Martial law (ie. the state of emergency ) was introduced in Poland by adecree ot the Council of State (then Poland ’scollective presidency) dated 12 December 1981. The newly formed Military Council of National Salvation ordered all organizations in the public domain, in particular the trades unions, to suspend their activities. In the Białystok area the hunt for the most active members of the Solidarność Trade Union began in the night of 12-13 December 1981. In the first wave of arrests the police detained 40 persons; another 20 followed in the next few days. After spending a short time in the Białystok jail, most of them were transported to internment camps near Suwałki. Some activists who were still at large tried to avoid arrest by seeking protection from their local priests. One small group found shelter in the presbytery of the Church of the Assumption of the BVM ; the parish priests and the junior priests not only knew all along about the presence of those men on the premises but also offered them material assistance. In the following months repressions were extended to less prominent activists and 'unreliable' journalists, who were not allow ed to stay in their jobs. The introduction ot coupons on a wide range of foods and the worsening economic situation in the country at large aggravated the plight of the detainees and their families. The families ot people harassed for alleged 'anti-socialist' activities fared no better. Once they were barred from work, they had often nothing to live on. The Catholic Church in the Białystok diocese helped the victims of repression and their families from the first days of the martial law regime. Bishop Edward Kisiel took a keen personal interest in the relief effort. He supported and supervised the activities of a food distribution centre which was set up in the offices of the Episcopal Curia Employees of the Curia ran the centre which distributed parcels with food and clothes sent by donors from the West. The detainees and their families were supplied directly by couriers. Medicines were made available to the sick and the poor from a pharmacy that was opened at the presbytery. Voluntary charity commissions which sprang up in a number of parishes, groups and organizations connected with the Church, the Club of Catholic Intelligentsia and numerous private persons actively joined the relief effort. Material assistance reached practically everybody in need. Most grateful for it were the prisoners and the detainees, who feared for their families. Thanks to extraordinary dedication of the clergy, members of the laity and donors from the West the Catholic Church in Białystok was able to extend pastoral and material assistance to all those who bore the brunt of the repressions of the martial law period.