Piotr Czyżewski, Licencja na zabijanie. Wyroki sądów podziemnych w okupowanej Polsce, Warszawa 2025

Abstract

The text is a review of Piotr Czyżewski's book Licencja na zabijanie. Wyroki sądów podziemnych w okupowanej Polsce [License to Kill: Verdicts of Underground Courts in Occupied Poland]. Although it is not an academic work, the author draws on a rich collection of publications on the subject. The book presents the underground judiciary of the Home Army (AK) and profiles four individuals: Igo Sym, Lieutenant Colonel Janusz Albrecht, Stefan Witkowski, and Eugeniusz Świerczewski. In discussing the successive chapters of the book, the reviewer points out both their positive and negative aspects. Among other issues, he notes the discrepancy between the title of the book and the description of civil courts, as well as inconsistencies and even historiographical errors concerning names, cited sources, and the assessment of facts. However, the publication also contains many interesting observations by the author. It is worth recommending due to the limited number of books on this subject, the accessible language used to describe this complex issue, and its potential to encourage further exploration of the topic.