\u201cWhen 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?\u201d \n \nThis 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\u2019s life fits within the collective portrait of a generation of prewar communists of Jewish origin, who transformed from \u201crebels\u201d into \u201cbuilders\u201d of the new system.<\/p>\n\n
Leonard Borkowicz was born in 1912 in Vienna into an assimilated Jewish intelligentsia family. The family\u2019s roots were in Drohobycz and Lw\u00f3w, where the young Borkowicz attended school. His education was interrupted\u2014or more precisely, forcibly ended\u2014due to his involvement in the communist movement. \n \nAt 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 Lw\u00f3w. Assigned to a punitive labor battalion, he escaped and, thanks to the intervention of Wanda Wasilewska, joined the Red Army, and subsequently\u2014as a captain\u2014the 1st Tadeusz Ko\u015bciuszko Infantry Division in Sielce nad Ok\u0105. \n \nPromoted and decorated after the battle of Lenino, in 1944 he was sent to the R\u00f3wne region, and later\u2014after the end of military operations there\u2014to Bia\u0142ystok. He served as a plenipotentiary of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, and then as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Citizens\u2019 Militia. \n \nAt 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\u2014the last year of the war and the first year of peace\u2014Borkowicz began his four-year administration of the Szczecin Voivodeship, which he later described as the \u201cmost beautiful time of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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 \u201cRecovered Territories.\u201d These lands covered over 100,000 km\u00b2, constituting one-third of the country\u2019s territory. They were divided into districts (in order): Opole Silesia, Lower Silesia, Western Pomerania, Warmia, and Masuria. \n \nAmong them, Western Pomerania was the largest, covering over 30,000 km\u00b2, 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 \u2014 namely, the Stettin, Koszalin, and Frankfurt (Oder) Regierungsbezirke, as well as the borderlands. Translated into today\u2019s voivodeships, this area corresponds to West Pomeranian, Greater Poland, Lubusz, and Pomeranian Voivodeships. \n \nBorkowicz\u2019s task was to merge these fragments into a single, coherent administrative entity.<\/p>\n\n
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. \n \nDuring the \u201cBig Three\u201d conference in Potsdam (summer 1945), the great powers adopted only a draft outline of Poland\u2019s western border, which was ultimately to be formalized in a peace treaty\u2014a treaty that never materialized. Placing the \u201cWestern Lands\u201d under the \u201cadministration of the Polish state\u201d 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. \n \nAdding to the difficulty was the ubiquitous presence of the Red Army, which initially regarded these areas as \u201ccursed Germany\u201d, and later as a reservoir of raw materials and goods that could be seized or destroyed.<\/p>\n\n
Borkowicz\u2019s 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. \n \nAlso important were his \u201cplenipotentiary\u201d experiences, which, although brief, gave him an understanding of the challenges ahead. Equally significant were the prerogatives granted to Borkowicz: he was the \u201corganizer and head of the unified authorities\u201d, 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. \n \nSimilar powers were held by district (county) plenipotentiaries sent into the field by Borkowicz. Their initial number reached 41, but following the Council of Ministers\u2019 decree of May 29, 1946, which transformed the district into the Szczecin Voivodeship, the number was set at 26. \n \n(Photo 1: Leonard Borkowicz during the 2nd Congress of District Plenipotentiaries of Western Pomerania, Koszalin, 3 September 1945, collection of the Pomeranian Library)<\/p>\n\n
Thus, the successful development of Western Pomerania<\/strong> required competent personnel<\/strong>. The course of this process depended largely on the abilities of the individuals with whom Borkowicz worked<\/strong>. It quickly became clear that one of his key skills<\/strong> was winning over people<\/strong>, even those whose views were completely different<\/strong> from his own.<\/p> These were individuals from diverse backgrounds<\/strong> \u2014 folk, socialist, and even conservative<\/strong> (for example, the first mayor of Szczecin, Piotr Zaremba<\/strong>). He collaborated with former soldiers of the Home Army and Peasant Battalions<\/strong>, and placed in office people with experience in government and local administration of the Second Polish Republic<\/strong>.<\/p> A more in-depth examination of biographies, political verification of personnel, and uncompromising elimination of \u201cinternal enemies\u201d<\/strong> would come later. At this stage, however, the most important goal was to show the world that Poland had established itself on the Oder<\/strong>.<\/p><\/p>\n\n In 1945, Borkowicz\u2019s 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 \u201cin this first period should find the broadest possible application.\u201d
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\nBorkowicz himself traveled to towns and cities, repeatedly intervening with the \u201cSoviet authorities\u201d to prevent the looting of factories and enterprises. He was an active player in the dispute over Szczecin\u2019s 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 \u201can unacceptable overstepping of his competencies\u201d, yet he achieved his goal.
