Polish Committee of National Liberation

The Polish Committee of National Liberation (Polish: Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego, PKWN), also known as the Lublin Committee, was an executive governing authority established by the Soviet-backed communists in Poland at the later stage of World War II. It was officially proclaimed on 22 July 1944 in Chełm, installed on 26 July in Lublin and placed formally under the direction of the State National Council (Krajowa Rada Narodowa, KRN). The PKWN was a provisional entity functioning in opposition to the London-based Polish government-in-exile, which was recognized by the Western allies. The PKWN exercised control over Polish territory retaken from Nazi Germany by the Soviet Red Army and the Polish People's Army. It was sponsored and controlled by the Soviet Union and dominated by Polish communists. At the time of the formation of the PKWN, the principal Polish authority in German-occupied Poland was the Polish Underground State network of organizations loyal to the Polish government-in-exile, resident in London. As the Red Army, fighting Nazi German forces, entered Polish territory, Joseph Stalin and Polish communists proceeded with the establishment of a rival executive authority, one that they could control. The PKWN was formed in negotiations involving primarily the main Polish communist organizations, the Union of Polish Patriots (ZPP) and the Polish Workers' Party (PPR). The Polish communist movement had been decimated during the Soviet purges in the 1930s, but revived under Stalin's auspices beginning in 1940. The PPR was a new party organized in occupied Poland, the ZPP originated during the war in the Soviet Union. The PPR had already established in Warsaw a conspiratorial State National Council (KRN), which they declared to be the wartime national parliament. Because of war-related obstacles, the communist leaders arriving from Warsaw (the PPR delegation that included Władysław Gomułka and Bolesław Bierut) reached Lublin only on 31 July, and attained full agreement with the group from Moscow (ZPP) on 15 August.