Bolesław Bierut (; 18 April 1892 – 12 March 1956) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

communist activist and politician, leader of the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million ne ...

from 1947 until 1956. He was President of the

State National Council Krajowa Rada Narodowa in Polish (translated as State National Council or Homeland National Council, abbreviated to KRN) was a parliament-like political body created during the later stages of World War II in German-occupied Warsaw, Poland. It wa ...

from 1944 to 1947,

President of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Pola ...

from 1947 to 1952, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

from 1948 to 1956, and

Prime Minister of Poland The President of the Council of Ministers ( pl, Prezes Rady Ministrów, lit=Chairman of the Council of Ministers), colloquially referred to as the prime minister (), is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibi ...

from 1952 to 1954. Bierut was a self-educated person. He implemented aspects of the Stalinist system in Poland.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 32–35. Wydawnictwo Czerwone i Czarne, Warszawa 2014, . Together with

Władysław Gomułka Władysław Gomułka (; 6 February 1905 – 1 September 1982) was a Polish communist politician. He was the ''de facto'' leader of post-war Poland from 1947 until 1948. Following the Polish October he became leader again from 1956 to 1970. G ...

, his main rival, Bierut is chiefly responsible for the historic changes that Poland underwent in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Unlike any of his communist successors, Bierut led Poland until his death. Born in Congress Poland on the outskirts of Lublin, Bierut entered politics in 1912 by joining the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' ...

. Later he became a member of the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland ( pl, Komunistyczna Partia Polski, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland a ...

and spent some years in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, where he functioned as an agent of the Comintern, educated at the Soviet

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet Uni ...

and similar institutions elsewhere in Europe. He was sentenced to a prison term in 1935 for conducting illegal labor activity in Poland by the anti-communist

Sanation Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish political movement that was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on ...

government. Having only attended an elementary school for several years before being expelled, he later developed an interest in economics and took some cooperative courses at the

Warsaw School of Economics SGH Warsaw School of Economics ( pl, Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie, ''SGH''cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

movement in his youth. After his release from prison in 1938, he was employed as an accountant for

Społem PSS Społem is a Polish consumers' co-operative of local grocery stores founded in 1868. Each of the branches of PSS Społem during the Partitions of Poland were formed via different conditions in law, economy and politics. The common character ...

until the outbreak of the war. During the war, Bierut was an activist of the newly founded

Polish Workers' Party The Polish Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Partia Robotnicza, PPR) was a communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948. It was founded as a reconstitution of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) and merged with the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in 194 ...

(PPR) and subsequently the chairman of the State National Council (KRN), established by the PPR. As the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

pushed the Nazi

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

from eastern Poland, liberated Lublin was made the temporary headquarters of the

Polish Committee of National Liberation The Polish Committee of National Liberation ( Polish: ''Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego'', ''PKWN''), also known as the Lublin Committee, was an executive governing authority established by the Soviet-backed communists in Poland at the la ...

at his initiative. Trusted by

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, Bierut participated in the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...

, where he successfully lobbied for the establishment of Poland's western border at the

Oder–Neisse line The Oder–Neisse line (german: Oder-Neiße-Grenze, pl, granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej) is the basis of most of the international border between Germany and Poland from 1990. It runs mainly along the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers a ...

. The conference thus granted Poland the post-German "

Recovered Territories The Recovered Territories or Regained Lands ( pl, Ziemie Odzyskane), also known as Western Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Zachodnie), and previously as Western and Northern Territories ( pl, Ziemie Zachodnie i Północne), Postulated Territories ( pl, Z ...

" at their maximum possible extent. After the

1947 Polish legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 19 January 1947, Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 the first since World War II. According to the official results, the Democratic Bloc (''Blok ...

, marked by electoral fraud, Bierut was made the first post-war President of Poland. In 1952, the new

Constitution of the Polish People's Republic The Constitution of the Polish People's Republic (also known as the July Constitution or the Constitution of 1952) was a supreme law passed in communist-ruled Poland on 22 July 1952. It superseded the post-World War II provisional Small Cons ...

(until then known as the Republic of Poland) abolished the position of president and a Marxist–Leninist government was officially imposed. Bierut supported the radical Stalinist policies as well as the systematic introduction of

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is c ...

in Poland. His regime was marked by a silent terror – he presided over the hunting down of armed opposition members and their eventual murder at the hands of the Ministry of Public Security (UB), including some former members of the

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) est ...

. Under Bierut's supervision, the UB evolved into a notorious

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...

which was, according to some sources, responsible for the execution of six thousand people between 1944 and 1956 according to the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, an ...

."Jakub Berman’s Papers Received at the Hoover Institution Archives"
Stanford University

, August 11, 2008 As Poland's ''de facto'' leader, he resided in the

Belweder Belweder (; from the Italian ''belvedere'', "beautiful view") is a neoclassical palace in Warsaw, Poland. Erected in 1660 and remodelled in the early 1800s, it is one of several official residences used by Polish presidents as well as a state ...

