in structures MMA safety Services.

As he emphasizes Piotr Woyciechowski, who first described the communicative of Vladimir Sokołowski, was not a private administrative worker or method staff.

"Włodzimierz Sokołowski was an operational officer of the Department of I MMA, or civilian intelligence of PRL. This is an elite formation, carefully selected, prepared for many years of service. There were no random or politically indifferent people.”

Department I of the Ministry of abroad Affairs was liable for intelligence activities outside the country, infiltration of political emigration, opposition environments in the West, and implementation of the interests of the communist state in close cooperation with the KGB and another east bloc services.

A colleague of Włodzimierz Sokołowski – Gromosław Czempiński – I wrote here: https://dorotakania.pl/2025/10/12/gromoslaw-czepinski-sb-up-affers/

"PRL intelligence officer was part of the repression system. Even if he didn't hit the street, he was part of the same machine. His work served to keep communist power, neutralise political opponents and safe Moscow's interests.”

Sokolovski began his service in the 1980s, during and immediately after the martial law — the time erstwhile the SB pursued intense action against the solidarity opposition, the Church and the emigration environment.

“This was not the minute of the ‘soft PRL tip’. It was a time of brutal conflict between the state apparatus and its own society. all officer who entered the service at the time was full aware of who and what he served.”

Importantly, there are no traces of any effort to distance Sokolovski from this formation or to argue its actions. On the contrary, his career grew stable, which in the reality of SB meant trust of superiors and affirmative ideological assessments.

"There was no career in the PRL interview without political acceptance. It wasn't a safety firm or a neutral institution. It was part of the organization and state.”

Verification that has not verified anything

After 1989 Sokołowski – like many SB officers – moved to fresh structures. The process of verification of human resources was mostly fiction.

‘Verification was a facade. fewer were detained, frequently those who did not have the right back or were uncomfortable. The intelligence officers passed it in the vast majority without a problem.”

Sokołowski was in the State Protection Office, which was to formally break up with the legacy of SB, and in practice took over the staff, know-how and informal layouts of the erstwhile apparatus.

"It was a human, operational and intellectual continuity. The name of the institution was changed, but the people were the same. And along with them their way of reasoning about the state and citizens.”

Only after years, already outside the service, Sokolovski started literary and media activities, consistently building the image of an "interview man", but without the full context of his service in the Polish People's Republic.

“The problem is not that a erstwhile officer writes books. The problem is that he tells the communicative without revealing whose side he was standing on.”

Continuity, no accident

The communicative of Vladimir Sokołowski is no exception. It is. model. Model of promotion, adaptation and acquisition of narrative. erstwhile officers of the PRL repression apparatus were not only not accounted for – they became commentators of their own past.

Today, in the 3rd Polish Republic, they appear in public media as experts. They talk about a planet they supposedly know best. Problem is, They know him from the position of power, not citizen.

So if there is simply a question on the public radio “do spies regulation the world?” it is worth to answer honestly: they may not regulation the world, but inactive in Poland influence the story.

History Vladimir Sokolovskiego does not start in the 1980s or in the structures of SB. Its roots go much deeper – to the military and organization background of the Polish People's Republic, whose symbol was his father, Alexi Sokolovski.

As it reminds me Piotr Woyciechowski, Alexy Sokołowski was 1 of the officers of the People's Polish Army whose careers developed in parallel with the construction and consolidation of the communist strategy in Poland.

"The father of Włodzimierz Sokołowski was an LWP officer, a man of the system. His professional position was not a consequence of chance, but of loyalty to fresh power and acceptance of the political apparatus.”

Military interior Service – hard strategy backup

According to archival documents, Alexy Sokołowski was associated with structures Military interior Servicee – military safety apparatus PRL, which in years 1957–1990 served as counterintelligence and political police in the army.

In the archival resource of IPN he is in the band:

Head of the Military interior Service in Warsaw (1943–1957 / 1957–1990)
Sub-assembly: Military interior Service 1957–1990
Batch: Operational file(s)
Sub-Series: ‘ZA’ signature

However, the nature of the preserved materials is crucial.

