Dom Pracy Przymusowej Związku Międzykomunalnego Opieki Społecznej i Zdrowia Publicznego Województwa Warszawskiego w Oryszewie jako instytucja opieki zamkniętej dla ograniczania zjawisk żebractwa i włóczęgostwa w Warszawie w latach 1932–1939 (w świetle źródeł prasowych)

Abstract

Forced Labor Houses in the Second Republic were closed-type institutions. By a decision of the legislature in 1927, they served, using the language of the time, to combat begging and vagrancy through preventive (protective) measures, rather than proper punitive ones. However, only four such facilities were established between the wars, due to the prohibitively high cost of maintaining such facilities. Their operation was handled by municipal associations, which received state funding. Established in 1932, the modern Forced Labor House in Oryszew, based on Belgian models, was the first such institution in the former Russian partition established by the Intercommunal Union for Social Welfare and Public Health of the Warsaw Province. Although it did not play a key role in reducing the phenomena of begging and vagrancy in the capital, in a system of establishments aimed at helping representatives of the social margins, its role was gaining importance, and this initiative should be appreciated. Between 20 and 30 percent of those captured by the police in Warsaw and subsequently tried by municipal courts were sent to it. These were mainly parochial individuals, not professional beggars or vagrants. While the campaign to forcibly remove representatives of the social margins from the streets of Warsaw succeeded, thanks in part to the Oryszewski workhouse, the correctional and rehabilitation goal was not achieved.