Palace and headed the Polish United Workers' Party from the party headquarters at New World Street in central

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, known as ''Dom Partii''. He was also the chief proponent for the reconstruction of Warsaw (rebuilding of the historic district) and the erection of the

Palace of Culture and Science A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

. Bolesław Bierut died of a heart attack on 12 March 1956 in Moscow, after attending the

20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held during the period 14–25 February 1956. It is known especially for First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech", which denounced the personality cult and dictatorship ...

. His death was sudden, and many theories arose questioning the circumstances in which he died. His body was brought back to Poland and buried with honours in a monumental tomb at the

Powązki Military Cemetery Powązki Military Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach) is an old military cemetery located in the Żoliborz district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. The cemetery is often confused with the older Powązki Cemetery, known colloquial ...

Career

Youth and early career

Bierut was born in Rury, Congress Poland (then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

), now a part of Lublin, to Wojciech and Marianna Salomea (Wolska) Bierut,

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

s from the

Tarnobrzeg Tarnobrzeg is a city in south-eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), on the east bank of the river Vistula, with 49,419 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Polish: ''Województwo podkarpackie'') sinc ...

area, the youngest of their six children. In 1900, he attended an elementary school in Lublin. In 1905, he was removed from the school for instigating anti-

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

protests. From the age of fourteen he was employed in various trades, but obtained further education through self-studies. Influenced by the leftist intellectual Jan Hempel, who in 1910 arrived in Lublin, before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Bierut joined the Polish Socialist Party – Left (''PPS – Lewica'').Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 38–41. From 1915, Bierut was active in the

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

movement. In 1916, he became trade manager of the Lublin Food Cooperative, and from 1918 was its top leader, declaring the cooperative's " class-

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

" character. During World War I, he stayed at times at Hempel's apartment in

and took

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

and cooperative courses at the

Warsaw School of Economics SGH Warsaw School of Economics ( pl, Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie, ''SGH'' In Warsaw, he established contacts with

Maria Koszutska Maria Karolina Sabina Koszutska (pseudonym ''Wera Kostrzewa'') (2 February 1876, Główczyn – 9 July 1939, Moscow) was a leader and theoretician of the Polish Socialist Party "Left" faction ''(Polska Partia Socialistyczna, PPS — Lewic ...

and in December 1918 some form of association with the newly created Communist Workers' Party of Poland (KPRP), from which, according to his later testimony, he withdrew in fall 1919. Bierut kept assuming ever higher offices in the cooperative movement. In 1919 he and Hempel went to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, where they represented the Polish cooperatives at the congress of their

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

counterparts. Bierut's increasingly radical views, however, eventually hindered his cooperative career and caused his departure from the leadership of the movement, beginning in 1921. From 1921, he officially functioned as a member of the KPRP. In July 1921 Bierut married Janina Górzyńska, a preschool teacher who had helped him a great deal when his illegal activities forced him to hide from the police. They were married by a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

at the Lublin Cathedral, even though the priest, according to Janina, excused them from the

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

requirement. In February 1923 their daughter Krystyna was born, followed by son Jan in January 1925.

Communist party activism until 1939

In 1922–25, Bierut was a member of the Cooperative Department of the KPRP Central Committee. He worked as an accountant and was active in Warsaw at the

Polish Association of Freethinkers Polish Association of Freethinkers (PAF) ( pl, Stowarzyszenie Wolnomyślicieli Polskich; SWP) is a secular movement established in 1907 in Warsaw. Polish Association of Freethinkers was the first such organization in the Polish lands. History ...

. In August 1923, he was sent for party work in the

Dąbrowa Basin The Dąbrowa Basin (also, Dąbrowa Coal Basin) or Zagłębie Dąbrowskie () is a geographical and historical region in southern Poland. It forms western part of Lesser Poland, though it shares some cultural and historical features with the neighbo ...

, to manage the Workers' Food Cooperative. He lived in Sosnowiec, where he brought his wife and daughter and where he experienced the first of his many arrests. Detained repeatedly in various parts of the country, in October 1924 he moved to Warsaw. He had become a full-time conspiratorial party activist and in 1925 was a member of the Temporary Secretariat of the Central Committee and then the head of the Cooperative Department there.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 41–48. Already trusted by the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in ...

and knowing the Russian language well, from October 1925 to June 1926 Bierut was in the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

area, sent there for training at the secret school of the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...

