Campaign for the exposure and fight against revisionists in the 1950s and 1960s in the Katowice province

The German issue emerged in the Upper Silesia region at the end of the 1940s under the name of revisionism. Revisionist activities were considered to be: the provocative use of the German language, dissemination of hostile propaganda, sabotage in the economy or affiliation to retaliatory organizations. At the end of the 1940s and in the first five years of the 1950s, individuals previously active in Nazi organizations or in fighting squads were considered to be most receptive and easily drawn into revisionist activities. They were considered to be most a classic revisionist base. Security authorities launched an intensified penetration of these circles using agents. Information on the hostile and anti-State activities, obtained by agents, were used to recognize the potential scale of this problem and arrest the most active revisionists. In 1956, the problem of revisionism was considered to be the central issue in the Katowice province. Departures of Upper Silesia inhabitants to Germany increased and lasted through the second part of the 1950s, causing the change of tactics in the fight against revisionism. Investigations of revisionist organisations in Poland ceased. At that time, the leading role in revisionist activities was given to foreign groups connected to the government of the Federal Republic of Germany. Despite their mass departure, the exposure and repression of revisionists continued through the 1960s.