Paper short abstract:

The archives collected in the IPN by the 'Bezpieka' (the secret police) during the People's Republic of Poland open up new areas of research into the culture and society of that time. What possibilities and limitations are associated with the study of such documentation by anthropologists today?

Paper long abstract:

The anthropology of the 'Bezpieka' (the Department of Security and the Security Service) is one of the newest anthropological sub-disciplines in Poland, which began to develop after the Institute of National Remembrance (Polish: IPN) opened in 1999 the archival resources of the secret police to researchers. The subject of its interest are the detailed, multidimensional studies of the activities of the 'Bezpieka' as an agency of power directly responsible in the field, first for carrying out the revolution (1945-1947), and then, during the People's Republic of Poland (Polish: PRL), keeping an eye on the realisation of current political goals in line with the interests of the ruling communist party. The security apparatus was intended to be, to use Foucault's terminology, an efficient total disciplinary institution based on relations of rule and obedience. In reality, it became a complex socio-cultural universe, full of paradoxes. Its functionaries modified existing procedures and patterns of operations, and made hot-button decisions that changed the course of ongoing operations. It is therefore no coincidence that the broadly defined project of anthropology of the 'Bezpieka' points to processes and phenomena often situated on the periphery or in the liminal zones of the official life of this institution, including the problems of complex relations between the individual and the system. In my presentation, I will try to indicate what epistemological, methodological and ethical possibilities and limitations are associated with the study of this type of documentation by anthropologists today.