Platform of European Memory and Conscience

Justice 2.0 – Victims of the Iron Curtain

When the newly constituted United Nations Organisation adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948, a charter driven by the need to prevent the repetition of the horrors of WWII, the Soviet Union and its satellite countries abstained from voting. From their seizure of power after WWII until their fall in 1989-­1991, the Communist dictatorships in the so-­called Eastern bloc violated all articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on a daily basis, committing the worst crimes and atrocities against their own citizens.

Until the fall of the regime, people living in the Eastern bloc were denied the most fundamental human rights: right to life, liberty and security of person, freedom from slavery, freedom from torture and inhumane treatment, equality before the law, right to justice, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, freedom of religion, right to own property, right to education, freedom to choose a profession, active and passive voting rights…

They lived in a permanent situation of lawlessness, state crime and fear, and that at a time regarded by the international community as a time of peace. During the Communist dictatorship in Europe, hundreds of thousands of innocent people were executed, killed or deported, millions were imprisoned, tortured or forced to perform slave labour and tens of millions of people were subjected to other unlawful and inhumane treatment or persecution.

One big group of people who suffered under the Communist regimes were those who tried to escape from their countries and their only option was to leave “illegally”. Our project focuses on such people who became victims – were killed, wounded, arrested during their attempt to escape. Many of them were persecuted only for the idea of such escape – for preparation of illegal escape and so on.

Based on successful cooperation of the Platform and its Members, prosecutor offices and other institutions and as a part of the documentation centre, an on-line project on the victims of the Iron Curtain was created. The project provides information about the people who, due to many circumstances, tried to escape from totalitarianism to freedom and were stopped by the Communist border guard units. Based on archival research we are presenting basic information about those who were unsuccessful, died, were wounded or faced subsequent persecution.

This kind of documentation is possible due to international cooperation, not only because the West-East border was in various countries, but also because victims represented all nations of the former Communist countries.

This online output is of course limited. Offline, in the full scope, it contains all the necessary information to allow the creation of a full picture of each case.

Updated: 30 June 2020

Notes: You can easily filter the data using the search form. The date of the incident is in the DD-MM-YYYY format. The state borders (direction) shows on which frontiers incident occurred and the move of a person in the border area. For closer information about the abbreviations click the explanation tab.

Czechoslovakia

In general, the protection of the Czechoslovak state borders (1948 – 1989) was divided between military protected zone along with the Austrian and the Federal Republic of Germany borders, with its complex system of engineer-technical instruments (iron fence, minefields, watchtowers,…) and seven Border Guard brigades and with the socialist states which was under control of Czechoslovak State Borders Protection Administration (East Germany, Poland, USSR, Hungary)

• BG – Border Guard
• bPS – Czechoslovak border guard brigade
  • 5.bPS – 5th Border Guard Brigade Cheb
  • 12.bPS – 12th Border Guard Brigade Planá
  • 9.bPS – 9th Border Guard Brigade Domažlice
  • 7.bPS – 7th Border Guard Brigade Sušice
  • 15.bPS – 15th Border Guard Brigade České Budějovice
  • 4.bPS – 4th Border Guard Brigade Znojmo
  • 11.bPS – 11th Border Guard Brigade Bratislava
• prPS – Czechoslovak border guard battalion
• rPS – Czechoslovak border guard company
• NSC – see SNB
• OPK – Czechoslovak passport control station
• SNB – Sbor národní bezpečnosti – National Security Corps
• S OSH – Czechoslovak State Borders Protection Administration
• StB – Czechoslovak State Security

Poland

• SB – Służba Bezpieczeństwa – Polish State Security (1956 – 1990)
• WOP – Wojska Ochrony Pogranicza – Polish Border Protection Troops
  • 3 Karpacka Brygada WOP w Nowym Sączu – 3rd Carpathian Border Protection Troops Brigade in Nowy Sącz
  • 4 Górnośląska Brygada WOP w Gliwicach – 4th Upper Silesian Border Protection Troops Brigade in Gliwice
  • 5 Sudecka Brygada WOP w Kłodzku – 5h Sudet Border Protection Troops Brigade in Kłodzko
  • 8 Łużycka Brygada WOP w Lubaniu Śląskim – 8th Lusatian Border Protection Troops Brigade in Lubań Śląski
  • 9 Lubuska Brygada WOP w Krośnie Odrzańskim – 9th Lubusz Border Protection Troops Brigade in Krosno Odrzańskie
  • 12 Pomorska Brygada WOP w Szczecinie – 12th PomeranianBorder Protection Troops Brigade in Szczecin
  • 15 Bałtycka Brygada WOP w Koszalinie – 15th Baltic Border Protection Troops Brigade in Koszalin
  • 16 Kaszubska Brygada WOP w Gdańsku Nowym Porcie – 16th Kashubian Border Protection Troops Brigade in Gdańsk New Heaven
  • 19 Kętrzyński Oddział WOP w Kętrzynie – 19th Kętrzyński Border Protection Troops Unit in Kętrzyn
  • 22 Białostocki Oddział WOP w Białymstoku – 22th Białostocki Border Protection Troops Unit in Białystok
  • 23 Chełmski Oddział WOP w Chełmie Lubelskim – 23th Chełmski Border Protection Troops Unit in Chełm Lubelski
  • 26 Przemyski Oddział WOP w Przemyślu – 26th Przemyski Border Protection Troops Unit in Przemyśl
  • Oddział Śledczy WOP Warszawa – Border Protection Troops Investigative Department in Warsaw
  • Zarząd Zwiadu DWOP (Dowództwo Wojsk Ochrony Pogranicza) Warszawa – Command of the Reconnaissance of Border Protection Troops in Warsaw
  • Zarząd Zwiadu SzWOP (Szefostwo Wojsk Ochrony Pogranicza) Warszawa – Leadership of the Reconnaissance of Border Protection Troops in Warsaw
• MO (Milicja Obywatelska) – Citizens’ Militia
  • KWMO (Komenda Wojewódzka Milicji Obywatelskiej) – Voivodeship Headquarters of Citizens’ Militia
  • KPMO (Komenda Powiatowa Milicji Obywatelskiej) – County Headquarters of Citizens’ Militia
  • KSMO (Komenda Stołeczna Milicji Obywatelskiej) – Capital Headquarters of Citizens’ Militia
• WUBP or WUds.BP (Wojewódzki Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego) – Voivodeship Public Security Office
• PUBP (Powiatowy Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego) – County Public Security Office
• MUBP (Miejski Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego) – Municipal Public Security Office
• Kds. BP (Komitet do spraw Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego) – Public Security Committee
• WUSW (Wojewódzki Urząd Spraw Wewnętrznych) – Voivodeship Office of the Interior Affairs