Military Special Court

Already from the end of 1939, local units of the Service for Poland's Victory (SZP), and later the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ), executed traitors.

The head of the WSS at the ZWZ-AK HQ, Colonel Konrad Zieliński "Karola", was subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief of the SZP-ZWZ-AK, and dealt with current matters with the Organizational Department I.

[2] On November 26, 1941, the Main Command of the Union of Armed Struggle completed the development of the Statute of Special Military Courts (SMC).

The jurisdiction of the above courts also includes all cases concerning crimes (directly) threatening the security of the Home Army.

On July 21, 1943, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Home Army, General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, presented the government in London with a new statute of the WSS, which introduced two amendments.

If the prosecutor found that the accused did not deserve a punishment more severe than imprisonment, the possibility of suspending the proceedings was abolished.

The WSS had the following entities under its jurisdiction: military personnel, civilians cooperating with the ZWZ–AK and other persons designated in special regulations.

The prosecutor collected evidence (documents, photographs, witness statements, expert opinions - usually graphologists) and made one of 3 decisions: to refuse to prosecute, to submit an indictment to the court or to suspend the proceedings.

These services also dealt with providing prosecutors and judges with information and evidence, as well as preliminary preparations for the execution of sentences.

In the individual districts, the situation was as follows: On a national scale: Civilian Special Courts issued approximately 100-200 death sentences.

The main charge for which the courts convicted the accused was informing, but also ordinary banditry, for which the Home Army executed 695 criminals in 1943 alone.