Combating banditry in Western Lesser Poland in the early years of independence (1918–1921)

Abstract

Banditry was a serious social problem in the interwar period in Poland, and combating this phenomenon was of particular importance immediately after The Great War, during the early years of independence. Ensuring internal stability was a necessary condition for supporting the army fighting for the state's survival. The article presents the activities of public authorities in the western part of Lesser Poland that aimed at a reduction of levels of banditry. It was the territory of the former Austrian Partition, Galicia, where the power was first assumed by the Poles, as early as the end of October and beginning of November 1918. In the first part of this article the factors contributing to the spread of crime occurring in the last months of the Great War, during the transformation and in the following months, are characterized. Then, the process of creating public order and security services until their unification in the summer of 1921, is presented. The steps taken to combat banditry are described in two stages, the first of which covers the first several months of the stabilisation of the socio-political situation, while the other – the period after the creation of the State Police, whose units and stations in this area were first established in December 1919. They were created as a result of the transformation of the gendarmerie, a service that was previously the most important public order structure in the Lesser Poland. The article contains a description of a number selected criminal cases that concerned the suppression of criminal groups, in confrontation with which the gendarmes and police officers lost their lives.