How to read the Polish secret police reports
From time to time, we'll publish sections of the Polish secret police reports as we did a short while ago. The question has come up about the significance of the Roman numerals in each case file entry. Here's what the Roman numerals mean:
I signifies "agents";
II signifies "persons under investigation," i.e., "human targets";
III signifies "investigative matters";
IV signifies "objects/buildings/institutions under investigation"; and
V denotes files of secret police functionaries.
As said earlier - and this is extremely important - the fact that an individual's name appears in the index of files in no way means that that individual is guilty of anything. Many of the people, as Roman numerals II, III and IV show, are likely to be completely innocent victims of the secret police. We must always keep this in mind when reading, analyzing or reporting on the secret police files.
I signifies "agents";
II signifies "persons under investigation," i.e., "human targets";
III signifies "investigative matters";
IV signifies "objects/buildings/institutions under investigation"; and
V denotes files of secret police functionaries.
As said earlier - and this is extremely important - the fact that an individual's name appears in the index of files in no way means that that individual is guilty of anything. Many of the people, as Roman numerals II, III and IV show, are likely to be completely innocent victims of the secret police. We must always keep this in mind when reading, analyzing or reporting on the secret police files.
<< Home