International Conference

"Hunting for Spies! Soviet-style Counterintelligence in Poland and the World"

Cracow, May 22–23, 2025

Deadline for submissions – March 31, 2025

In the Soviet Union and other countries dependent on Moscow, the extensive civilian and military counterintelligence services were a key element of the "public security" systems built according to Soviet models developed after 1917 under the auspices of the WCzK, GPU, GUGB, NKVD, and Smiersz. The continuous "hunting for spies" served to counter foreign intelligence penetration and intimidate and control domestic societies.

The conference organisers are interested in all aspects of the counterintelligence services' activities in communist Poland (Polish Peoples Republic) and other countries that used Soviet models to organise their repressive apparatuses within the Warsaw Pact and beyond Europe. Proposals for papers on the following topics are particularly encouraged:

• Methodology and state of research on Soviet-type counterintelligence (in its "civilian" and military forms);
• The perception of Soviet-type counterintelligence in Western intelligence services and international literature;
• The origins and specifics of Soviet (Bolshevik) counterintelligence;
• The structure of the counterintelligence apparatus and its internal organisation;
• The transformation of Soviet solutions into the counterintelligence structures of Eastern Bloc countries (including the role of Soviet advisors);
• National specificity in counterintelligence actions and organisational work in different countries of the Soviet bloc (potential deviations from the Soviet model);
• Counterintelligence methods (operational combinations, provocation, surveillance, penetration of foreign diplomatic missions, etc.);
• Personnel policies and training methods for counterintelligence officers;
• Cooperation between various structures and security agencies in counterintelligence, including international collaboration;
• The use of counterintelligence as a tool for repression against real and imagined enemies of the communist system and for combating democratic opposition and political emigration;
• The use of counterintelligence work in state propaganda and for "preventive" purposes (intimidating society);
• Case studies illustrating broader phenomena typical of Soviet-style counterintelligence, based on the biographies of officers, agents (secret collaborators), or descriptions of specific counterintelligence operations;
• The use of Soviet-type counterintelligence models and methods in contemporary intelligence agencies.

Submitting a proposal is equivalent to declaring the intention to submit its text for publication in the academic journal of the Institute of National Remembrance, "Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989" (40 points in the list of scientific journals and peer-reviewed materials from international conferences, as per the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Poland). After incorporating changes based on discussions during the conference, the submitted texts will undergo a double-anonymised peer-review process.

The conference languages will be Polish and English. (It is possible to submit a text for publication in one of these languages without attending the conference in person or with remote participation.)

Participation in the conference is free of charge.

The organisers do not guarantee simultaneous translation.

Submissions and any other questions related to the conference should be directed to:

PhD Elżbieta Pietrzyk-Dąbrowska,

e-mail:  elzbieta.pietrzyk@ipn.gov.pl

Phone: +48 666 010 616

The deadline for submitting proposals is: March 31, 2025.

Organizers will notify about the acceptance of submissions by: April 15, 2025.