The Union of Youth Struggle ( pl, Związek Walki Młodych, ZWM) was a communist youth organization in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. ZWM was founded in 1942. It was linked to the

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 1948 ...

(PPR). Hanka Szapiro-Sawicka was the founding leader of ZWM. She was killed by German authorities on March 10, 1943. Leadership of ZWM was then taken over by

Jan Krasicki Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

. Krasicki was shot by

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 organi ...

on September 2, 1943. After Krasicki's death, Helena Jaworska became the ZWM leader. ZWM was active in the anti-fascist struggle, organizing People's Guard militia forces. ZWM played an important role in broadening the base of PPR. ''Walka Młodych'' ('Youth Struggle') was the central organ of ZWM. As of 1947 ZWM had 224,000 members On July 22, 1948 ZWM and other youth organizations merged into the Polish Youth Union (ZMP).

References

{{Authority control Youth wings of political parties in Poland Stalinism in Poland Youth wings of communist parties 1942 establishments in Poland 1948 disestablishments in Poland Youth organizations established in 1942