Leonard Borkowicz and His Pomerania

“When I began dealing with the affairs of the Szczecin Land in the spring of 1945, I had just turned thirty-four. I had behind me a rather eventful life: imprisonment, the Bereza camp, emigration, service in the Soviet Army and the Polish Army. There had been enough time for my views, in the light of general experiences and personal events, to strengthen and solidify. Until now, they had both complicated my life and helped me navigate the world. Will it be the same now?” This recollection, written in the 1980s, reflects the feelings of the first postwar Voivode of Szczecin in the immediate aftermath of the war. It also provides a concise overview of his biography, which was complex and colorful. Borkowicz’s life fits within the collective portrait of a generation of prewar communists of Jewish origin, who transformed from “rebels” into “builders” of the new system.

Leonard Borkowicz was born in 1912 in Vienna into an assimilated Jewish intelligentsia family. The family’s roots were in Drohobycz and Lwów, where the young Borkowicz attended school. His education was interrupted—or more precisely, forcibly ended—due to his involvement in the communist movement. At just seventeen, he joined the communist youth organization and later became a member of the illegal Communist Party of Poland. This activism led him first to prisons and the Bereza camp, and later to Soviet-occupied Lwów. Assigned to a punitive labor battalion, he escaped and, thanks to the intervention of Wanda Wasilewska, joined the Red Army, and subsequently—as a captain—the 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division in Sielce nad Oką. Promoted and decorated after the battle of Lenino, in 1944 he was sent to the Równe region, and later—after the end of military operations there—to Białystok. He served as a plenipotentiary of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, and then as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Citizens’ Militia. At the beginning of 1945, he moved westward, initially as Plenipotentiary of the Provisional Government at the 1st Belorussian Front, and after a few months became Plenipotentiary of the 3rd District (Western Pomerania). In April 1945—the last year of the war and the first year of peace—Borkowicz began his four-year administration of the Szczecin Voivodeship, which he later described as the “most beautiful time of his life.”

The area administered by Leonard Borkowicz from April 1945 was part of the lands annexed to Poland as a result of World War II, propagandistically called the “Recovered Territories.” These lands covered over 100,000 km², constituting one-third of the country’s territory. They were divided into districts (in order): Opole Silesia, Lower Silesia, Western Pomerania, Warmia, and Masuria. Among them, Western Pomerania was the largest, covering over 30,000 km², roughly the size of modern-day Belgium. It is also important to note that the new Polish administrative entity included separate territorial units from the German period — namely, the Stettin, Koszalin, and Frankfurt (Oder) Regierungsbezirke, as well as the borderlands. Translated into today’s voivodeships, this area corresponds to West Pomeranian, Greater Poland, Lubusz, and Pomeranian Voivodeships. Borkowicz’s task was to merge these fragments into a single, coherent administrative entity.

Considering that in the spring of 1945 the region was flooded with fleeing German civilians, advancing Red Army units, and retreating Wehrmacht forces, it is difficult to speak of conditions conducive to administrative work. The unstable status of these lands also did not help. During the “Big Three” conference in Potsdam (summer 1945), the great powers adopted only a draft outline of Poland’s western border, which was ultimately to be formalized in a peace treaty—a treaty that never materialized. Placing the “Western Lands” under the “administration of the Polish state” left room for various interpretations, some of which undermined the sense of stability for Polish settlers intended to inhabit the area, while raising hopes among the remaining German residents. Adding to the difficulty was the ubiquitous presence of the Red Army, which initially regarded these areas as “cursed Germany”, and later as a reservoir of raw materials and goods that could be seized or destroyed.

