Bolesław Bierut ([bɔˈlɛswaf ˈbjɛrut] ( listen); born Bolesław Biernacki; 1892–1956; also known under assumed names Jerzy Bolesław Bielak and Bolesław Birkowski) was a Polish Communist leader, NKVD agent, and a hard-line Stalinist who became President of Poland after the Soviet take over of the country in the aftermath of World War II.

Life

Partly damaged old monument to Bierut formerly in Lublin, now in Kozłówka museum, 2007 1951 East German stamp commemorative of the Treaty of Zgorzelecestablishing the Oder-Neisse line as a “border of peace”, featuring the presidents Wilhelm Pieck (GDR) and Bolesław Bierut shaking hands over the new border

Bierut was born in Rury Jezuickie, now a part of Lublin, as the son of Henryk Rutkowski, a village teacher, and his wife Barbara Biernacka (Wojciech and Maria, according to IPNsource). He later adopted the surname "Bierut" combining the first syllables of his parents' surnames. In 1918 he took courses at the Warsaw School of Economics, and in 1924–1930 went to Moscow, to be trained at the school of the Communist International.

In 1930–1931 Bierut was sent by theComintern to Austria, Czechoslovakiaand Bulgaria. In 1933 he became an agent of Soviet military intelligence, theGRU, and subsequently, was sentenced in Poland to 10 years in prison for his anti-state activities (incarcerated between 1933–1938). The pro-SovietCommunist Party of Poland was dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1938. Bierut was fortunate to avoid being caught in the Great Purge, which led to the execution of most of the leaders of the Communist Party of Poland in the USSR. After an amnesty from the Polish government in 1938 Bierut settled down in Warsaw and worked as a bookkeeper in a cooperative.

After the outbreak of World War II, Bierut fled to Eastern Poland (soon occupied by the Red Army) in order to avoid military service. Bierut would spend part of the war in the USSR and was sent to head the new Polish Workers' Party in 1943. He functioned as head of the Provisional National Council, a quasi-parliament (Krajowa Rada Narodowa), created by the pro-Soviet and Moscow-based Union of Polish Patriots, from 1944 to 1947.

Bierut played a leading role in the Soviet takeover of Poland and the installation there of a Stalinist regime. From 1947 to 1952, he served as President and then (after the abolition of the Presidency with the creation of the People's Republic of Poland) Prime Minister. He was also the first Secretary General of the ruling Polish United Workers Party from 1948 to 1956.

Bierut oversaw the trials of many Polish wartime military leaders, such as General Stanisław Tatar and Brig. General Emil August Fieldorf, as well as 40 members of the Wolność i Niezawisłość (Freedom and Independence) organisation, various Church officials and many other opponents of the new regime including the "hero of Auschwitz", Witold Pilecki, condemned to death during secret trials. Bierut signed many of those death sentences.

Death

Bierut's grave in Powązki Military Cemetery, 2004

Bolesław Bierut died under mysterious circumstances in Moscow in March 12, 1956 during a visit to the Soviet Union, shortly after attending the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during which Nikita Khrushchev delivered his "Secret Speech", denouncing Stalin's cult of personality and dictatorship.

Bierut's death, which gave rise to much speculation about poisoning or a suicide, symbolically marked the end of the era of Stalinism in Poland.

Speculations about identity

The late Polish historian Paweł Wieczorkiewicz argued in recent times that Bolesław Bierut might have had a Soviet-sent double (an NKVD agent) posing as Bierut since 1943 with his full knowledge. Wieczorkiewicz referred to an account of Piotr Jaroszewicz made soon before his death, and published by Bohdan Roliński. The Polish President's double was shot dead by an unidentified assassin – likely another agent wearing an NKVD uniform and killed at the scene – at the Hotel Francuski in Kraków, Poland in 1947. The real "Bierut" showed up half an hour later and calmed the security according to statement made by one of them. The assassination attempt was kept secret by the authorities. Wieczorkiewicz himself referred to this theory as an urban legend.