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Surveillance photos of pilgrims at the Marian apparition site in Zabłudów
Initiated on 13 May 1965 by Jadwiga Jakubowska, the miracle of Zabłudów met with a growing social response in June and July. Despite the lack of any media coverage of the miracle, thousands of pilgrims from all over the country come to Zabłudów. The plan of their stay usually included two points. The first was to visit the Jakubowski family’s property in order to meet or at least see Jadwiga Jakubowska, a girl who saw the Marian apparition. The second point, for the pilgrims, was the miraculous meadow where the apparitions and other miraculous events occurred. There, on Sunday, 30 May, a riot -
Surveillance photos of Jadwiga Jakubowska, the Zabłudów visionary
The photographs show a 14-year-old girl, Jadwiga Jakubowska, who saw the Marian apparition on 13 May 1965. The apparition, which took place on a meadow near Zabłudów, a small town in north-eastern Poland, led in the following months to a series of events known as the miracle of Zabłudów. It was one of the most significant miraculous phenomena during the Polish People’s Republic era and became particularly famous after the riots of 30 May 1965. Then, on the day of the next announced apparition, thousands of people clashed with the riot police, who tried to disperse the gathered pilgrims by forc -
Secret police internal publication for combating miraculous phenomena
The photographs show the cover and table of contents for the collective work entitled “Niektóre problemy pracy polityczno-operacyjnej związanej z występowaniem rzekomych cudów” (Some Problems of Political and Operational Work Related to the Occurrence of Alleged Miracles). It was something like a manual for the secret police (in the Polish context – the Security Service) to combat miracles in the Polish People’s Republic. It was commissioned by Department IV of the Ministry of the Interior, which dealt with surveillance of churches and religious associations (both legal and illegal) operating -
Transcript of the Catholic hymn to Virgin Mary of Honvédhalom, Hungary
These pictures depict the handwritten and transcribed version of a Catholic hymn addressed to the Virgin Mary of Honvédhalom. The 33 verses of the hymn were noted down by an informer. The hymn seemed dangerous from the perspective of the secret police as it encouraged participation at Honvédhalom, a pilgrimage site of regional importance in the Eger Archdiocese, in northern Hungary. Apparitions at this site, and the associated pilgrimages, date back to the late 18th century but the popularity of the place reached its peak between 1947 and 1975. The Archdiocese did not approve of believers vis -
Network scheme of funding from the West of the Romanian Greek Catholic Underground, 1971
The image represents a funding scheme of the Greek Catholic underground from abroad drawn up by the secret police officer. The scheme links Fr. Iacob Goia, a Dominican monk who emigrated from Romania in 1946 and lived in Paris with the persons he was financing in the Greek Catholic underground. The scheme is detailed providing the members of the diaspora sending money and objects into Romania with their addresses but also the names and addresses of the recipients of the funds. A note tells the reader that these connections were revealed to the secret police gradually between August 1969 and Fe -
The petition of the Jewish community of Birzula, Ukraine
The image contains the cover page of a petition by the Jewish community of Birzula, a town located in the northern part of Odessa oblast of Ukraine. On the 20th of June 1923 the Jewish community of Birzula sent a petition to the central authorities, which requested an intervention by Moscow and Kharkiv (the capital of Soviet Ukraine) in support of their congregation whose synagogue had been seized by local authorities and turned into a club-theatre. The petition describes the recent experience of building a common religious space by a community that had been steadily growing in numbers. The au -
The sketch of the Archangelist underground shelter from Vadul-Leca, Moldova
The image contains the sketch of the underground shelter built by Archangelist leaders, Alexandru and Grigore Culiac, and by their followers in Vadul-Leca village, Moldova. The sketch was produced by the Soviet state security service in 1945 after a police raid of the Archangelist community on the 3rd of February. The sketch contains technical details regarding the dimensions of the underground space and about the hiding techniques used by Archangelists to protect their leaders. The shelter was built four meters deep under an orchard, and its entrance was hidden by a shed. The underground spa -
Devotional images of a Catholic monk, Ukraine
