 With full Soviet control and sponsorship, in July 1944, the Polish Committee of National Liberation ("Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego", PKWN), a Polish provisional government was formed.Its purpose was to administer the territories earmarked for the return to the newly reformed Poland.Starting with the communist decrees of 1946, the legal powers were passed on to local administration (see Administrative division of People's Republic of Poland).