Personal file of a secret informant/secret associate
ps. ‘Lucian’
Alexi Sokolovski, Father's name: Maciej
d.b. 17 July 1925., Vilnius

This means that Alexy Sokolovski was not just a "passive officer" of the army, but was listed in the records of the Military interior Service as a individual origin of information.

As Woyciechowski emphasizes:

"WSW was 1 of the most repressive elements of the PRL power apparatus. Secret informants and co-workers of the service participated in the control of the ideological army, surveillance of the officers' staff and combating all forms of disloyalty towards the system.”

Generational continuity

This context sheds fresh light on the later destiny of Vladimir Sokołowski.

"The sons of people associated with WSW, SB or organization camera had easier access to careers in the strength structures of the PRL. It was a closed cycle of trust, advice and loyalty.”

Family military-security facilities were not a background, but real start-up capital. In this sense, Włodzimierz Sokołowski's road to SB and PRL intelligence appears as continuationNot breaking up with the past.

‘Father – secret origin of the WSW. boy – PRL intelligence officer. So did the reproduction of the elite in the communist state."

It was only after 1989 that this pedigree was covered by a fresh narrative: transformation, professionalism and "service to the state". However, the papers clearly show that the foundation of this career has been created long before the 3rd Polish Republic.

Box: The Death of Janina Sokolovska – a case that never disappeared

Janina Sokolovska, the sister of Vladimir Sokolovski, was legally convicted in Rywin's affair. In September 2008, she was found dead in an flat in the Warsaw Mokotów. The prosecution ruled out the participation of 3rd parties.

Sokołowska was neither the owner of the place nor registered in it. According to media information, the flat was to stay at the disposal of 3rd parties. The subject of the property, the conflicting accounts and the first evidence to the police inactive rise questions.

Włodzimierz Sokołowski appeared at the scene – who was interviewed by the police was expected to say that the premises belonged to Włodzimierz Czarzasty. He then changed the version, indicating that the flat was not his property.

Sokolovska was a key witness before the Sejm's committee of inquiry. She first confirmed the function of Włodzimierz Czarzasty in the work on the Media Act to retreat her words after the break. Her death definitely closed the anticipation of returning to many unexplained threads of the Rywin affair.

What was the Military interior Service?

Military interior Service was a military peculiar service of the Polish People's Republic, operating in years 1957–1990. Formally, she served as military counterintelligenceIn practice, it was political police in the army, subordinate to the PPR authorities and russian decision-making facilities.

WSW was liable for:

• surveillance of soldiers and officers of the People's Army of Poland,
• the ideological control of the army,
• developing "unfriendly political attitudes",
• combating real and alleged opposition in the military,
• network operation secret informants and secret associates.

Inheritance to Criminal Military Information

Military interior Service not created in vacuum. She was direct continuation and succession of structures, staff and methods erstwhile Military Information, operating from 1943 to 1957.

Military Information was 1 of the the most criminal institutions of post-war repression apparatus in Poland. She was responsible, among others, for:

• mass repression of soldiers under the independency ground,
• false accusations of "spying" and "adversary to folk power",
• torture during the investigation,
• death sentences and long-term prisons against Polish Army officers.

After thawing 1956 Military Information remained decommissioned only formally. It was replaced by the Military interior Service.

Renamed, organisational structure and rhetoric – staff, archives and logic remained mostly the same.

Continuity of the repressive camera

WSW took over:

• Military Information Staff,
• an agent network,
• operational documentation,
• Action model based on political loyalty, not almost.

Although it was presented as “normal military service” in the authoritative PRL propaganda, it was in fact a tool maintaining political control of the army and destruct all forms of independence.

WSW and III RP

After 1989, the Military interior Service was disbanded, but – as with SB – a crucial part of her officers went to the structures of the III Polish Republic, mainly to:

• Military Information Services (CSI),
• and after their liquidation to another state institutions and the civilian sector.

For historians and researchers of the IPN WSW remains systemised institutionis continued Stalinist repression apparatus in the militaryNot a neutral counterintelligence.

When writing the text I utilized IPN materials and texts by Piotr Woyciechowskied
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