The 'Dziwex' Scandal: How the PRL Sent Young Polish Women to Italian Nightclubs

In 1980, an advertisement appeared in the Warsaw press: a state entertainment company was looking for young women for a 'female ballet troupe', requiring a height of 168 to 172 cm. Crowds applied. The selected, almost exclusively blondes, went on contracts to Italy. Upon arrival, it turned out that the 'revue' referred to nightclubs near Milan and Florence, and 'dancing' meant sitting with clients in booths, some of which were regular brothels.

In the spring of 1981, during the 'Solidarity' carnival, the weekly 'Antena' revealed the case. The press dubbed it 'Dziwex'. It was the largest known case of human trafficking in post-war Poland at that time. This guide describes how this mechanism operated, what the women who spoke out experienced, why no one was imprisoned for it, and how to recognize the same pattern today.

A word that spoke for itself

'Dziwex' was not the name of any company. The word first appeared in 1981 in the weekly 'Antena'. Helena Kowalik, 'Blondynki do konsumpcji', Wprost, 2014. It was formed by combining the vulgar word 'dziwka' with the suffix '-ex', which was used in the names of state foreign trade enterprises in the PRL, such as Pewex. Historian Anna Dobrowolska points out that such a combination may indicate a negative attitude towards women. Marcin Dzierżanowski, 'Afera »Dziwexu«, czyli Polki na eksport', My Company Polska, 2023. In this guide, we use this name solely as a historical reference to the case, not as a term for the women harmed by it.

PRL, the hunger for dollars, and the dream of leaving

By the late 1970s, the PRL desperately needed hard currency. State artistic agencies sent musicians, performers, and dance groups abroad, and part of their earnings went to the state. The director of the United Entertainment Enterprises (ZPR) explained that by exporting Polish groups, the enterprise earned money for the fees of foreign artists brought to Poland. Wprost. Going on a contract was only possible through a state agency. Wojciech Mann recalled: 'Without Pagart, no one could go abroad on a contract.' Passports were collected before departure and returned after returning. Onet Kultura, 2011.

For young people, going to the West meant money and a world they could not see in their country. Anna Dobrowolska, citing historian Dariusz Stoła, states that in the 1980s, 70 to 85% of respondents declared a willingness to emigrate. Anna Dobrowolska, doctoral thesis, University of Oxford, 2021. The title of her scientific article on the case is a quote from one of the women: 'Everyone dreams of leaving.' Journal of Women’s History, summary of Anna Dobrowolska's article.

Advertisement, 'commission', and contract: how the mechanism worked

1. Advertisement. In 1980, the District Cultural Center in Ochota, together with the ZPR's Bureau of Artistic Events, announced recruitment for a 'female ballet troupe for stage purposes'. Applicants had to be at least 18 years old, of 'proportional body build', and between 168 and 172 cm tall. Similar advertisements later appeared in cities such as Kraków, Łódź, and Rzeszów. My Company Polska.
2. Qualifications. According to Dzierżanowski, candidates were evaluated in Warsaw by a commission composed of choreographers and Italian impresarios. Appearance mattered, not skills. Journalist Krystyna Świątecka wrote: 'Only external conditions mattered. Qualifications were irrelevant.' After a few days of fictitious training, women received fake certificates. There.
3. Almost all blondes. According to Kowalik, 'only blondes' were recruited. Wprost.
4. Contract. The agreement was drawn up at the ZPR office. It included a clause about 'optional consumption'. There. Some women left with official passports as ZPR employees, while others traveled with private passports as tourists, through another Italian agency. My Company Polska.
5. Confiscated passports. 'Antena' reported that women's passports were 'taken away right away'. One woman, Ewa G., recounted that the club owner returned her passport only after the contract ended. Wprost.

According to 'Antena', the groups were formed so that an 'attraction', such as an acrobat or illusionist, would be accompanied by a 'background', meaning a group of women. Hence the title of a later television report 'Attraction with a Background'. My Company Polska. The groups had names like Mette Show, Lady Shic, or Yoko Show. Wprost.

'Consumption', booths, and the champagne meter

Women ended up in provincial clubs around Milan and Florence. 'Antena' reported that under names like Rosa Pantera, Blue Notte, Omnibus, or Moulin del Topo, there were brothels. According to Kowalik's report, the job involved sitting at tables and persuading clients to buy expensive drinks, served in booths separated by partitions. For participating in 'consumption', a woman received about 100 lira, the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes. If a client decided to proceed, he took the woman to a booth. He did not pay her, but had to buy champagne, and from the entrance behind the partition, a 'meter' was running. Wprost.