These photographs are of the Catholic monk N. F. Gumenski, who was arrested by the Soviet secret police in 1935. The first image was cropped from a photo icon and in this photograph Gumenski wears a large pectoral cross on his chest and holds his right palm open. The second image is a photo which depicts Gumenski in a white clerical habit with a prayer rope in his left hand and with his right hand holding a cross. These photographs were attached to a Soviet secret police report from 9 November 1935. The report is signed by Nikolai Sharov, the chief of NKVD department of Kiev oblast, and in -
Baptist booklet about freedom, Russia 1917
The image depicts the cover page of a booklet published in 1917 in Saint Petersburg. The booklet is entitled “Long live freedom! But what is the true freedom?” and was published at the printing house named “The seventeenth year”. The year 1917 was a turning point in Russian history, marked by a democratic revolution followed by the Bolshevik cue d'etat in October the same year. The Revolution eliminated the restrictive confessional policies imposed by the old Tsarist regime, and in 1917 the Baptists and other minority religious groups were granted unprecedented freedom to practice their religi -
Confiscated photographs belonging to an Old Calendarist monk
These two photographs were confiscated in 1936 by the police from an Old Calendarist monk, Gheorghe Ștefan Dorneanu, also known as father Grichentie. The first photograph shows Dorneanu dressed in monastic clothes in front of what seems to be a small house or a skete. The left and upper edges of the photograph contain a handwritten text that states: „Gh. Dorneanu (Grichentie) Valea lui Ion jud. Bacău mâna dreaptă a lui Andreescu Eustațiu,” which can be translated as „Gh. Dorneanu (Grichentie) Valea lui Ion, Bacău County, the right hand of Andreescu Eustațiu.” The second photo depicts a group o -
List of confiscated personal effects following imprisonment of a Roman Catholic priest in 1953 Romania
This two-sided document is a list of personal effects confiscated upon imprisonment from the Roman Catholic priest Ioan Baltheizer. This is a typical document found in all penal files. The list shows how his clerical identity, that was represented by several objects, was confiscated by the prison officers. He brought with him a prayer book and a religious services book, an Epitrachelion (stole) and prayer beads. These objects were confiscated. The reverse side of the document lists the objects that remain in possession of the prisoner, constituting several articles of clothing. This document -
Map of Chișinău showing the location of places of worship belonging to four sects, 1941
This map was attached to a report produced on 1st December 1941 by the Chișinău Bureau of the Siguranța, the Romanian State Security Police. It shows the numbers of members of four religious sects in Chișinău and the location of their places of worship, all of which are listed as being closed with the exception of one of the churches belonging to the Lipovan (Russian Old Believer) community. The report was produced following Romania’s reincorporation of Bessarabia after the Soviet occupation of June 1940-June 1941. Of the four religious communities discussed by in the state security report, -
Unpublished manuscript, On the Legionary Organization: Mysticism, Massacres, Betrayal, vols. 1 & 2, Romania, 1964
This two-volume manuscript, totalling over 800 handwritten A4 pages, can be found in the Documentary Collection of the Archives of the National Council for the Securitate Archives. It was written during the early 1960s by 105 members of the Collective of Cultural and Educational Clubs at Aiud prison. These prisoners had been charged with being associated with the fascist Legion of the Archangel Michael, also known as the Iron Guard. They wrote this book as part of their “re-education” before being released as part of a general amnesty to political prisoners in 1964. A number of memorialists la -
Declaration of The Brethren from Ploiești submitted to The Ministry of Religion and Arts 1925
This "Declaration" (Memoriu), also known as "The Short Statement on the Doctrine of the Brethren" appears in a Ministry of Religions and Arts file from 1925. In Romanian the Brethren are called Creștini după Evanghelie, or Christians of the Gospels. It was composed between 1924 and 1925 by The Brethren community which, up to that point was not recognized as a legal religious association in Romania. Following the adoption of the new Constitution in 1923, which provided for more freedom of faith than the previous Romanian Constitutions, religious communities required to submit such Statements in -
Vow and regulation of a Hungarian underground Catholic group
These images come from a documentary file on Hungarian underground Catholic youth movements. They show the photocopies of the rules and regulations (1st image) and the vow (2nd) of a female Catholic group – designated an “illegal clerical-fascist youth organisation” by the secret police. The group was lead by Gabriella Fekete, a former catechism teacher and KLOSZ (National Confederation of Catholic Girls) member who became involved with underground Catholic movements after 1948, when church run schools were taken over by the state. Those who took the oath vowed to profess poverty, to resist -
