1953 Show trial of the Kraków Curia

In 1950, a total of 123 Roman Catholic priests had been thrown in jail, Since the late 1940s, it had been headed by interrogator Julia Brystiger, who personally directed the operation to arrest and detain the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.

A month later, on 8 March, the authorities stopped publication of the Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny in reprisal for its alleged refusal to include a eulogy commemorating the death of Joseph Stalin.

In parallel, the Office of the Council of Ministers (Urząd Rady Ministrów) organized its own ceremony on 17 December, welcoming the government-approved Bishops, Diocesan administrators (Vicar capitulars), and Suffragans.

[2] A wave of propaganda spin-offs called the "splinter trials" was launched against the people associated with the Rada Polityczna (Political Council) in Western Europe,[7] composed of members of the National Party active during World War II.

[1] All trials were highly publicised, with daily radio broadcasts,[9] and articles in national newspapers by prominent writers, such as the full-page attack in support of the verdict, by Mrożek, comparing death-row priests to the degenerate SS-men and Ku Klux Klan.

We, the members of Kraków branch of the Polish Writers Union, meeting on 8 February 1953, express our absolute condemnation of those traitors to our Homeland, who used their spiritual position and influence to dupe the young, gathered around KSM; and who acted with malice toward the nation and our people's country – and engaged in espionage and subversion – for American money.

Given these facts, we commit ourselves in our own creative work, to even more aggressively and with greater depth than ever, tackle the current problems of our struggle for Socialism, vehemently.The Kraków trial was the culmination of the Stalinist anti-ecclesiastical offensive; on the other hand, it was also the highest point in an attack led by MBP against the Polish emigration circles.