A police officer recounted to reporter 'Kulis' Maciej Piotrowski about the regulations. Women only left the rooms for work at 10 PM, sat 'on display' in the venue, and communicated with clients through waiters. For disobedience, the owner would add two or three prostitutes to the group. After a few days, the women saw that the new colleagues were earning more, 'and they rather stopped resisting'. There. This is an example of economic pressure that did not require violence to operate.

What the women who returned recounted

The testimonies of women are known from the press from 1981 to 1984, as cited by Helena Kowalik. They vary greatly.

• Magda, 20 years old: was in a group of five girls who were greeted at the airport by an Italian impresario. They did not know what 'consumption' meant in practice. Three of them became pregnant. She said that in other groups it was worse: one had her cheek shot, and two 'vanished without a trace'.
• Mariola from Rzeszów, eight months in Italy: in the first venue, there was no dance floor, only 'booths like for horses'. She refused to go to the booth and 'was sometimes hit in the face for her resistance'. Eventually, the owner agreed that she would only drink with clients. The clients groped her.
• Ewa G. went with her husband and immediately realized it was a brothel. She refused and sat alone for hours with water. She only got her passport back after the contract ended.
• The manager of one of the groups had 'the best memories' and said that no one forced her to do anything.
• A woman who spoke with reporter Jan Lewandowski did not understand why the press was digging this up. She saw a piece of the world and earned money for an apartment. Otherwise, she said, she would have been standing behind a buffet at a train station until retirement.

All these testimonies are cited in Helena Kowalik's report in Wprost. Anna Dobrowolska writes that many women were forced into sexual services, but also warns that the press of that time blurred the line between voluntary and forced work and is not a reliable source about the experiences of the women themselves. Dobrowolska, doctoral thesis. The most drastic descriptions from 1981, about armed guards and gunfire, come from newspaper articles, not from women's testimonies, and should be treated as such.

Polish women from the clubs of one of the Italian agencies sent a letter through the PRL consul in Milan to the ZPR and to the editorial office: 'We found out that we are working in a brothel, under the guns of mafia guards. This is a huge insult to us.' According to Kowalik, the letter was hidden in the bottom of a drawer in the editorial offices. Wprost.

33 dollars for a dancer, a million for intermediaries

According to Kowalik, the ZPR paid each woman 15% of her fee, which was 33 dollars a day, through the Polish consulate in Milan. Wprost. Dzierżanowski writes that 'reportedly' the ZPR collected 220 dollars for a day's work of one woman, and a woman's daily wage was roughly equivalent to a monthly salary in Poland. My Company Polska. The amount of 220 dollars has only one source and is given with a caveat.

For a night outside the venue, a client paid the club owner between 200,000 and 300,000 lira, of which the woman received 5%, Mariola recounted. According to 'Antena', Polish recruiters received 500 dollars for each recruited blonde plus bonuses for each day of her work. The police estimated that recruiters earned at least a million dollars. One of the arrested ZPR employees admitted on television that he took bribes in dollars from Italians. Wprost.

Three hundred or one thousand five hundred women

No one has determined the exact number. Jan Śpiewak wrote in 'Antena': 'There is already evidence (...), that by 1980 about 300 so-called ballerinas were sent to Italy, and it is suspected that this number could be five times greater.' Wprost. From this fivefold increase and later press estimates came the figure of about 1,500 women. My Company Polska. The police interrogated 40 dancers who returned. It is unknown how many women remained in Italy. Documentation dziwex.com compiles all known numbers.

'Antena', a letter in a drawer, and arrests at the Europejski Hotel

The case was revealed in the spring of 1981 by Jan Śpiewak in 'Antena', in the article 'Dziwex and the Mafia'. Anna Dobrowolska dates the publications to April 1981, while other sources cite March. Dobrowolska, doctoral thesis. Śpiewak called the case 'the largest human trafficking scandal in the history of Polish criminology'. My Company Polska.

Such articles could be published thanks to the thaw after August 1980. The 'Solidarity' commission of entertainment enterprise workers wrote that the revelation of the case 'became possible due to the changes occurring in Poland after August 1980.' There. Reporter Jan Lewandowski recalled that previously, censorship blocked even data on alcoholism. Wprost.