Booklet "Petrache Lupu - The Miracle of Maglavit" volume 1 & 2, Romania, 1935
These booklets appear in a Romanian General Directorate of Police file from September 1935, having been confiscated almost immediately after they were published. By this time hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had begun to descend on the small village of Maglavit, causing the authorities to take an interest in published reports about what was happening there. A shepherd from the small village of Maglavit near the Bulgarian border, Lupu described several visions he had had of God while he was watching his sheep in May and June that year. Despite apparently having a speech defect – some sources s -
Booklet "The Miracles of Maglavit - The Man who Spoke with God" by Vasile Popa, Romania 1935
This booklet, which was published in 1935, appears in a file from the General Directorate of Police from the same year. It concerns a shepherd by the name of Petrache Lupu (1907-1994) who reported having seen an “old man” (moşu) on 31 May 1935, who commanded him to “tell people you meet, people off the streets” to repent and worship God. Lupu’s supernatural visions and the accompanying miracles soon turned his village, known as Maglavit, into Romania’s largest pilgrimage site and the shepherd became a national celebrity. This 15-page booklet testifies to the nationwide interest and commercial -
Map of Illegal Sects in Cernăuți (Chernivtsi) county Romania 1941
This map showing the “Zones of activity and distribution of illegal sects in Cernăuți county”, which is preserved in a 1941 folder of the Romanian General Inspectorate of the Genndarmerie, actually dates from 1st July 1942 (the date appears in the bottom left corner of the map in very small writing). It was created following the reincorporation of the province of Bucovina, of which Cernăuți county was a part, into Greater Romania following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The map shows the distribution of five banned religious communities, Nazarenes, Reformed Adventists, Lip -
'Short statement on the principles of the Churches of God (Pentecostals)' Booklet Romania 1925
This booklet, which was published in 1925, appears in a Ministry of Religions and Arts file dated the same year. This booklet was the second official declaration of Pentecostal faith submitted to the Romanian authorities as part of their requests for official recognition. The first appeal by a Pentecostal believer came in 1924 but this was rejected by the Ministry of Religions in Decision no. 5734 of the 29th January 1925. The Ministry declared that the ‘Declaration of True Foundation’ (Declararea [sic] fundamentului adevărat) did not offer sufficient guarantees to meet the conditions of artic -
Agent operation "Zavet" against Jehovah's Witnesses, Ukraine 1953-1955
This photograph was enclosed in a KGB surveillance file from 1952-1955 on Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Rivno region, western Ukraine. The image pictures a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses from the Rivno region. It was enclosed in an envelope along with 6 other confiscated or intercepted photographs. Each depicted person was marked with a number and on the reverse side a secret police officer wrote their names, date of birth, information on their origin and place of residence, as well as their role within the Jehovah’s Witness organization, such as: “ordinary member of the underground,” “active Jehov -
Resistance by Image: Arrest Photographs of True Orthodox believers, Ukraine 1952
These arrest photographs come from a 1952 secret police penal file on a group of 23 believers who were arrested in the Kiev region of Ukraine. The file contains two versions of their arrest photographs taken by the MGB officers. As the photos were being taken, the believers intentionally closed their eyes, turned their heads away, or sang while the officers tried to restrain them. Their gloved hands are clearly visible in the images. Police officers later tried to correct these “tainted” photographs by removing the evidence of their violent intervention from the prints, which one can see in th -
KGB covert operation against Jehovah's Witnesses, Ukraine 1951-1954
This network scheme of the Jehovah’s Witness organization comes from a four-volume top-secret file titled LKB, Legendirovannoe Kraevoe Biuro (Regional Bureau Covert Operation). It was produced by the Ukrainian secret police in 1953 and shows Jehovah’s Witness districts and circuits located in the Soviet Union with the organization’s country committee (called by that time the Regional Bureau) as the governing body of Soviet Jehovah’s Witnesses. The scheme shows the connections of Soviet-based groups of believers with the Jehovah’s Witness organization abroad: the East-European Bureau in Poland, -
Confiscated handwritten songbook belonging to a Tudorist believer
