Bolesław Bierut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bolesław Bierut | |
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| In office February 5, 1947 – November 21, 1952 |
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| Preceded by | State National Council |
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| Succeeded by | Aleksander Zawadzki (Chairman of the Council of State) |
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| In office 1948 – 1956 |
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| Preceded by | Władysław Gomułka |
| Succeeded by | Edward Ochab |
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| Born | April 18, 1892 Rury Jezuickie near Lublin |
| Died | March 12, 1956 Moscow, USSR |
| Political party | Polish United Workers' Party |
| Spouse | Wanda Górska |
Bolesław Bierut (real name Bolesław Biernacki, April 18, 1892–March 12, 1956) was a Polish-born Communist leader, a Stalinist who became President of Poland after the Soviet occupation of the country in the aftermath of World War II.
Bierut was born near Lublin, the son of a village teacher and his wife (nee Rutkowska — hence his later adopted name "Bie(r)-rut"). In 1925 he went to Moscow to be trained at the school of the Communist International. When the Communist Party of Poland was dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1938, he was lucky in that he had been been sentenced to 10 years in a Polish prison for his political activity, and therefore could not travel to the Soviet Union, and therefore survived the ensuing Great Purge, which icluded the execution of most of the leaders of the Polish communist party, the KPP. After the amnesty of 1938 he settled down in Warsaw and worked as a bookkeeper in a cooperative. After the outbreak of World War II Bierut fled to Eastern Poland (soon occupied by the Red Army) in order to avoid military service.
Bierut would spend most of the war in the U.S.S.R., and was recalled to head the new Polish Workers' Party in 1943. He functioned as head of the Polish provisional quasi-parliament (State National Council, Krajowa Rada Narodowa), created by Soviet adherents, from 1944 to 1947. Bierut was instrumental in the Soviet takeover of Poland by the Communists. From 1947 to 1952, he served in the People's Republic of Poland as President and then (after the abolition of the Presidency) Prime Minister.
Bierut did impose Stalinist Communism on Poland, but spared the imprisoned Władysław Gomułka, his eventual successor. Bierut oversaw the trials of Polish military leaders such as General Stanisław Tatar, along with 40 members of the WiN (Freedom and Independence) organisation, and various church officials. Many more opponents of the regime, such as "the hero of Auschwitz", Witold Pilecki, were sentenced to death in secret trials.
Bierut died in Moscow in 1956 during a political visit to the Soviet Union.
For some time in the early 1990s, after the fall of communism in Poland, Bierut's grave in the Powązki Cemetery was defaced and a splattered with red paint — a symbol of the blood on his hands during his life.
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| Preceded by Władysław Raczkiewicz (President of the Polish Republic in Exile) |
Chairman of the State National Council 1944 (or 1945)–1947 |
Succeeded by became President |
| Preceded by State National Council |
President of Poland 1947–1952 |
Succeeded by Aleksander Zawadzki (Chairman of the Council of State) |
| Preceded by Władysław Gomułka |
General Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party 1948–1956 |
Succeeded by Edward Ochab |
| Preceded by Józef Cyrankiewicz |
Prime Minister of Poland 1952–1954 |
Succeeded by Józef Cyrankiewicz |
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| Chairmen of the Polish Council of State |
| Bolesław Bierut • Aleksander Zawadzki • Edward Ochab • Marian Spychalski • Józef Cyrankiewicz • Henryk Jabłoński • Wojciech Jaruzelski |
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| First Secretaries of the Central Committee of the PUWP |
| Bolesław Bierut • Edward Ochab • Władysław Gomułka • Edward Gierek • Stanisław Kania • Wojciech Jaruzelski • Mieczysław Rakowski |
