Stanisław Zarakowski

Who was Stanisław Zarakowski?

General/Private Stanisław Zarakowski was a chief military prosecutor during the Stalinist rein of terror in the People's Republic of Poland; infamous for his role as instigator in several show trials of the Polish anti-Nazi resistance officers, which resulted in many death sentences.

Zarakowski was born to a local landowner in Svolna village in Vilna Governorate. His family's estate was nationalized during the Bolshevik revolution when he was ten years old. They moved to Vilnius, where Zarakowski graduated from the law faculty of the Wilno University. During World War II he fled to the Soviet Union, and arrived back in war-torn Poland with the Soviet-sponsored Polish People's Army. A hardline Stalinist, Zarakowski was assigned a job with the Chief Military Prosecutor Office and quickly rose to become the Chief Military Prosecutor of the People's Republic of Poland.