The red (un)rule of law. The issue of human rights violations in the military justice system of “People’s” Poland. The case of military district courts (1946–1955)

Abstract

The network of Military District Courts, which encircled the Polish People's Republic (also known as People’s Poland) in the first post-war decade, was a fundamental tool for installing communist power and building a new “worker-peasant” system for the party and state decision-makers. Courts served primarily to crack down on political opposition and (declining) armed resistance. Despite their theoretically military nature, the Military District Courts [WSRs] sentenced mainly civilians, and the reasons for sentences lay in political and ideological calculation rather than in real, objective crimes. In this sense, the WSRs should be regarded as a clear manifestation and symbol of the lawlessness of the “people's” justice system, infringing fundamental human rights.