Józef Różański

{{Infobox military person

|name= Józef Różański

|image= Józef Różański.jpg

|image_size=

|alt=

|caption= Lieutenant colonel Józef Różański

|nickname= Józef Goldberg

|birth_date= {{Birth date|1907|7|13|df=y}}

|birth_place= Warsaw, Russian Empire

|death_date= {{death date and age|1981|8|21|1907|7|13|df=y}}

|death_place= Warsaw, Polish People's Republic

|placeofburial=

|allegiance= Polish People's Republic

|branch= Ministry of Public Security

|serviceyears= 1944–1954

|rank= 30px Pułkownik (Colonel)

|unit=

|commands= Director of the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Public Security

|battles= World War II

|awards= {{See below|See below}}

|relations=

|laterwork= Member of Parliament

}}

Józef Różański ({{IPA|pl|ˈjuzɛf ruˈʐaj̃skʲi}}; born Josef Goldberg; 13 July 1907 – 21 August 1981){{Cite book |title=Historical Dictionary of Poland 1945-1996 |last=Wróbel |first=Piotr |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1135926946 |pages=269}} was an officer in the Soviet NKVD and later, a Colonel in the Polish Ministry of Public Security (UB), the communist secret police. Born into a Polish-Jewish family in Warsaw, Różański became very active in the Communist Party of Poland before World War II. He joined the NKVD following the Soviet invasion of Poland{{Cite book |title=Miecz i Tarcza Komunizmu. Historia aparatu bezpieczestwa w Polse 1944-1990 (The Sword and Shield of Communism. History of security organs in Poland 1944-1990) |last=Terlecki |first=Ryszard |publisher=Wydawnictwo Literackie |year=2007 |isbn=9788308041055 |location=Krakow |publication-date=2007 |pages=54–5 |language=Polish}} and after the war, adopting the name Różański, served as an agent with the Polish Communist Security apparatus (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa).{{Cite book |title="Di Haynt-mishpokhe": Study for a Group Picture |last=Nalewajko-Kulikow |first=Joanna |work=Warsaw. The Jewish Metropolis: Essays in Honor of the 75th Birthday of Professor Antony Polonsky |publisher=BRILL |year=2015 |editor-last=Dynner |editor-first=Glenn|editor2-last=Guesnet|editor2-first=Francois|isbn=978-9004291812|pages=261}}

Różański was personally involved in torturing dozens of opponents of the Polish People's Republic (PRL), including anti-communists and "Cursed soldiers".Barbara Fijałkowska, [http://www.abcnet.com.pl/node/2338 RÓŻAŃSKI "LIBERAŁEM"]{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 15 December 2002, Fundacja Orientacja "abcnet"; see also: B. Fijałkowska, Borejsza i Różański. Przyczynek do dziejów stalinizmu w Polsce, {{ISBN|83-85513-49-3}} He gained notoriety as one of the most brutal secret police Officers in Warsaw.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wprost.pl/historia/10063078/bezwzgledny-cyniczny-i-brutalny-zwykly-cham-czyli-jozef-rozanski-pierwszy-sledczy-ub.html|title = Bezwzględny, cyniczny i brutalny "zwykły cham", czyli Józef Różański - pierwszy śledczy UB|date = July 2017}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SJKCAAAQBAJ&dq=Jozef+Rozanski+biografia&pg=PA261|title = Warsaw. The Jewish Metropolis (Paperback): Essays in Honor of the 75th Birthday of Professor Antony Polonsky|isbn = 9789004291812|last1 = Dynner|first1 = Glenn|last2 = Guesnet|first2 = François|date = 14 April 2015| publisher=BRILL }} Różański personally administered torture to Witold Pilecki, one of the most famous "Cursed soldiers" and the only individual who willingly went to Auschwitz Camp. Pilecki revealed no sensitive information and was executed on May 25, 1948 at Mokotów Prison by Sergeant Piotr Śmietański, the "Butcher".Piekarski, Konstanty R. (1990), Escaping Hell: The Story of a Polish Underground Officer in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, Dundurn Press Ltd., {{ISBN|1-55002-071-4}}, p. 249Lidia Świerczek, [http://en.pilecki.ipn.gov.pl/portal/rpe/1025/8193/Rotamaster_Witold_Pilecki.html Pilecki`s life] Institute of National Remembrance. Last accessed on 14 March 2009.

Józef Różański was arrested in 1953 – at the end of the Stalinist period in Poland – and charged with torturing innocent prisoners, including Polish United Workers' Party members. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison on 23 December 1955. In July 1956, the Supreme Court reopened his case due to improprieties discovered in the original investigation. On 11 November 1957 (charged along with co-defendant Anatol Fejgin), he was sentenced by the lower court to 15 years in prison, which was reduced to 14 years on appeal. Różański was released from prison in October 1964, having served 11 years. He died of cancer on 21 August 1981, and was buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw.

Różański was a brother of Jerzy Borejsza.{{Cite web|url=http://wyborcza.pl/alehistoria/7,121681,24060120,jerzy-borejsza-w-kazdej-rodzinie-znajdzie-sie-potwor.html|title=Wyborcza.pl}}