Józef Światło
| Józef Światło born Izaak Fleischfarb |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
1 January 1915 Medyn village, Russian Empire |
| Died | 2 August 1994 (aged 79) United States |
| Other names |
Izaak Lichtstein Izak Fleischfarb |
| Citizenship | Polish |
| Occupation | Interrogator, Deputy director |
| Known for | State Security Services (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa) |
Izaak Lichtstein
Józef Światło born Izaak Fleischfarb (1 January 1915 – 2 September 1994) was a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Public Security of Poland employed as deputy director of the 10th Department run by Anatol Fejgin. Known for supervising the torture of inmates, he was nicknamed the "Butcher" by the MBP prisoners. After the death of Stalin and the arrest of Lavrentiy Beria in 1953, Światło travelled to East Germany on an official business trip. While on the Berlin subway with Fejgin, passing through the West Berlin sector of the city, he "slipped away" and defected to the West.
After his defection on 5 December in Berlin, he worked for the CIA and the Radio Free Europe (RFE). Światło's written and broadcast incriminations shook the Polish United Workers' Party, and ultimately contributed to the reform of the Polish security apparatus at the end of the Stalinist period, as one of the factors leading to the political liberalisation of the socialist Polish October revolution.
Józef Światło was born on 1 January 1915 as Izaak Fleischfarb (also Fleichfarb, Licht, or Lichtstein, sources vary), into a Jewish family in Medyn village near Zbarazh (now Ukraine). In the Second Polish Republic he was first a Zionist and later, a communist activist. He was arrested twice for his illegal activities. Conscripted in 1939, he served in the Polish Army (Polish 6th Infantry Division) during the Polish September Campaign that year. Taken prisoner by the Germans, he escaped, only to be taken prisoner by the Red Army, which invaded East Poland where his family lived and deported east along with hundred thousands of others. It was also in that period that, on 26 April 1943, he married Justyna Światło, taking her more Polish-sounding surname. He eventually joined the Polish Forces in the East (Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division,Berling's Army), becoming a political officer; he was also promoted to junior lieutenant (podporucznik) and became involved in organising state administration in areas taken from the Germans.
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Wikipedia