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\nHe 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).
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\nBorkowicz held discussions with General Georgy Zhukov and General Konstantin Rokossovsky, while also sending alarmist telegrams to Warsaw, such as:
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\n\u201cThe 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.\u201d
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\nDespite his communist background, in autumn 1945, the Soviets considered him a representative of the \u201cPolish reaction\u201d for organizing a collection of \u201cfalse statements denigrating Red Army soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n 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 \u201cfeudal ruler\u201d whose authority in the region seemed unquestioned, he engaged in successive political campaigns aimed at securing communist hegemony in Poland.
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\nHe was particularly active during the so-called June 1946 popular referendum. He relentlessly attacked members of the Polish People\u2019s Party (PSL), accusing them, among other things, of supporting \u201cforest bands\u201d, delivered fiery speeches, and organized rallies and demonstrations. He sought to weaken the PSL\u2019s structures by offering them lucrative positions or threatening the loss of their existing posts.
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\nHowever, he did not employ the apparatus of repression in these efforts, which, to put it mildly, was \u201cnot his way.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n 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 \u201cRecovered Territories.\u201d Congresses of local residents, industrialists, and journalists held in Szczecin temporarily focused media attention on the northwestern corner of Poland.<\/p>\n\n A particularly significant event took place in April 1946, under the slogan \u201cWe Guard the Oder.\u201d This mass gathering was intended to demonstrate widespread support for Poland\u2019s western border, but it evolved into a pro-Miko\u0142ajczyk demonstration involving thousands of scouts. It became a highly symbolic display of public opposition to the ruling communists.
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\nBorkowicz blamed the local committee of the Polish Workers\u2019 Party for this public relations failure, which led to a change in the position of First Secretary. Tadeusz Rajner was replaced by Wiktor K\u0142osiewicz, who held a much stronger position within the party than his predecessor. From that point on, the Szczecin Voivode\u2019s party activity diminished, although he remained active in other areas.
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\n(Photo 3: National celebrations of \u201cSea Day\u201d, Boles\u0142aw Bierut and Leonard Borkowicz, Szczecin, 29 June 1947, collection of the Pomeranian Library).<\/p>\n\n Borkowicz devoted himself to initiatives strengthening the region\u2019s development on multiple levels, one of the most notable being the \u201cliterary settlement\u201d 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.
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\nBetween 1947 and 1949, the voivodeship capital became home to Franciszek Gil, Witold Wirpsza, Konstanty Ildefons Ga\u0142czy\u0144ski, Jerzy Andrzejewski, and Edmund Osma\u0144czyk. They remembered Borkowicz as a passionate, proactive man, convinced of the importance of his mission and capable of persuading others to it. Ga\u0142czy\u0144ski wrote to his wife:
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\n\u201cI 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\u2019ll create the \u2018atmosphere,\u2019 no worries! And the little house with a garden is inviting!\u201d
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\nThe voivode also engaged in establishing a theater, appointing Stanis\u0142aw Czapelski, a Lw\u00f3w native and actor as well as former administrative director of prewar theaters in Lw\u00f3w, Pozna\u0144, Warsaw, and Gdynia, to implement the project.