Borkowicz’s task was therefore exceptionally difficult. However, he possessed a considerable set of experiences that helped him manage it. These included his membership in the Communist Party and placement within the new political elite of the country; his officer rank and familiarity with the military environment; and his knowledge of Russian and the principles governing the Soviet Union. Also important were his “plenipotentiary” experiences, which, although brief, gave him an understanding of the challenges ahead. Equally significant were the prerogatives granted to Borkowicz: he was the “organizer and head of the unified authorities”, and additionally, non-unified offices and institutions (normally reporting directly to central government agencies or ministries), such as school boards and tax offices, were under his authority. Temporarily, security offices also fell under his supervision. Similar powers were held by district (county) plenipotentiaries sent into the field by Borkowicz. Their initial number reached 41, but following the Council of Ministers’ decree of May 29, 1946, which transformed the district into the Szczecin Voivodeship, the number was set at 26. (Photo 1: Leonard Borkowicz during the 2nd Congress of District Plenipotentiaries of Western Pomerania, Koszalin, 3 September 1945, collection of the Pomeranian Library)

Thus, the successful development of Western Pomerania required competent personnel. The course of this process depended largely on the abilities of the individuals with whom Borkowicz worked. It quickly became clear that one of his key skills was winning over people, even those whose views were completely different from his own.

These were individuals from diverse backgrounds — folk, socialist, and even conservative (for example, the first mayor of Szczecin, Piotr Zaremba). He collaborated with former soldiers of the Home Army and Peasant Battalions, and placed in office people with experience in government and local administration of the Second Polish Republic.

A more in-depth examination of biographies, political verification of personnel, and uncompromising elimination of “internal enemies” would come later. At this stage, however, the most important goal was to show the world that Poland had established itself on the Oder.

In 1945, Borkowicz’s activity was visible in many areas. By dispatching field operational groups to organize Polish administration and establish relations with the Soviet command, he set a hierarchy of priorities for their work: quartering, provisioning, industry, agriculture, and settlement. At the same time, he counted on their initiative, noting in the relevant instructions that their initiative “in this first period should find the broadest possible application.” Borkowicz himself traveled to towns and cities, repeatedly intervening with the “Soviet authorities” to prevent the looting of factories and enterprises. He was an active player in the dispute over Szczecin’s affiliation, a city that was taken over by the Polish administration three times. His unconventional but effective actions in this area, carried out in Berlin where the Soviets were stationed, were deemed by the Warsaw central authorities as “an unacceptable overstepping of his competencies”, yet he achieved his goal. He displayed similar activity in delimiting the Western Pomeranian border, dismantling wartime command posts, and taking over the Szczecin port from Soviet hands. (Photo 2: Border delimitation near Berlin, 20 September 1945, Piotr Zaremba and Leonard Borkowicz, collection of the Pomeranian Library). Borkowicz held discussions with General Georgy Zhukov and General Konstantin Rokossovsky, while also sending alarmist telegrams to Warsaw, such as: “The city is being systematically burned by the Soviets. The command does not control the situation. Waves of rapes. Polish women are raped daily. Frequent beatings of Poles.” Despite his communist background, in autumn 1945, the Soviets considered him a representative of the “Polish reaction” for organizing a collection of “false statements denigrating Red Army soldiers.”

As Polish authority strengthened in Western Pomerania, with the influx of Polish settlers and the mass expulsion of Germans, Borkowicz consolidated his position. Considered almost a “feudal ruler” whose authority in the region seemed unquestioned, he engaged in successive political campaigns aimed at securing communist hegemony in Poland. He was particularly active during the so-called June 1946 popular referendum. He relentlessly attacked members of the Polish People’s Party (PSL), accusing them, among other things, of supporting “forest bands”, delivered fiery speeches, and organized rallies and demonstrations. He sought to weaken the PSL’s structures by offering them lucrative positions or threatening the loss of their existing posts. However, he did not employ the apparatus of repression in these efforts, which, to put it mildly, was “not his way.” Nevertheless, the actions taken at that time by UB (Security Office) officers against opponents of the communists placed Borkowicz firmly on one side of the ongoing political struggle.

At the same time, he organized large-scale propaganda events designed to strengthen the importance of the region under his administration and unite people around the idea of the “Recovered Territories.” Congresses of local residents, industrialists, and journalists held in Szczecin temporarily focused media attention on the northwestern corner of Poland.