. Arrested in Warsaw in January 1927, he was released on 30 April, based on personal assurances issued on his behalf by Stanisław Szwalbe and Zygmunt Zaremba. During the Fourth Congress of the

(KPP, the new name of the KPRP), which took place from 22 May to 9 August 1927, Bierut became a member of the Temporary Secretariat of the Central Committee again. In November, the party sent him to the

in Moscow. He received positive evaluations there, except for not being entirely free of ideological right-wing errors, characteristic, in the school's opinion, of the Polish communist party. Bolesław Bierut policja 1933

In 1930–31, Bierut was sent by the Comintern to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. Many details of his activities are not reliably known, but from 1 October 1930 he was an instructor at the Executive Committee of the Comintern. He later claimed having lived in Moscow in 1927–32, except for a nine-month period in 1931, and having been enrolled at the Lenin School until 1930. Jerzy Eisler wrote: "... in light of the Soviet archival materials, in 1927–32 Bierut was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

), with his party seniority counted from 1921, the moment he formally joined the Polish communist party." In Moscow he met Małgorzata Fornalska, a KPP activist. They became romantically involved and had a daughter, named Aleksandra, born in June 1932. Soon afterwards Bierut left for Poland, leaving in Moscow for the time being also his legal family, whom he had brought there. For several months Bierut was district secretary of the KPP organization in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

. After the regional organization was demolished by arrests, in 1933 he became secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish section of the

International Red Aid International Red Aid (also commonly known by its Russian acronym MOPR ( ru , МОПР, for: ''Междунаро́дная организа́ция по́мощи борца́м револю́ции'' - Mezhdunarodnaya organizatsiya pomoshchi bor ...

. On 18 December 1933, Bierut was arrested and in 1935 sentenced to seven years in prison. In 1936, while imprisoned, he was excluded ''in absentia'' from the KPP for an "unworthy of a communist behavior during the investigation and the court trial". The decision was invalidated and reversed by the Comintern on 7 September 1940 (even though the KPP by that time no longer existed). Bierut was found to have been a member of the moderate "majority" faction of the KPP, and the factional infighting in which he participated was determined not to amount to acting against the party. He was released from prison on 20 December 1938, based on an earlier amnesty. He lived with his wife and children and worked in Warsaw cooperatives until the outbreak of war. The "

" prison may have saved his life: while he was incarcerated, the KPP was disbanded by the Comintern and most of its leaders murdered in Stalin's purges.

In the Soviet Union

On 1 September 1939,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

attacked Poland. On 6 September the Polish military command issued a radio appeal for all able-bodied men to head east; Bierut left Warsaw for Lublin, from where he proceeded to Kovel. Eastern Poland was soon occupied by the

and Bierut was about to spend a part of

in the

. Form early October, he was employed by the Soviets in political capacities, including vice-chairmanship of a regional election commission before the Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia. The two assemblies, once established, voted for the incorporation of the previously Polish territories into the respective Soviet republics.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 48–56. Bierut spent the rest of 1939, 1940 and the first part of 1941 in the Soviet Union, in Kiev and Moscow, working, making efforts to sanitize his record as a communist and searching for Fornalska, whom he met in Moscow in July 1940 and again in May 1941 in Białystok, where she had moved with Aleksandra. The mother and daughter were evacuated to Yershov in the Soviet Union after the June 1941 outbreak of the

Soviet-German war The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

, but Bierut ended up in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

. From November 1941, he was employed there by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

occupation authorities as a manager in the trade and food distribution department of the city government. In the summer of 1943, Bierut arrived in Nazi-occupied Poland, likely dispatched there as a trusted Soviet operative. He came to join the leadership of the

(PPR), a new communist party founded in January 1942. He may have been recommended for the job by Fornalska; parachuted into the General Government in the spring of 1942, she was in charge of the PPR's radio communications with Moscow. Bierut became a member of the party Secretariat on 23 November 1943. While there are many accounts and stories relating to Bierut during the 1939–1943 period, not much is known with certainty about his activities and the accounts are often speculative or amount to hearsay.

In occupied Poland from 1943

Upon his arrival in Warsaw, Bierut became a member of the Central Committee of the PPR, which comprised several individuals. The Secretariat had three members: General Secretary Paweł Finder, Franciszek Jóźwiak and

, whom Bierut did not know, but who quickly became his principal rival. Bierut lost his first confrontation over the management of ''Trybuna Wolności'' ('The Tribune of Freedom'), the party's press organ.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 56–59. In a major blow to the re-emergent Polish communist party, Finder and Fornalska were arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

on 14 November 1943. They were executed in July 1944. They were the only people with the knowledge of radio codes needed to communicate with Moscow and such communications were indeed interrupted for several months. On 23 November 1943, the PPR chose Gomułka as its general secretary. However, on 31 December 1943, Bierut also assumed an important (as it turned out) office: chairmanship of the

(''Krajowa Rada Narodowa'', KRN), a communist-led body established by Gomułka and the PPR. The KRN was declared to be a wartime parliament of Poland and some splinter

and agrarian activists were co-opted. Starting with the KRN post, with Gomułka and others, Bierut would play a leading role in the establishment of communist Poland. Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 17, 48–82. In May 1944, the KRN delegation flew into Moscow. They were officially received at the Kremlin by

; supremacy of the KRN was recognized by the

Union of Polish Patriots Union of Polish Patriots (''Society of Polish Patriots'', pl, Związek Patriotów Polskich, ZPP, russian: Союз Польских Патриотов, СПП) was a political body created by Polish communists in the Soviet Union in 1943. The ...