The reaction was enormous. The price of an issue of 'Antena' at the Różycki market in Warsaw increased thirtyfold. In the Europejski Hotel in Warsaw, two Italian impresarios were arrested. Paradoxically, after the articles, the number of visa applications from young women at the Italian embassy increased significantly. At a press conference, the police spokesman criticized the press for treating the returning women 'as prostitutes'. The prosecutor stated that human trafficking 'is not easy to prove, especially since the Italians are reluctant to cooperate', and there were 'no foreign currencies' for investigators to travel to Italy. There.

Three years of investigation and a verdict only for dollars

The investigation lasted three years. In 1984, the prosecutor charged ZPR employees with human trafficking, profiting from prostitution, and foreign exchange crimes. The trial was closed. One of the Italian impresarios died before the trial, and the other did not appear because Poland had no extradition treaty with Italy. Wprost.

The charges of human trafficking and profiting from prostitution were dropped. According to Kowalik, no Polish investigator saw the clubs, and the court relied on the testimonies of witnesses and defendants who had an interest in denying that 'consumption' meant prostitution. During the trial, some witnesses retracted their statements. The only one who saw the booths, reporter Maciej Piotrowski, answered that the partitions were 'rather low' when asked about their height. In its justification, the court wrote that the publicity surrounding the case hindered the truth, and the media uproar was a punishment for the defendants more severe than the verdict. There.

Ultimately, the accused were convicted only for foreign exchange crimes. The head of the export and import department of ZPR received a two-year suspended sentence and a fine, while junior officials received a year suspended and fines. No one went to prison. There. The defense attorney in the trial, Stanisław Zabłocki, later wrote in his memoirs that 'no one forced anyone to do anything'. My Company Polska. It is worth remembering that these are the words of the defense attorney, not a court finding.

The law also did not make things easier. The 1969 penal code did not have a provision on human trafficking because it was deemed an outdated crime in Poland. The prosecutor resorted to an old provision from the introductory regulations of the code, which punished the trafficking of women 'even with their consent'. Józef Koredczuk, University of Wrocław, 2021.

A cabaret song and a return to the same club

According to Kowalik, after the trial, one of the Italian agencies severed ties with the ZPR, but others took its place. In the summer of 1985, the same club Omnibus hosted a Polish dance group brought in by another state agency, Pagart. Wprost. How their work looked is not mentioned in the sources.

The case entered pop culture. The cabaret Tey performed the song 'Dziwex', sung by Rudi Schuberth, with lyrics by Zenon Laskowik and Krzysztof Jaślar. The chorus went: 'Dziwex, dziwex, a golden interest, girls are going to Italy for work.' Tekstowo.pl. The story of the case was later described by Anna Dobrowolska in her book 'Professional Girls. Prostitution and Sexual Work in the PRL' (Political Critique Publishing House, 2020). Histmag, book review.

The same pattern operates today

The mechanism from 1980, that is, a seemingly legitimate intermediary, a contract for 'dancing' or 'working in a hotel', and a confiscated passport, still operates today. The documentation from dziwex.com collects warning signs that are worth knowing before accepting a job abroad. dziwex.com, 'How to prevent this':

• the employer cares more about your appearance than your skills;
• the salary is suspiciously high compared to the work;
• the intermediary pays for travel and accommodation, then turns it into a debt to be worked off;
• someone offers to 'hold' your passport;
• the contract is in a foreign language or with someone other than the actual employer;
• you are under time pressure and cannot talk to someone who has already worked there.

Never give anyone your passport or ID. Before leaving, leave your loved ones the employer's address and a copy of the contract. In Poland, human trafficking is a crime under Article 189a of the Penal Code, punishable by 3 to 20 years in prison from October 1, 2023. The victim's consent does not change the fact that it is a crime. Penal Code, Article 189a.

Where to seek help in Poland and abroad

We checked the numbers on official websites in November 2026. Abroad, you can also contact the nearest Polish consulate.

What we do not know for sure

• How many women there were and how many did not return to Poland.
• The exact date of publication in 'Antena': March or April 1981.
• The amount of 220 dollars a day for ZPR: only one source provides this, with the caveat 'reportedly'.
• The origin of the word 'Dziwex': it is sometimes referred to as a police code name, but we found no source to confirm this. Reports say the word first appeared in 'Antena'.
• The fate of the accused after 1984 and the outcome of Italian proceedings in this matter.