The Government Delegation for Poland was intended as the first provisional government of war torn Poland until the Exiled Polish Government could safely return from abroad to a liberated Poland.[1]
During Operation Tempest, in 1944, the Council's local representatives and local Home Army commanders, as the representatives of the legitimate Polish government and the Polish Army, emerged from underground and welcomed the advancing Red Army. Despite several instances of successful cooperation with the Soviet Union, most of the Polish representatives and commanders were soon arrested by the NKVD and sent to Russian prisons or to the Gulag.
During the Warsaw Uprising, the central Government Delegation for Poland likewise came out of hiding and began acting officially as the Polish parliament in the liberated areas of Poland. After the Uprising's suppression, most of the Delegation's members left Warsaw with the civilian population and managed to evade the Germans. However, contact with local branches in Soviet- and German-occupied areas was broken.
In February 1945, the Government Delegation including most members of the Council of National Unity and the Home Army Commander-in-Chief, were invited by Soviet General Ivan Serov to a conference on their eventual inclusion in the Soviet-backed Provisional Government. They were promised safe conduct beforehand but immediately arrested by the NKVD, and brought to Moscow, where they were brutally tortured for several months and tried in a staged Trial of the Sixteen. All perished.[2] Meanwhile, in Poland, the Delegation was reconstructed and continued in its duties until finally disbanded on 1 July 1945.
Departments
The Delegation's activities encompassed all areas of organized society. It comprised 12 branches, roughly corresponding to the ministries of the Polish government-in-exile in London.
Internal Affairs
Security of the Delegation
Provisional Administration - shadow administration to take over the administrational duties after liberation or during an all-national uprising
Near the end of the war, Departments of Foreign Affairs and of War Matters were created, but they have not played any significant role.
Other notable units and bureaus included:
Bureau of the Newly Acquired Lands (PolishBiuro Ziem Nowych)
Established 1942. The Bureau's main task was to document the Polish claims on German lands east of the Oder river and the area of Prussia as well as planning of their post-war development. Despite the Allies agreement to grant Poland with the lands east of the Oder–Neisse line, the plans of the bureau were never fulfilled since most of its workers were arrested by the NKVD and sent to Gulags across Russia (see, however, Recovered Territories).