, which operated in the Soviet Union under communist leadership. In June 1944 Bierut wrote a letter, meant for the Soviet leadership and addressed to Georgi Dimitrov in Moscow. He accused his Polish communist rival Gomułka of dictatorial tendencies and numerous offenses contrary to communist orthodoxy; if taken seriously, the accusations could have cost Gomułka his life. But they were not and Gomułka did not find out about the letter until 1948, when it was used against him in Poland. In July 1944, the

(PKWN) was established in liberated Lublin province. Just before the outbreak of the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

, on 31 July 1944, Bierut came to Świder. The next day he crossed the front line and arrived in Lublin, the seat of the PKWN.

In Soviet-dominated Poland

Continuing as the KRN president, from August 1944 Bierut was secretly a member of the newly created Politburo of the PPR; he was officially presented to the public as a nonpartisan politician.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 59–71. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Bierut arrived in Moscow. On 6–7 August 1944, together with

Wanda Wasilewska ukr, Ванда Львівна Василевська rus, Ванда Львовна Василевская , native_name_lang = , birth_date = , birth_place = Kraków, Austria-Hungary , death_date = , death_place ...

and

Michał Rola-Żymierski Michał Rola-Żymierski (; 4 September 189015 October 1989) was a Polish high-ranking Polish United Workers' Party, Communist Party leader, communist military commander and NKVD secret agent. He was appointed as Marshal of Poland by Joseph Stalin ...

, he conducted negotiations with Prime Minister

Stanisław Mikołajczyk Stanisław Mikołajczyk (18 July 1901 – 13 December 1966; ) was a Polish politician. He was a Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile during World War II, and later Deputy Prime Minister in post-war Poland until 1947. Biography Back ...

of the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

. Mikołajczyk refused their offer of the job of prime minister in a coalition government, which otherwise would be dominated by the communists.Czesław Brzoza, Andrzej Leon Sowa, ''Historia Polski 1918–1945'' istory of Poland: 1918–1945 pp. 545–546. Kraków 2009,

Wydawnictwo Literackie Wydawnictwo Literackie (abbreviated WL, lit. "Literary Press") is a Kraków-based Polish publishing house, which has been referred to as one of Poland's "most respected". Company history Since its foundation in 1953, Wydawnictwo Literackie has ...

, . Bierut's daughter Krystyna participated in the uprising as a soldier of ''

Armia Ludowa People's Army ( Polish: ''Armia Ludowa'' , abbriv.: AL) was a communist Soviet-backed partisan force set up by the communist Polish Workers' Party ('PR) during World War II. It was created on the order of the Polish State National Council on 1 ...

'' and was gravely wounded. A KRN and PKWN delegation, led by Bierut, was summoned to Moscow, where it stayed from 28 September to 3 October. Stalin, assisted by Wasilewska, had two meetings with the leaders from Poland, during which he lectured them on a number of issues, but was especially displeased by the lack of progress in implementing the

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

decree passed by the PKWN on 6 September. Stalin urged them to proceed forcefully with the agrarian revolution and to eliminate the great land owners class without further delay or undue legal concerns; Bierut felt that the remarks were addressed to him in particular. On 12 October, the anniversary of the

Battle of Lenino The Battle of Lenino was a tactical World War II engagement that took place on 12 and 13 October 1943, north of the village of Lenino in the Mogilev region of Byelorussia. The battle itself was a part of a larger Soviet Spas-Demensk offensi ...

, the KRN for the first time deliberated in Lublin. The proceedings were interrupted to allow the deputies (including Bierut), together with officials of the PKWN and

Nikolai Bulganin Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Булга́нин; – 24 February 1975) was a Soviet politician who served as Minister of Defense (1953–1955) and Premier of the Soviet Union (1955–19 ...

representing the Soviet Union, to participate in a field

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

celebrated for the occasion and in the military parade that followed. Such participation in religious ceremonies by leading communist politicians continued for a while; it was one of the manifestations of the officially proclaimed after the war democratic and pluralistic policies, which included preservation of religious freedoms. Marshal Rola-Żymierski recalled kneeling together with Bierut before the altar at another field mass in May 1946, on the first anniversary of World War II victory. In conversations with Stanisław Łukasiewicz, his press secretary, Bierut expressed his support for moderate and liberal policies. His personal views were

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

and he thought the reform proposals put forward by Mikołajczyk's

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although i ...

