Bolesław Bierut
| Bolesław Bierut | |
[[file:.jpg) |225px|alt=|Bolesław Bierut]] |
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| In office February 5, 1947 – November 21, 1952 |
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| Prime Minister | Józef Cyrankiewicz |
| Preceded by | Himself as President of the Popular Council |
| Succeeded by | Aleksander Zawadzkias Chairman of the Council of State (next title held by Wojciech Jaruzelski in 1989) |
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| In office December 31, 1944 – February 4, 1947 |
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| Prime Minister | Edward Osóbka-Morawski |
| Preceded by | Władysław Raczkiewicz as President in Exile |
| Succeeded by | Himself as President of Poland |
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| In office December 22, 1948 – March 12, 1956 |
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| Preceded by | Władysław Gomułka as Secretary of PWP |
| Succeeded by | Edward Ochab as First Secretary |
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| In office November 21, 1952 – March 12, 1956 |
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| Preceded by | Józef Cyrankiewicz |
| Succeeded by | Józef Cyrankiewicz |
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| Born | April 18, 1892 Rury Jezuickie, now a part of the city of Lublin, then in the Russian Empire, now in Poland |
| Died | March 12, 1956 (aged 63) Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Communist Party of Poland Polish Worker's Party Polish United Workers' Party |
| Spouse(s) | Wanda Górska |
| Religion | none |
Bolesław Bierut ([bɔˈlɛswaf ˈbjɛrut] (
listen); April 18, 1892 – March 12, 1956) was a Polish Communist leader, a Stalinist who became President of Poland after the Soviet occupation of the country in the aftermath of World War II.
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Life
He was born in Rury, now a part of Lublin as the son of Henryk Rutkowski, a village teacher, and his wife Barbara Biernacki. He later adopted the surname "Bierut". combining the first syllables of his parents' surnames. In 1925 he went to Moscow to be trained at the school of the Communist International.
In 1933 he became an agent of Soviet military intelligence, the GRU. When the Communist Party of Poland was dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1938, he was lucky in that he had been sentenced in Poland to 10 years in prison for his anti-state political activities and, therefore, avoided being caught in the Great Purge, which led to the execution of most of the leaders of the Communist Party of Poland. After an amnesty from the Polish government in 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 part of the war in the USSR and was sent to head the new Polish Workers' Party in 1943. He functioned as head of the Provisional National Council, a quasi-parliament (Krajowa Rada Narodowa), created by the pro-Soviet and Moscow-based Union of Polish Patriots, from 1944 to 1947.
Bierut played a leading role in the Soviet takeover of Poland and the installation there of a Stalinist regime. From 1947 to 1952, he served as President and then (after the abolition of the Presidency with the creation of the People's Republic of Poland) Prime Minister. He was also the first Secretary General of the ruling Polish United Workers Party from 1948 to 1956.
Bierut oversaw the trials of many Polish wartime military leaders who had been loyal to the legitimate London-based wartime Polish Government-in-Exile, such as General Stanisław Tatar and Emil Fieldorf, 40 members of the Wolność i Niezawisłość (Freedom and Independence) organisation, various Church officials and many other opponents of the new regime, including the "hero of Auschwitz", Witold Pilecki, who were sentenced to death during secret trials. Bierut signed many of those death sentences.
Death
Bolesław Bierut died under mysterious circumstances in Moscow in 1956 during a visit to the Soviet Union, shortly after attending the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during which Nikita Khrushchev delivered his "Secret Speech", denouncing the Stalin's cult of personality cult and dictatorship.
Bierut's death, which gave rise to much speculation about poisoning or a suicide, symbolically marked the end of the era of Stalinism in Poland.
Theories about identity
The late Polish historian Paweł Wieczorkiewicz argued in recent times that it is possible that there were two persons claiming to be Bolesław Bierut. One of them was shot by an unidentified person at the French Hotel in Kraków, Poland in April 1945 or in 1947. According to this theory, the assassination was kept secret by the authorities and the dead "Bierut" was replaced by a double within an hour. [1]
References
External links
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Władysław Raczkiewicz (President of the Polish Republic in Exile) |
Chairman of the State National Council 1944–1947 |
Succeeded by Himself as President |
| Preceded by Himself as Chairman |
President of Poland 1947–1952 |
Succeeded by Aleksander Zawadzki (Chairman of the Council of State) |
| Preceded by Józef Cyrankiewicz |
Prime Minister of Poland 1952–1954 |
Succeeded by Józef Cyrankiewicz |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by New Party |
General Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party 1948–1956 |
Succeeded by Edward Ochab |
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