Emotions hidden in inscriptions: on the detention centre of the Provincial Office of Public Security at 8 Strzelecka Street in Warsaw

The detention centre of the Provincial Office of Public Security at 8 Strzelecka Street in Warsaw was one of the security ministry’s facilities where physical and psychological violence was inflicted on prisoners in the post-war period. This article presents the emotions revealed by the inscriptions – the writings carved by hand onto the walls of the prison cells by those detained there. However, these emotions cannot be understood without considering the living conditions and the methods employed during interrogation. The article therefore describes the infrastructure of the detention centre and the torture used during interrogations. The conditions in which they lived, along with a constant sense of fear and uncertainty, evoked negative emotions, as evidenced by the inscriptions carved into the walls of the WUBP detention centre at 8 Strzelecka Street.