(PSL), the legally existing opposition, would be abandoned in the event of PSL victory. Bierut na Krajowym Zlocie ZWM

A military department of the PPR Central Committee was created on 31 October 1944 and included Bierut and Gomułka, in addition to three generals. Its goal was to politicize the armed forces, currently fighting the war, and to establish a politically reliable officer corps. According to Eisler, Bierut and Gomułka are both responsible for the post-war persecution of many former

soldiers and other groups and individuals. The terror policies, particularly brutal in the 1944–48 period, were directed against declared opponents of the regime, including the legally functioning PSL, and had nor yet involved society as a whole.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 75–82. In February 1945, the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

took place in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. At that time Bierut, together with the PPR leadership and government departments, moved to the capital city of Warsaw. The city was in ruins and its rebuilding and expansion became a major concern and preoccupation for Bierut during the years that followed. In June 1945, the

Provisional Government of National Unity The Provisional Government of National Unity ( pl, Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej - TRJN) was a puppet government formed by the decree of the State National Council () on 28 June 1945 as a result of reshuffling the Soviet-backed Provisio ...

was established in Moscow. In July, Bierut and other Polish leaders participated in the

, where, together with Stalin, they successfully lobbied for the establishment of Poland's western border at the

. The Polish administration in the formerly German lands was to continue until the final delimitation of the frontier in the (future) peace settlement.

Halik Kochanski Halik Kochanski (born 19 April 1962) is a British historian and writer of Polish origin. Life Kochanski was educated at Downside School and at Balliol College, Oxford, where she was awarded an M.A. in Modern History. She obtained her Ph.D from ...

(2012). The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War, pp. 537–541. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. . Poland's newly acquired "

" had thus reached their maximum attainable size.

Referendum and election, Bierut's presidency

Bolesław Bierut przodownicy pracy Most Poniatowskiego

On 30 June 1946, the Polish people's referendum took place. It was done in preparation for the

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...

-mandated national elections; affirmative answers to the three questions given were supposed to demonstrate public support for the issues promoted by the communists. The results were falsified.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 71–75. On 22 September 1946, the KRN passed the electoral rules and in November set the date; the delayed legislative elections were held on 19 January 1947. The PPR-led coalition, running as the Democratic Bloc, was opposed by Mikołajczyk's PSL. The campaign was conducted in an atmosphere of terror and intimidation. Over 80% of the vote was falsely reported to have been cast for the Democratic Bloc and the PSL was practically eliminated as the legal opposition. The newly elected ''

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

'' convened on 4 February 1947 and on the following day it elected Bierut

President of the Republic of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Polan ...

. The installation ceremony was done in a traditional format and ended with the new president uttering the words "so help me God". Bolesław Bierut - Film nr 55-56 - 1948-12-23

Bolesław Bierut - Film nr 55-56 - 1948-12-23

On 16 November 1947, during the opening ceremony of the

Polish Radio Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna (PR S.A.; English: Polish Radio) is Poland's national public-service radio broadcasting organization owned by the State Treasury of Poland. History Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making ...

broadcasting station in

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

, President Bierut made a speech entitled ''For the dissemination of culture''. "The artistic and cultural creative process should reflect the great breakthrough that the nation is experiencing. It should, but so far it isn't", he said. Bierut called for greater centralization and planning in culture and art, which, according to him, should form, educate and engross society. The speech was a harbinger of the upcoming norm of

in Poland. Sometimes, Bierut on his own undertook special interventions with Stalin. He repeatedly and at different times asked Stalin and

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolsheviks ...

about the whereabouts of the missing Polish communists (former members of the disbanded KPP), many of whom were murdered in the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...

in the 1930s, but others may have survived. He also kept looking for the missing family of Fornalska.Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, ''Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana'' es, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman pp. 64–65. UNIVERSITAS, Kraków 2016, . While Stalin and Beria discouraged and ridiculed Bierut's efforts, in some cases his exertions brought positive results. Besides the communists, mostly surviving women, Bierut was able to bring back to Poland many other Poles, including former Home Army soldiers exiled in the Soviet Union.Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, ''Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana'' es, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman pp. 115–117. Bierut was a gallant man, well-liked by women. His wife Janina did not live with him and was not known to many of his associates. She occasionally visited him in his offices and seemed intimidated by the surroundings and her husband's position. On the other hand, his son and two daughters had seen Bierut frequently; they spent with him holidays and vacations and he appeared to genuinely enjoy their company. Bierut's actual female partner, after Fornalska's arrest, was Wanda Górska. She worked as his secretary and in other capacities, controlled access to him and visitors often thought of her as Bierut's wife.

