'''Służba Bezpieczeństwa''' ('''SB''', until [[1956]] ''Urząd Bezpieczeństwa'', '''UB''') was the name of the [[Intelligence agencies|intelligence agency]] and [[secret police]] in the ''[[People's Republic of Poland]]''.
It was a plainclothes section of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a remit to investigate those regarded by the government as subversive both internally and abroad. It was established in [[1944]] as the Urząd Bezpieczenstwa (UB), from which the slang name for secret policemen in Poland - "Ubeks" - is derived.
Throughout the late [[1940s]] and [[1950s]], the UB was heavily under the influence of the Soviet Union, and responsible for, amongst other task, the investigation and prosecution of [[Armia Krajowa]] (AK, or Home Army) Polish resistance fighters, and those believed to be sympathetic to the [[Western Allies]] during and after the [[Second World War]]. It was renamed as the SB in [[1956]], and entered a period of relative inaction during the era of reform insituted by [[Wladyslaw Gomulka|Władysław Gomułka]]. After [[1968]] it was revived as a stronger body, responsible for the implementation of political suppression, most notably in the case of the [[Solidarity]] movement, the leader of which, [[Lech Walesa|Lech Wałęsa]], was under constant SB surveillance, until its replacement by the ''[[Urzad Ochrony Panstwa|Urząd Ochrony Państwa]]'' in [[1990]] after the [[fall of communism]].
Amongst those executed by the SB were AK founder [[Witold Pilecki]] and Catholic priest [[Jerzy Popieluszko]]. Since 1990, many SB operatives have been tried for their crimes.
== See also ==
* [[Rakowiecka prison]]
* [[Instytut Pamieci Narodowej]]
[[Category:Polish intelligence agencies]]
[[Category:Polish history]]
[[pl:Służba Bezpieczeństwa]]
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