Aleksander Makowski

Early service

According to the IPN catalogue of security apparatus officers, Aleksander Makowski was born on 7 February 1951 in Warsaw. From 1 November 1972 he was an officer of Department I of the MSW (intelligence) on an undercover post; on 6 November 1972 he began a postgraduate course at the MSW Intelligence Personnel Training Centre in Stare Kiejkuty. From 1973 he worked in Division IV of Department I.¹

Foreign postings

From 21 September 1975 he spent ten months on a research fellowship in the USA under the cover of the Institute of State and Law of the Polish Academy of Sciences; the catalogue notes that at the time he carried out operational tasks and maintained ad hoc contact with the New York rezidentura.¹

From 18 November 1976 to 6 June 1981 he was second secretary at the Permanent Mission of the Polish People's Republic to the UN in New York and, unofficially, an operational officer of the local rezidentura. According to notes from 1976 and 1990 cited in the catalogue, he was probably exposed as a result of the defection and betrayal of Kopczyński and Mazurkiewicz.¹

Senior posts in Department I

After returning he worked in Divisions II and XI of Department I: from 1982 as a senior inspector of Division XI, from 1983 as deputy head, from 15 July 1985 as acting head, and from 1 October 1985 as head. In 1983–1988 he made numerous official trips (including to Austria, the GDR, the USSR, Ethiopia and Greece).¹

From 15 June 1988 to 31 July 1990 he was a head of division on an undercover post, with the rank of colonel. From 27 August 1988 he was counsellor at the Embassy of the Polish People's Republic in Rome, seconded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and unofficially the Department I rezident.¹

Writing

The Polish Literary Bibliography records his thriller “Bez przebaczenia” (Without Forgiveness; Czarna Owca, 2015), the first volume of the “Szpiedzy” (Spies) series, with storylines involving intelligence services and espionage, including in New York.²

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesIn June 2025 Czarna Owca published his non-fiction book “Tropiąc Bin Ladena. W afgańskiej matni 1997–2007” (Tracking Bin Laden: In the Afghan Trap 1997–2007), in which he describes his intelligence work concerning Afghanistan. We take the period 1997–2007 from the title; the details of this work are not confirmed by official sources.³

Significance

The IPN catalogue makes it possible to trace a typical career of an intelligence officer of the Polish People's Republic: from training at Kiejkuty, through academic and diplomatic cover, to heading a division at headquarters and a rezidentura.¹