Top leader of Stalinist Poland

Gomułka, general secretary of the PPR (and until that time the principal figure in post-war Polish communist establishment), was accused of a "right-wing nationalistic deviation" and removed from his position during a plenary meeting of the Central Committee in August 1948. The move was Stalin-orchestrated and Stalin's choice to fill the vacated job was President Bierut, who had thus become both the top party leader and top state official. The historic PPS was practically taken over by the PPR at the Unification Congress, held in Warsaw in December 1948. The resulting " Marxist–Leninist"

(PZPR) was nearly synonymous with the state and Bierut became its first general secretary. The

Three-Year Plan The Plan of Reconstructing the Economy ( pl, Plan Odbudowy Gospodarki), commonly known as the Three-Year Plan ( pl, plan trzyletni) was a central planning, centralized Soviet plan, plan created by the Polish communist government to rebuild History ...

of post-war rebuilding and economic consolidation ended in 1949 and was followed by the Six-Year Plan, which intensified the industrialisation process and brought extensive

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

of Poland. In November 1949, Bierut asked the Soviet government to make available Marshal

Konstantin Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich (Xaverevich) Rokossovsky ( Russian: Константин Константинович Рокоссовский; pl, Konstanty Rokossowski; 21 December 1896 – 3 August 1968) was a Soviet and Polish officer who bec ...

, a Polish-Soviet politician and famous World War II commander, for service in the government of Poland. Rokossovsky subsequently became a

Marshal of Poland Marshal of Poland ( pl, Marszałek Polski) is the highest rank in the Polish Army. It has been granted to only six officers. At present, Marshal is equivalent to a Field Marshal or General of the Army (OF-10) in other NATO armies. History To ...

and

Minister of National Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

In early August 1951, Bierut had his main rival Gomułka and his wife arrested. Gomułka, though imprisoned, refused to cooperate with his accusers and displayed remarkable ability to defend himself, while Bierut's people bungled the prosecution. According to

Edward Ochab Edward Ochab (; 16 August 1906 – 1 May 1989) was a Polish communist politician and top leader of Poland between March and October 1956. As a member of the Communist Party of Poland from 1929, he was repeatedly imprisoned for his activities u ...

, though, Stalin and Beria ordered the arrest and trial of Gomułka, while Bierut and

Jakub Berman Jakub Berman (23 December 1901 – 10 April 1984) was a Polish communist politician. Was born in Jewish family, son of Iser and Guta. An activist during the Second Polish Republic, in post-war communist Poland he was a member of the Politburo ...

tried to protect him and caused delays in the proceedings.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 115–116. Informal political reforms, slow to take hold after Stalin's death, eventually materialized and in December 1954 Gomułka was released. During the lifetime of Stalin, Bierut was strictly subservient to the Soviet leader. Bierut routinely received instructions from Stalin over the telephone or was summoned to Moscow for consultations.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 24–25. Bierut still had far more power in Poland than any of his successors as First Secretary of the PZPR. He ruled jointly with his two closest associates, Berman and

Hilary Minc Hilary Minc (24 August 1905, Kazimierz Dolny – 26 November 1974, Warsaw) was a Polish economist and communist politician prominent in Stalinist Poland. Minc was born into a middle class Jewish family; his parents were Oskar Minc and Stefa ...

.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 31–38. Security issues, including the widespread persecution of opposition, he also consulted with

Stanisław Radkiewicz Stanisław Radkiewicz (; 19 January 1903 – 13 December 1987) was a Polish communist activist with Soviet citizenship, a member of the pre-war Communist Party of Poland and of the post-war Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). As head of the M ...

, head of the Ministry of Public Security.

Bierut's 60th birthday, constitution of the Polish People's Republic

The apogee of Bierut's cult, promoted by the authorities over a number of years, was the celebration of his sixtieth birthday on 18 April 1952. It included various industrial and other production or accomplishment commitments undertaken by institutions and individuals. The

University of Wrocław , ''Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau'' (before 1945) , free_label = Specialty programs , free = , colors = Blue , website uni.wroc.pl The University of Wrocław ( pl, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, U ...

and some state enterprises were named in his honor. The History Department of the party's Central Committee prepared a special book about Bierut and his life, while Polish poets, including some notable ones, generated a book of poems dedicated to the leader. Many

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s dedicated to Bierut were issued.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 82–85. As the PZPR leadership felt ready to sanction its rule in a fundamental legal document, a new constitution was being worked on. On 26 May 1951, the ''Sejm'' passed a statute concerning the preparation and passing of the constitution. The Constitutional Committee, led by Bierut, commenced its deliberations on 19 September. In the fall of 1951, a Russian translation of the draft constitution was examined by Stalin, who inserted dozens of corrections, subsequently implemented in the Polish text by Bierut. The officially proclaimed national public discussion resulted in hundreds of other proposed changes. After all the delays and the necessary extension of the term of the ''Sejm'', the

was officially proclaimed on 22 July 1952. The

(''Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa'') was the new name of the state. The ''Sejm'' was designated as the highest national authority; it represented "the working people of towns and villages". The office of the president was eliminated and replaced with the collegial

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

, elected by the ''Sejm'' from its members. The first chairman of the new council was Aleksander Zawadzki. Bierut replaced

Józef Cyrankiewicz Józef Adam Zygmunt Cyrankiewicz (; 23 April 1911 – 20 January 1989) was a Polish Socialist (PPS) and after 1948 Communist politician. He served as premier of the Polish People's Republic between 1947 and 1952, and again for 16 years between ...

as prime minister in November 1952. The constitution, amended many times, remained in force until a new

Constitution of Poland The current Constitution of Poland was founded on 2 April 1997. Formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), it replaced the Small Constitution of 1992, the last amended version of ...

came into effect in October 1997, in what was then the Republic of Poland.

