Bolesław Bierut

From Freepedia

Bolesław Bierut
Image:Ac.bierut.jpg
Office	{{{office}}}
Term of office	from February 5, 1947 until November 21, 1952
Profession	typesetter
Political party	communist
Spouse	Wanda Górska
Date of birth	April 18, 1892
Place of birth	Rury Jezuickie near Lublin
Date of death	March 12, 1956
Place of death	Moscow, Soviet Union

Bolesław Bierut (real name Bolesław Biernacki, April 18, 1892–March 12, 1956) was a Polish Communist leader, a Stalinist who led Poland in the aftermath of World War II.

Bierut was born near Lublin. In 1925 he went to Moscow to be trained at the school of the Communist International. When the Polish Communist Party was dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1938, he was lucky to have survived the ensuing Great Purge, which involved a purge of the Polish communists. Recalled to head the new Polish Workers' Party in 1943, he functioned as head of the Polish provisional quasi-parliament (State National Council, Krajowa Rada Narodowa) from 1944 to 1947. Bierut was instrumental in the Soviet takeover of Poland by the Communists. Under the Bierut Decree of March 8, 1946, German lands and properties were confiscated. From 1947 to 1952, he was President of the Republic of Poland.

Although Bierut imposed Stalinist Communism on Poland, he refused to stage show trials of politicians in 1948, sparing his eventual successor Władysław Gomułka. He did, however, sanction the show trials of World War II military leaders such as General Stanisław Tatar, 40 members of the WiN (Freedom and Independence) organisation and church leaders, many of which were sentenced in the Trial of the Sixteen. Many more opponents of the regime, like the hero of Auschwitz, Witold Pilecki, were sentenced to death in secret trials. Bierut died in Moscow, during a political visit to the Soviet Union.

See also

• History of Poland (1945-1989)

Preceded by: Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz (President of the Polish Republic in Exile)	Chairman of the People's Council 1944 (or 1945)–1947	Succeeded by: became President
Preceded by: People's Council	President of Poland 1947–1952	Succeeded by: Aleksander Zawadzki (Chairman of the Council of State)
Preceded by: Wladyslaw Gomulka	General Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party 1948–1956	Succeeded by: Edward Ochab
Preceded by: Józef Cyrankiewicz	Prime Minister of Poland 1952–1954	Succeeded by: Józef Cyrankiewicz