Economic Policies as a Tool of Totalitarian States Against Polish Citizens in the Years 1939–1949 - Instytut Pileckiego

The goal of the project “Economic Policies as a Tool of Totalitarian States Against Polish Citizens in the Years 1939–1949” is to examine the similarities between the economic policies of two totalitarian states aimed against the citizens of Poland in the years 1939–1949.

Totalitarian regimes – regardless of their origins – turned their economic policies into one of the most important tools to control the society. It is rarely noticed that this tool had a much broader range of impact than the apparatus of repression, as the latter targeted primarily the enemies of the totalitarian state (even if third parties also suffered as a result). Economic
decisions, in turn, affected all inhabitants of a given territory, regardless of their involvement in the resistance. They could also be of discriminating or favoring nature. What is more, numerous actions of the apparatus of repression directly served the economy of the totalitarian state/the occupier. Labor and concentration camps, ghettos, resettlements – their important (in
some cases, overriding) aim was to create reservoirs of cheap labor. Requisitions, confiscations, obligatory deposits, quotas – all of these fuelled the economies of the totalitarian states.
To achieve their ideological goals, the totalitarian states harnessed the economy to societal interests (arbitrarily determined by the authorities), at the same time almost completely eliminating private interests. This meant that the building of the totalitarian states and their wars were financed by the society, particularly the inhabitants of the conquered territories. Revolutionary changes were introduced for this purpose, often subverting age-old economic
mechanisms. This particularly applied to deprivation/restriction of property rights. The opponents (or those perceived as such) had to reckon with losing some or all of their property. The expropriation of one group was often used to “buy” the support of another.

The chief goal of the project “Economic Policies as a Tool of Totalitarian States Against Polish Citizens in the Years 1939–1949” is to examine the similarities between the economic policies of two totalitarian states aimed against the citizens of Poland in the years 1939–1949. The starting date could hardly be different – it was in September 1939 that Poland was partitioned between the Third Reich and the USSR. As a result, the Polish territories were included into various administrative structures of the occupying powers. Choosing 1949 as the ending date, however, should be explained in more detail. In the Polish economic policies, the late 1940s brought many momentous decisions for the future of the country. It was then that
the Three-Year Plan came to an end (which, at least in theory, provided for the equality between the state and private sectors). The initial approval of the Marshall Plan was withdrawn, and in 1949 Poland co-established the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which was effectively controlled by the Soviets. In 1950, Poland left the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (i.e., the World Bank), thus definitively discontinuing economic relations with the West. To achieve the goal of the project, we will conduct a number of research studies and present our findings in a publishing series devoted to the subject matter. The most important publication will be a two-volume monograph on the economic history of Poland in the years 1939–1945 and 1945–1949. The project also aims at popularization of economic history through monthly debates under the heading “Clio in the World of Economics, Or, Let’s Talk Economy”.

Project coordinator: Prof. Andrzej Zawistowski, a.zawistowski@instytutpileckiego.pl
Research team:
- Prof. Janusz Kaliński
- Prof. Mirosław Kłusek
- Dr. Damian Markowski