Bierut's last years

In March 1953, Bierut led the Polish delegation for Stalin's funeral in Moscow.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 85–88. The regime's relations with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

kept deteriorating. The authorities imprisoned Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek and interned Poland's

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

, Cardinal

Stefan Wyszyński Stefan Wyszyński (3 August 1901 – 28 May 1981) was a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the bishop of Lublin from 1946 to 1948, archbishop of Warsaw and archbishop of Gniezno from 1948 to 1981. He was created a cardinal on ...

. In the Soviet Union, changes were initiated by the new leader of the communist party,

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

. The "collective leadership" concept, promoted first in the Soviet Union, made its way to other communist countries, including Poland. It meant, among other things, giving top party and state functions to different officials. The Second Congress of the PZPR deliberated from 10 to 17 March 1954 in Warsaw. Bierut's party chief's title was changed from general secretary to first secretary. Because of the separation of functions requirement, Bierut remained only a party secretary and Cyrankiewicz returned to the post of prime minister. The Six-Year Plan was modified and some of the heavy industrial investment resources were shifted toward production of consumer articles. When Khrushchev, a guest at the congress, inquired about the reasons for the continuing imprisonment of Gomułka, Bierut professed his own ignorance on that issue.

Death and funeral

The

deliberated on 14–25 February 1956. Afterwards, Bierut did not return to Poland with the rest of the Polish delegation, but remained in Moscow, hospitalized with bad influenza, which turned into

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

and heart complications.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 88–93. On 3 March, during a conference of PZPR activists in Warsaw, Stefan Staszewski and others severely criticized the current party leadership, including the absent Bierut. Bierut died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on 12 March 1956, having read the text of

's "

Secret Speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" (russian: «О культе личности и его последствиях», «''O kul'te lichnosti i yego posledstviyakh''»), popularly known as the "Secret Speech" (russian: секре ...

", in which Khrushchev criticized Stalin's cult of personality. Bierut, however, would not die until sixteen days after that speech and four members of the delegation of Polish students who studied in Moscow, who met him on 25 February 1956, told Eisler that the first secretary showed signs of physical distress already at that time. Powazki Bierut

The deceased leader was given a splendid funeral in Warsaw. A period of national mourning was declared. Catholic bishops conceded to the demand that church bells ring all over the country on the day of the funeral. In a radio address on 14 March, Helena Jaworska, chairperson of the board of the Union of Polish Youth, eulogized Bierut on behalf of the Polish youth. She recalled Bierut's war and post-war activities and declared that "the beloved friend of the youth has departed". She spoke of the "great son of the Polish nation" and "a beautiful, loved person". The funeral, which took place on 16 March, was transmitted by the Polish Radio over many hours. Warsaw residents were given a day-off from work to be able to participate. Large crowds of people gathered and joined the funeral procession, which began at the

and proceeded toward the

, where the burial took place and where, for logistic reasons, only invited guests and delegations could enter.

Remembrance in communist and post-communist Poland

Khrushchev, who participated in Bierut's funeral, stayed in Warsaw for several days and attended the Sixth Plenum of the PZPR Central Committee. On 20 March, Edward Ochab was chosen there as the party's new first secretary. Prime Minister Cyrankiewicz delivered a detailed account of the history of Bierut's illness, going back to the early spring of 1950, when Bierut experienced his first

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

. The report was not made public. According to historian Andrzej Garlicki, Bierut died just in time to make possible the political elimination of Berman and Minc and the triumphal return of Gomułka. Had Bierut lived much longer, the de-Stalinization process in Poland could have been stalled. Soon after Bierut's death, on 18 April 1956, a merchant ship newly built in Gdańsk Shipyard was named ''Bolesław Bierut''.Jerzy Eisler, ''Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR'' he Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR pp. 93–97. During Gomułka's rule as first secretary (1956–70), the memory of Bierut was marginalized. After 1970, First Secretary

Edward Gierek Edward Gierek (; 6 January 1913 – 29 July 2001) was a Polish Communist politician and ''de facto'' leader of Poland between 1970 and 1980. Gierek replaced Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (P ...

brought Bierut back into public consciousness. Some books about him were published and in July 1979, on the 35th anniversary of communist Poland, Bierut's monument was erected in Lublin. Bierut's legend was sustained and cultivated during the 1970s. Gierek and his team, according to Eisler, idealized Bierut and his period and introduced a soft version of Stalinism, lacking the terror component of the original. During the brief but turbulent Solidarity period, the University of Wrocław attempted to reclaim its original name, but the Ministry of Higher Education declined to implement the faculty resolution in January 1982. Bierut Trasa WZ

