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Tadeusz Mazowiecki was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime minister since 1946, having held the post from 1989 to 1991.
The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of Marxist–Leninist regime in Poland after the end of World War II. These years, while featuring general industrialization, urbanization and many improvements in the standard of living,[a1] were marred by early Stalinist repressions, social unrest, political strife and severe economic difficulties. Near the end of World War II, the advancing Soviet Red Army, along with the Polish Armed Forces in the East, pushed out the Nazi German forces from occupied Poland. In February 1945, the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of a provisional government of Poland from a compromise coalition, until postwar elections. Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, manipulated the implementation of that ruling. A practically communist-controlled Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in Warsaw by ignoring the Polish government-in-exile based in London since 1940.
Tygodnik Powszechny is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha. Jerzy Turowicz was its editor-in-chief until his death in 1999. He was succeeded by Adam Boniecki, a priest.
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The Polish 1968 political crisis, also known in Poland as March 1968, Students' March, or March events, was a series of major student, intellectual and other protests against the ruling Polish United Workers' Party of the Polish People's Republic. The crisis led to the suppression of student strikes by security forces in all major academic centres across the country and the subsequent repression of the Polish dissident movement. It was also accompanied by mass emigration following an antisemitic campaign waged by the minister of internal affairs, General Mieczysław Moczar, with the approval of First Secretary Władysław Gomułka of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). The protests overlapped with the events of the Prague Spring in neighboring Czechoslovakia – raising new hopes of democratic reforms among the intelligentsia. The Czechoslovak unrest culminated in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on 20 August 1968.
Stanisław Broniewski alias Stefan Orsza, Witold, K. Krzemień was a Polish economist, Chief Scouts of the Gray Ranks and Second lieutenant of the Home Army during the World War II.
Bolesław Bogdan Piasecki, alias Leon Całka, Wojciech z Królewca, Sablewski was a Polish writer, politician and political theorist. During the war, he was active in the anti-German and anti-Soviet armed underground. Initially of national radical views, he became associated after the war with the ruling Polish communists and led a group of lay Catholics who collaborated with the communist regime.
The PAX Association was a pro-Communist Catholic organization created in 1947, in the People's Republic of Poland, at the onset of the Stalinist period. The association published the Słowo Powszechne daily for almost fifty years between 1947 and 1993 with an average of 312 issues annually.
Janusz Zbigniew Zabłocki was a Polish politician, journalist, Catholic activist, lawyer, soldier of Armia Krajowa.
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Patriotyczny Ruch Odrodzenia Narodowego was a Polish popular front that ruled the Polish People's Republic. It was created in the aftermath of the martial law in Poland (1982). Gathering various pro-communist and pro-government organizations, it was attempted to show unity and support for the government and the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). PRON was created in July 1982 and dissolved in November 1989.
The National Radical Camp was an ultranationalist and antisemitic political movement which existed in the pre-World War II Second Polish Republic, and an illegal Polish anti-communist, and nationalist political party formed on 14 April 1934 mostly by the youth radicals who left the National Party of the National Democracy movement.
Ryszard Reiff was a Polish politician, lawyer, publicist and resistance fighter. He was a deputy to the Polish parliament (Sejm) during the 1968 Polish political crisis and again during the Martial law in Poland.
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Stanisław Radkiewicz 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 Ministry of Public Security of Poland between 1944 and 1954, he was one of the chief organisers of Stalinist terror in Poland. He also served as a political commissar and was made a divisional general in Communist Poland.
Hanna Malewska (1911–1983) was a Polish historian and writer, author of historical stories and novels, translator, Home Army soldier, member of the Tygodnik Powszechny team, and editor-in-chief of the monthly Znak.
Stanisław Stomma was a Polish lawyer, habilitated doctor of law, specialist in criminal law, academic teacher, publicist, Catholic activist, and politician. From 1957 to 1976, he was a member of Sejm of the Polish People's Republic representing Znak. From 1981 to 1984, he served as the chairman of the Primate's Social Council. From 1989 to 1991, he was a senator in the first term and the senior marshal of the Senate in the first term. He was awarded the Order of the White Eagle.
References
- 1 2 3 Norman Davies (May 2005). God's Playground: 1795 to the present . Columbia University Press. p. 464. ISBN 978-0-231-12819-3 . Retrieved 3 June 2011.