A particularly significant event took place in April 1946, under the slogan “We Guard the Oder.” This mass gathering was intended to demonstrate widespread support for Poland’s western border, but it evolved into a pro-Mikołajczyk demonstration involving thousands of scouts. It became a highly symbolic display of public opposition to the ruling communists. Borkowicz blamed the local committee of the Polish Workers’ Party for this public relations failure, which led to a change in the position of First Secretary. Tadeusz Rajner was replaced by Wiktor Kłosiewicz, who held a much stronger position within the party than his predecessor. From that point on, the Szczecin Voivode’s party activity diminished, although he remained active in other areas. (Photo 3: National celebrations of “Sea Day”, Bolesław Bierut and Leonard Borkowicz, Szczecin, 29 June 1947, collection of the Pomeranian Library).

Borkowicz devoted himself to initiatives strengthening the region’s development on multiple levels, one of the most notable being the “literary settlement” campaign. As a man of broad horizons and interests, though without formal higher education, he represented the intelligentsia. Well-read, fluent in foreign languages, and well-traveled across Europe, embedded in the cultural milieu, he supported bringing renowned writers to Szczecin. Between 1947 and 1949, the voivodeship capital became home to Franciszek Gil, Witold Wirpsza, Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, Jerzy Andrzejewski, and Edmund Osmańczyk. They remembered Borkowicz as a passionate, proactive man, convinced of the importance of his mission and capable of persuading others to it. Gałczyński wrote to his wife: “I will be in the Polish port; the Szczecin Voivode is a friend of poets. Besides Gil and Papuga, Andrzejewski and Mycielski will live there, we’ll create the ‘atmosphere,’ no worries! And the little house with a garden is inviting!” The voivode also engaged in establishing a theater, appointing Stanisław Czapelski, a Lwów native and actor as well as former administrative director of prewar theaters in Lwów, Poznań, Warsaw, and Gdynia, to implement the project. Looking back after many years, Borkowicz bitterly assessed the results of his efforts: “I must say, this attempt failed in the sense that having certain people, even outstanding creators, is not enough. One needs stable, developed institutions—publishers, magazines, newspapers, radio stations. People must earn a living, and creators were drawn to Warsaw.” Of the writers mentioned, only Franciszek Gil remained in Szczecin; the others eventually left the city.

In 1948, Borkowicz’s position became precarious. At the highest levels of the PPR, a power struggle was underway: on one side was Władysław Gomułka, General Secretary of the PPR and Minister of the Recovered Territories, and on the other, Bolesław Bierut, then President of Poland, closely aligned with the Kremlin. Gomułka was accused of a “right-wing nationalist deviation”, and the simultaneous merger of the PPR and the Polish Socialist Party (forming the Polish United Workers’ Party in December 1948) enabled a broad verification campaign of party activists. Borkowicz, associated with “Gomułkism,” was also targeted, accused of a “non-collective” and “authoritarian” management style and of having the Voivodeship Office “cluttered with personnel.” Years later, he recalled that he did not feel capable of “turning things around in relation to people, affairs, and methods”. He seized the opportunity and quickly agreed to assume the position of ambassador to Czechoslovakia. Ultimately, he parted ways with Western Pomerania in February 1949.

His later life was tumultuous, intertwined with subsequent upheavals in Polish history. In Prague, he came into conflict with an officer of the Ministry of Public Security, which led to his dismissal as ambassador, a party reprimand, and even the opening of an investigation by the MBP.

After several years in various director-level positions, he joined the Central Committee of Cinematography, contributing, among other things, to the production of Andrzej Wajda’s film Kanał. In 1957, he was removed from this post and moved to the Książka i Wiedza publishing house, where he headed the historical editorial department.

In 1968, during the country’s anti-Semitic campaign, he was fired and completely marginalized. Over time, he underwent a worldview evolution, ultimately concluding that his youthful decision to join communism and remain in it for decades was a mistake:

“In 1927, I served myself a huge bowl of shit, which I consumed for over fifty years.”

In 1989, ailing and increasingly frail, he took his own life. Throughout his life, he maintained that:

“The period I spent in Szczecin was the best years of my life.”

More:

Pierwszy wojewoda szczeciński. Dokumenty i komentarze (1945–1949), oprac. Zdzisław Chmielewski, Kazimierz Kozłowski, Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Glob 1986.

Katarzyna Rembacka, Komunista na peryferiach władzy. Historia Leonarda Borkowicza (1912–1989), Szczecin-Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej 2020.

Katarzyna Rembacka