On 1 June 1987, a factory in

Skierniewice Skierniewice is a city in central Poland with 47,031 inhabitants (2021), situated in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), previously capital of Skierniewice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Skierniewice County. The town is situat ...

was given Bierut's name, which was likely the last such outcome. In 1989, the University of Wrocław got its old name back, Bierut's monument in Lublin was taken down, and soon all the mention of Bierut was removed from public space. However, memorials dedicated to countless many public and other figures and groups, judged compromised by their activities or connections with the communist regime, as well as other objects and names, including monuments of Soviet World War II soldiers or Polish Eastern Front soldiers, met the same fate. Historian Zenobiusz Kozik wrote of the "important role of Bierut in the deep social, economic and civilizational processes of those years. Processes that caused the rapid economic development of the country and great cultural advancement of entire groups and social spheres, especially the great masses of young people. (Regardless of the negative results and side effects, especially destroying the value of existing structures and the unconditional breaking of continuity). The civilizational advancement of Poland influenced the judgements regarding Bierut's place in the history of Poland, especially for a certain generation". Eisler countered this argument by writing of "the brutal and bloody reckoning with soldiers of the independence-seeking underground, clandestine murders, fake political trials, and also the falsified referendum of 1946 and the elections of the following year, and finally the

Sovietization Sovietization (russian: Советизация) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modelled after the Soviet Union. This often included ...

of Poland in practically all areas of public life". Szwalbe related that Bierut tried to persuade him that "every social revolution has to result in victims, including innocent ones." "Bierut considered himself a student of Stalin. He found making statements and declarations with the intent of obfuscating reality to be purposeful and justified (like Stalin did), and also the liquidation of the so-called adversaries in the process of the so-called successive stages of the revolution...". According to the historians Eleonora and Bronisław Syzdek, Bierut "brought to mind no associations with a figure of despot or dictator". "He knew how to listen and express himself competently, although formally he completed only five grades of elementary schooling and trade-cooperative courses. The knowledge he possessed, he acquired through self-education." "People from Bierut's immediate surroundings, whom he always treated with proper respect, while keeping the necessary distance in formal relations, to this day have retained a sympathetic view of him and try to defend the former president of People's Poland against negative judgements". Leon Chajn spoke of Bierut: "Refined, tactful, composed. Not an eagle, but valued intelligence in others. A great patriot, enthusiast of Stalin's concepts but opponent of his methods." Stanisław Łukasiewicz wrote about Bierut: "Always read a lot and wrote a lot, especially in prison. The years spent in prison were for him the period of his university studies."

Decorations and awards

POL_Order_Budowniczych_Polski_Ludowej_(rozetka)_BAR

Order of the Builders of People's Poland * POL_Order_Krzyża_Grunwaldu_1_Klasy_BAR

Order of the Cross of Grunwald The Order of the Cross of Grunwald (') was a military decoration created in Poland in November 1943 by the High Command of Gwardia Ludowa, a World War II Polish resistance movement organised by the Polish Workers Party. On 20 February 1944 it w ...

(1st class) * POL_Krzyż_Partyzancki_BAR

Partisan Cross * POL_Medal_Zwycięstwa_i_Wolności_BAR

Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945 * POL_Za_Warszawę_1939-1945_BAR

Medal for Warsaw 1939–1945

Notes

''a.''After his arrival in

, in September 1941, Bierut met Anastasia Kalesnikova, a woman fifteen years his junior and wife of the composer Isaac Luban, who had fled to Moscow leaving his family in Minsk. Bierut obtained " Aryan" (non-Jewish) documents for the family and moved into their apartment. Reportedly, Bierut and Kalesnikova had a daughter. After the war, Kalesnikova lived in Minsk again and was discreetly supported financially by Bierut. In 1974, suffering from material hardship, she wrote to First Secretary

of the PZPR, introducing herself as a "friend, wife and helper of his great fellow countryman, the outstanding party activist Bolesław Bierut". She asked for Polish retirement pay for herself and her family and the Polish authorities satisfied her request. ''b.''In a sense, Bierut's patriotism was recognized by

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

: "People of Mr Bierut type honestly care for the future of Poland. At the present time, they see no other opportunity to serve Poland than through communizing of the country." In the 1952 ''Sejm'' elections, Wyszyński himself voted for Bierut.Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, ''Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana'' es, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman p. 128.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bierut, Boleslaw Stalinism Anti-revisionists Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery Communist Party of Poland politicians Heads of state of the Polish People's Republic Members of the Polish Sejm 1952–1956 Members of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party Members of the State National Council People from Lublin Governorate Politicians from Lublin Polish atheists Politicide perpetrators Polish people of World War II Polish Socialist Party – Left politicians Polish Workers' Party politicians Presidents of Poland Prime Ministers of the Polish People's Republic International Lenin School alumni Recipients of the Order of the Builders of People's Poland Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 1st class 1892 births 1956 deaths