Julia Brystiger | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Julia Brystiger | |
| Born | Julia Prajs 25 November 1902 |
| Died | 9 November 1975(1975-11-09) (aged 72) |
| Other names | Luna Brystygier |
| Citizenship | Polish |
| Occupations | Interrogator, writer |
| Known for | State Security Services (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa) |
Julia Brystiger (Polish:[ˈjuljabrɨsˈtiɡɛr]; néePrajs; 25 November 1902 – 9 October 1975) was a Polishcommunist activist and member of the security apparatus insocialist Poland.[1] She was also known asJulia Brystygier,Bristiger,Brustiger,Briestiger,Brystygierowa,Bristigierowa, and by her nicknames – given by the victims of torture:Luna,Bloody Luna,Daria,Ksenia, andMaria. The nicknameBloody Luna was a direct reference to herGestapo-like methods during interrogations. Herpen name wasJulia Preiss.[2] She was the author of several books.
Brystiger was the daughter of a Jewishpharmacist from Stryj (nowUkraine). In 1920, she graduated from high school inLwów (newSecond Polish Republic) and married aZionist activist Natan (Nathan) Brystiger (1890-1932). She studied history at theLwów University while pregnant and a year later gave birth to a son, Michał Brystiger (1921–2016), amusicologist.[3]
After graduating from University, Brystiger went toParis where she continued her education, receiving a PhD in philosophy. Upon their return, in 1928–1929, she got a job at a high school inVilnius and in a Jewish Teacher's CollegeTarbuch. Since 1927, she was an active participant in the communist movement, and in 1929 was fired because of her communist agitation. Working for theCommunist Party of Poland, she was arrested several times, and in 1937 was sentenced to 2 years in prison.[2]
 | This section mayrequirecleanup to meet Wikipedia'squality standards. The specific problem is:controversial accusations. Please helpimprove this section if you can.(February 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
After theinvasion of Poland, Brystiger escaped toSamarkand, acceptedSoviet citizenship and became an active member of the Soviet political administration. She created theCommittee of Political Prisoners, which helped theNKVD to imprison several members of the prewar Polish opposition movements.[4] She was "denouncing people on such scale, that she antagonized even Communist party members".[3] Ironically, at one point Brystiger oversaw the interrogation and persecution of Bela and Józef Goldberg – her future colleague, the UB interrogator known asJózef Różański. Różański had committed "a crime" of accepting Western food aid in the form of two kilograms of rice and a bag of flour from thePolish Government in Exile's embassy, in order to save their daughter from starvation. A few years later, Różański joined the NKVD and eventually, became a high ranking functionary in the Polish secret police. He ended up working alongside Brystiger – his former interrogator – in theMinistry of Public Security of Poland underStalinism.[5]
Following GermanOperation Barbarossa Brystiger fled toKharkov, then toSamarkand deep in the USSR. In 1943-44, she worked for theUnion of Polish Patriots, and in October 1944, joined the newPolish Workers' Party. In December 1944, after returning behind the Soviet front, Brystygier began working for the infamousMinistry of Public Security of Poland, where she soon got promoted to the rank of Director of the Fifth Department created in July 1946 specifically for the purpose of persecution and torture of Polish religious personalities.[6] Her career is believed to have been so rapid also because she was intimate with such high functionaries asJakub Berman andHilary Minc.[4] In the Polish official archives, there is an instruction written by Brystygier to her subordinates, about the purpose of torture:
In fact, the Polish intelligentsia as such is against the Communist system and basically, it is impossible to re-educate it. All that remains is to liquidate it. However, since we must not repeat the mistake of the Russians after the 1917 revolution, when all intelligentsia members were exterminated, and the country did not develop correctly afterwards, we have to create such a system of terror and pressure that the members of the intelligentsia would not dare to be politically active.[7]
Brystiger personally oversaw the first stages of each UB investigation at her place of employment. She would torture the captured persons using her own methods such as whipping male victims' genitals. One of her victims was a man named Szafarzyński – from theOlsztyn office of thePolish People's Party – who died as a result of interrogation carried out by Brystygier. One of the victims of her interrogation methods testified later: "She is a murderous monster, worse than German female guards of the concentration camps". Anna Roszkiewicz–Litwiniwiczowa, a former soldier of theHome Army, said about Brystygier: "She was famous for her sadistic tortures; she seemed to have been obsessed with sadistic treatment of genitalia and was fulfilling her libido in that way.".[8][better source needed]
Brystiger became the head of the 5th Department of UB sometime in the late 1940s. It specialized in the persecution of Polish religious leaders. Brystygier – a dogmatic Marxist – yearned to destroy all religion as an "opiate of the masses".[2] She directed the operation to arrest and detain the Primate of Poland, CardinalStefan Wyszyński. The decision to arrest him had been made earlier inMoscow. Brystygier took an active part in the "war against religion" in the 1950s, during which 123 Roman Catholic priests were imprisoned in 1950 alone.
She also persecuted other congregations, such as the 2,000 jailedJehovah's Witnesses.[1] Julia Brystygier left the Ministry of Public Security (UB) in 1956 and tried to become a writer, authoring a novel "Crooked Letters". She worked in a publishing house under Jewish communistJerzy Borejsza (Różański's brother), and was a frequent visitor to a boarding school for the vision impaired, in a village near Warsaw.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