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\nLooking back after many years, Borkowicz bitterly assessed the results of his efforts:
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\n\u201cI must say, this attempt failed in the sense that having certain people, even outstanding creators, is not enough. One needs stable, developed institutions\u2014publishers, magazines, newspapers, radio stations. People must earn a living, and creators were drawn to Warsaw.\u201d
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\nOf the writers mentioned, only Franciszek Gil remained in Szczecin; the others eventually left the city.<\/p>\n\n In 1948, Borkowicz\u2019s position became precarious. At the highest levels of the PPR, a power struggle was underway: on one side was W\u0142adys\u0142aw Gomu\u0142ka, General Secretary of the PPR and Minister of the Recovered Territories, and on the other, Boles\u0142aw Bierut, then President of Poland, closely aligned with the Kremlin.
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\nGomu\u0142ka was accused of a \u201cright-wing nationalist deviation\u201d, and the simultaneous merger of the PPR and the Polish Socialist Party (forming the Polish United Workers\u2019 Party in December 1948) enabled a broad verification campaign of party activists. Borkowicz, associated with \u201cGomu\u0142kism,\u201d was also targeted, accused of a \u201cnon-collective\u201d and \u201cauthoritarian\u201d management style and of having the Voivodeship Office \u201ccluttered with personnel.\u201d
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\nYears later, he recalled that he did not feel capable of \u201cturning things around in relation to people, affairs, and methods\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n\n His later life was tumultuous<\/strong>, intertwined with subsequent upheavals in Polish history<\/strong>. In Prague<\/strong>, he came into conflict with an officer of the Ministry of Public Security<\/strong>, which led to his dismissal as ambassador<\/strong>, a party reprimand<\/strong>, and even the opening of an investigation by the MBP<\/strong>.<\/p> After several years in various director-level positions<\/strong>, he joined the Central Committee of Cinematography<\/strong>, contributing, among other things, to the production of Andrzej Wajda\u2019s film Kana\u0142<\/em><\/strong>. In 1957<\/strong>, he was removed from this post and moved to the Ksi\u0105\u017cka i Wiedza publishing house<\/strong>, where he headed the historical editorial department<\/strong>.<\/p> In 1968<\/strong>, during the country\u2019s anti-Semitic campaign<\/strong>, he was fired and completely marginalized<\/strong>. Over time, he underwent a worldview evolution<\/strong>, ultimately concluding that his youthful decision to join communism and remain in it for decades was a mistake<\/strong>:<\/p> \u201cIn 1927, I served myself a huge bowl of shit, which I consumed for over fifty years.\u201d<\/p>
\n<\/blockquote> In 1989<\/strong>, ailing and increasingly frail<\/strong>, he took his own life<\/strong>. Throughout his life, he maintained that:<\/p> \u201cThe period I spent in Szczecin was the best years of my life.\u201d<\/p>
\n<\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n More:<\/p>\n\n Pierwszy wojewoda szczeci\u0144ski. Dokumenty i komentarze (1945\u20131949)<\/em>, oprac. Zdzis\u0142aw Chmielewski, Kazimierz Koz\u0142owski, Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Glob 1986.<\/p>\n\n Katarzyna Rembacka, Komunista na peryferiach w\u0142adzy. Historia Leonarda Borkowicza (1912\u20131989)<\/em>, Szczecin-Warszawa: Instytut Pami\u0119ci Narodowej 2020.<\/p>\n\n Katarzyna Rembacka<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2901,"parent":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"kategoria-epoki":[57,70],"class_list":["post-1956","epoka","type-epoka","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","kategoria-epoki-czasy-najnowsze","kategoria-epoki-modern-times"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"kategoria-epoki":[{"value":57,"label":"Czasy najnowsze"},{"value":70,"label":"Modern times"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1-.II-Zjazd-Pelnomocnikow-1024x696.jpg",1024,696,true],"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epoka\/1956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epoka"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/epoka"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kategoria-epoki","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiapomorza.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kategoria-epoki?post=1956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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