Piotr Jaroszewicz

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Gen. Piotr Jaroszewicz (1909 - 1992) was a Polish Communist political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Poland between 1970 and 1980. He was murdered in 1992.

Piotr Jaroszewicz was born October 8, 1909 in Nieśwież. After finishing the secondary school in Jasło he started working as a teacher and headmaster in Garwolin. After the outbreak of World War II and the Nazi-Soviet alliance he moved to Soviet-occupied zone of Poland. In 1943 he joined the 1st Polish Army of Gen. Zygmunt Berling. The following year he joined the Polish Workers Party and was prommoted to deputy political commander of the 1st Army.

After the war he became the deputy minister of defence (1945-1950). Since 1956 he was the Polish embassador to COMECON. At the same time between 1952 and 1970 he served as a deputy Prime Minister of Poland and briefly (1954-1956) as the minister of mining industry. Jaroszewicz was a member of the Central Committee of the PZPR since its creation in 1948 and since 1964 he was also a member of the Political Bureau. From December 1970 until February 1980 he was the Prime Minister of Poland. The economical policies of Jaroszewicz and Edward Gierek led to a wave of protests in 1976 and 1980. After his failure in suppressing the Solidarity movement in 1980 he gave up all his posts and was expelled from the party the following year.

Piotr Jaroszewicz and his wife Alicja Solska were murdered September 2, 1992 in unknown circumstances in their house in Anin near Warsaw.

Preceded by: Józef Cyrankiewicz

Prime Minister of Poland 1970–1980

Succeeded by: Edward Babiuch