Bolesław Drobner (28 June 1883 – 31 March 1968) was a Polish politician. A member of the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

, he supported cooperation with the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

s. Arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

after the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

, in 1943 he was released. Drobner joined a pro-Soviet Polish communist organization; the

Union of Polish Patriots Union of Polish Patriots (''Society of Polish Patriots'', , ZPP, ) was a political body created by Polish communists in the Soviet Union in 1943. The ZPP, unofficially controlled and directed by Joseph Stalin, became one of the founding structur ...

and later 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 ...

(PKWN). As leader of the "

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

Poles", he led a delegation to

Żagań Żagań (French language, French and , ) is a town in western Poland, on the Bóbr river, with 25,731 inhabitants (2019), capital of Żagań County in the Lubusz Voivodeship, located in the historic region of Lower Silesia. Founded in the 12th ce ...

on 13 May 1945 where he pledged allegiance of his town to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

.Giles MacDonogh, ''After the Reich'', John Murray, 2007, p. 173 In 1945, Drobner became the first Polish mayor (president) of

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

(former Breslau) and was deputy to

State National Council Krajowa Rada Narodowa in Polish language, 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 Nazi Germany, German- ...

and then to Polish

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

(national legislature). He was a senior marshal of the latter institution in 1957, 1961 and 1965. He was also a notable supporter of the artistic group

Piwnica pod Baranami The Piwnica pod Baranami () is a Polish literary cabaret located in Kraków, Poland. For over thirty years, in the People's Republic of Poland, Piwnica pod Baranami served as the most renowned political cabaret in the country, until the end of (an ...

References

1883 births 1968 deaths Politicians from Kraków Politicians from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish Austro-Hungarians Jewish Polish politicians Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia politicians Polish Socialist Party politicians Independent Socialist Labour Party politicians Polish United Workers' Party members Members of the State National Council Members of the Polish Sejm 1947–1952 Members of the Polish Sejm 1952–1956 Members of the Polish Sejm 1957–1961 Members of the Polish Sejm 1961–1965 Members of the Polish Sejm 1965–1969 Mayors of Wrocław Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Polish people detained by the NKVD Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland {{Poland-Sejm-politician-stub