The institution was created on July 12, 1934, in a former Tsarist prison and barracks at Bereza Kartuska on the authority of a June 17, 1934, order issued by Polish President Ignacy Mościcki.
The event that directly influenced Poland's de facto dictator, Józef Piłsudski, to create the prison was the assassination of Polish Minister of Internal Affairs Bronisław Pieracki on June 15, 1934, by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
It was intended to accommodate persons "whose activities or conduct give reason to believe that they threaten the public security, peace or order."

The Bereza Kartuska prison was organized by the director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Wacław Żyborski, and the head of that Department's Nationalities Section (Wydział Narodowościowy), Colonel Leon Jarosławski.
The institution was later supervised by the Governor of Polesie Province, Colonel Wacław Kostek-Biernacki.
In the view of some historians, Kostek-Biernacki did not serve as commandant; they identify its commandants as police inspectors Bolesław Greffner (whose given name is sometimes stated as "Jan"), of Poznań, and Józef Kamala-Kurhański.
Officially, Bereza Kartuska was not a part of Poland's penitentiary system, and the staff was composed of policemen, sent there as a punishment, rather than professional prison guards.

 Individuals were incarcerated at Bereza Kartuska by administrative decision, without right of appeal, for three months, although this term was often extended while Colonel Wacław Kostek-Biernacki served as its commander.
The average prisoner would spend 8 months in the camp.
In the first three years of its history, the camp incarcerated people perceived as subversives and political opponents of the ruling Sanation regime.
Recidivists and financial criminals were also detained starting from October 1937.
Citizens suspected of pro-German sympathies were first detained in Bereza in middle 1938.
In the first days of the September Campaign of 1939, Polish authorities started mass arrests of people suspected of such sympathies.
Some members of the German minority in Poland were detained in whole families, including women (previously never detained in the camp).

The camp de facto ceased to exist on the night of September 17–18, 1939 when, after learning about the Soviet invasion of Poland, the staff had abandoned it.
According to two reports, the departing policemen murdered some prisoners.
The institution was created on July 12, 1934, in a former Tsarist prison and barracks at Bereza Kartuska on the authority of a June 17, 1934, order issued by Polish President Ignacy Mościcki. The event that directly influenced Poland's de facto dictator, Józef Piłsudski, to create the prison was the assassination of Polish Minister of Internal Affairs Bronisław Pieracki on June 15, 1934, by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). It was intended to accommodate persons "whose activities or conduct give reason to believe that they threaten the public security, peace or order."
The Bereza Kartuska prison was organized by the director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Wacław Żyborski, and the head of that Department's Nationalities Section (Wydział Narodowościowy), Colonel Leon Jarosławski. The institution was later supervised by the Governor of Polesie Province, Colonel Wacław Kostek-Biernacki. In the view of some historians, Kostek-Biernacki did not serve as commandant; they identify its commandants as police inspectors Bolesław Greffner (whose given name is sometimes stated as "Jan"), of Poznań, and Józef Kamala-Kurhański. Officially, Bereza Kartuska was not a part of Poland's penitentiary system, and the staff was composed of policemen, sent there as a punishment, rather than professional prison guards.
 Individuals were incarcerated at Bereza Kartuska by administrative decision, without right of appeal, for three months, although this term was often extended while Colonel Wacław Kostek-Biernacki served as its commander. The average prisoner would spend 8 months in the camp. In the first three years of its history, the camp incarcerated people perceived as subversives and political opponents of the ruling Sanation regime. Recidivists and financial criminals were also detained starting from October 1937. Citizens suspected of pro-German sympathies were first detained in Bereza in middle 1938. In the first days of the September Campaign of 1939, Polish authorities started mass arrests of people suspected of such sympathies. Some members of the German minority in Poland were detained in whole families, including women (previously never detained in the camp).
The camp de facto ceased to exist on the night of September 17–18, 1939 when, after learning about the Soviet invasion of Poland, the staff had abandoned it. According to two reports, the departing policemen murdered some prisoners.
Bereza Kartuska prison