These images show a handwritten songbook that was confiscated from a Tudorist believer during a luggage inspection in 1975 whilst he was doing his military service. The first image shows the inside cover of the songbook, containing a short verse that reads: “And then, the whole eternity will be your prize, Because you were patient and kept yourself pure, For Him, and many hardships you have endured, But you kept yourself white and pure.” We also catch a glimpse of the first verses of a religious song. The following two images show other religious songs that he had handwritten. Because the son -
Handwritten songbook belonging to nun Olimpiada Petreanu 1940
These images show a church songbook that was carefully handwritten by nun Olimpiada Petreanu sometime in 1940. The first image depicts the cover of the songbook. It conveys important information such as the owner of the songbook, the fact that it was a church songbook, “cântări bisericești”, and, in faded letters, the year when the songbook was written. The second and the third images show a small part of the content of the songbook, namely the so-called “canon of the soul”, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the Akatist of Jesus Christ. These are both important hymns and hymnal ele -
Postcard sent to nun Olimpiada Petreanu whilst in monastic incarceration
These images show the front and reverse of a postcard that was sent to nun Olimpiada Petreanu by her brother whilst she was incarcerated at Vărzărești Monastery. The postcard is of particular interest as it mentions the difficulties that the families of imprisoned Old Calendarist nuns encountered in their efforts to contact them. The first image shows the front of the postcard and contains references to one of the most important issues that the nuns and their families experienced. One of the constant complaints of the nuns, as well as of their families, was that the postcards, letters and pac -
Network scheme of Hungarian Catholic underground cells
This network scheme is from a file on a Hungarian Catholic underground movement. Hand drawn and sketchy, it is a less sophisticated version of its more elaborate and detailed – and sometimes almost artistically executed – Soviet and Romanian counterparts. The purpose of network schemes was to map the connections of groups or individuals; in this case it shows the people István Divald, a young Piarist monk recruited to the Catholic underground movement lead by György Bulányi. Amongst the recruits we find a canon, three parish priests and a catechism teacher from three settlements in north-weste -
Postcard-icon of Feodosie Levițchi
This postcard icon portrays Feodosie Levițchi (Romanian spelling) or Teodosie Levitsky (in Russian) (1791-1845), of Balta (today’s Odessa Oblast, Ukraine). It was confiscated from a Bessarabian peasant in 1938 who had been charged with Inochentist propaganda and sentenced to 45 days imprisonment. Feodosie was an important figure for the Inochentist movement as Inochentie of Balta (1875-1917) was instrumental in sponsoring the cult of his deceased predecessor and distributed mass produced icons (like the one seen here) and miracle stories across Ukraine and Bessarabia to encourage pilgrims to v -
Confiscated camera and film roll Moldavian Catholic village, Romania
These photograph come from a surveillance file opened in 1974 on Sescu Petru, a local amateur historian and folklore collector from the Catholic village of Săbăoani (Szabófalva in Hungarian) who was suspected of "nationalist-chauvenist" activity. Sescu Petru belonged to the local Hungarian minority referred to as Csángós in Hungarian. In August 1974, Sescu Petru was visited in his home village by Laios Pușkaș (Puskás Lajos in Hungarian), a retired history and Latin teacher from Cluj (who we can see seated in the first image). According to the secret police, while they were visiting different -
Photograph of and religious object belonging to a dead spiritual leader of the Old Calendarist Romanian Orthodox Church
The two photographs are related to the death of the Old Calendarist Romanian Orthodox Bishop Evloghie Oța and come as a result of extensive ethnographic fieldwork amongst Old Calendarist on-line communities and monasteries in Bucharest and Sibiu. The first picture represents Bishop Evloghie Oța before he was interred by his monastic brothers inside the underground church in Televiziunii street, 13 in February of 1979. From several descriptions given by informants of the Secret Police and in interviews with surviving witnesses, Bishop Evloghie Oța was interred sitting on the Bishop’s throne, dr -
Mugshots of Spiritual Fathers from Odaia, Moldova
The mugshot is one of the main visual materials produced by the secret police during their investigations. Together with fingerprints and personal information, mugshots connect the police image of the alleged enemy to an actual person, whom they show stripped of personal dignity and agency, often head-shaven, dejected, pensive and nervous. Mugshots are contained in almost all secret police criminal investigation case files and were produced according to a very precise set of rules which makes them very similar from one case to another. Although at a first glance they seem less interesting than