Stanisław Kociołek (3 May 1933,

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 ...

– 1 October 2015), often referred to as the "butcher of Tri-City", was a Communist official who served as deputy prime minister of Poland for six months in 1970. After the fall of Communism, he was charged with crimes committed in Gdańsk and

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

during the

Polish 1970 protests The 1970 Polish protests ( pl, Grudzień 1970, lit=December 1970) occurred in northern Poland during 14–19 December 1970. The protests were sparked by a sudden increase in the prices of food and other everyday items. Strikes were put down by t ...

. Kociołek personally approved 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 ...

(PZPR) order issued with

Zenon Kliszko Zenon Kliszko (Łódź, December 8, 1908 – September 4, 1989, Warsaw), was a politician in the Polish People's Republic, considered the man of Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) leader Władysław Gomułka. Kliszko graduated from Warsaw Univ ...

, for the regular Army to fire at striking workers in Polish shipyards, which resulted in at least tens of people being killed indiscriminately and hundreds wounded.Polska. Historia
PWN Encyklopedia. Retrieved July 11, 2005.The Polish People's Republic.
Polish Academic Information Center, University at Buffalo. Retrieved on March 14, 2007."Poland."
Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved on April 7, 2007

Career

Initially, Kociołek worked as head-master at an elementary school near

Iława Iława (; german: Deutsch Eylau ) is a town in northern Poland with 32,276 inhabitants (2010). It is situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Olsztyn Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Iława C ...

following World War II, and in 1957 graduated from

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. He joined the communist party at his alma mater, and served as leader of its own PZPR party-cell. He quickly rose to become the first secretary of the Warsaw Committee of PZPR (1958–1960 and 1963–1964), as well as the secretary of Socialist Youth Association. Between December 1967 and July 1970 he was the first secretary of communist party in Gdańsk. During the massacre of shipyard workers in 1970 he served as deputy prime minister. Afterwards, he was sent abroad to various diplomatic posts, for his own safety. He was brought back to

as the first secretary of the Warsaw Committee of PZPR for the crushing of the

Solidarity trade union ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

in November 1980, but during the Martial law in Poland resided in Moscow as ambassador (1982-1985). He returned to Poland in 1985, and was charged with

communist crimes Communist crimes ( pl, zbrodnie komunistyczne) is a legal definition used in the Polish Penal Code. The concept of a communist crime is also used more broadly internationally, and is employed by human rights non-governmental organizations as wel ...

in 1995, after the

collapse of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

. On 1 October 2015, he died at the age of 82.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kociolek, Stanislaw 1933 births 2015 deaths Politicians from Warsaw People from Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939) University of Warsaw alumni Members of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party Deputy Prime Ministers of Poland Members of the Polish Sejm 1965–1969 Members of the Polish Sejm 1969–1972 Ambassadors of Poland to the Soviet Union Diplomats from Warsaw