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Piotr Jaroszewicz

Prime Minister of Poland from 1970 to 1980

Piotr Jaroszewicz

Prime Minister of Poland from 1970 to 1980

FieldValue
honorific_prefixGeneral
namePiotr Jaroszewicz
imagePiotr Jaroszewicz 1977.jpg
captionJaroszewicz in 1977
officePrime Minister of Poland
term_start23 December 1970
term_end18 February 1980
deputy
1blanknameChairman
1namedataJózef Cyrankiewicz
Henryk Jabłoński
2blanknameFirst Secretary
2namedataEdward Gierek
3blanknameCounterparts in exile
3namedataZygmunt Muchniewski
Alfred Urbański
Kazimierz Sabbat
predecessorJózef Cyrankiewicz
successorEdward Babiuch
birth_date8 October 1909
birth_placeNieśwież, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
death_date
death_placeWarsaw, Poland
partyPolish Workers' Party (until 1948)
Polish United Workers' Party
spouseAlicja Solska
professionTeacher, Military
signaturePiotr Jaroszewicz Signature.svg

Henryk Jabłoński Alfred Urbański Kazimierz Sabbat Polish United Workers' Party Piotr Jaroszewicz (; 8 October 1909 – 1 September 1992) was a Polish politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland between 1970 and 1980. After he was forced out of office, he lived quietly in a suburb of Warsaw until his murder in 1992.

Life and career

Jaroszewicz was born on 8 October 1909 in Nieśwież, in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus). After finishing secondary school in Jasło, he started working as a teacher and headmaster in Garwolin. After the outbreak of World War II and the Nazi-Soviet alliance established by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, he moved to the Soviet-occupied zone of Poland. It has been claimed that he was a headmaster at Pinsk gymnasium. However, on 10 July 1940, he was deported to Slobodka, Krasnoborski region, Arkhangelsk, from Stolin together with his first wife, Oksana Gregorevna (born in Salov/Calow 1914) and daughter Olila (born 1940). In 1943 he joined the 1st Polish Army of Gen. Zygmunt Berling. The following year he joined the Polish Workers Party and was promoted to deputy political commander of the 1st Army.

Piotr Jaroszewicz in the uniform of Major General of the Polish People's Army

After the war, he became the deputy minister of defence (1945–1950). Since 1956, he was the Polish ambassador to COMECON. At the same time, between 1952 and 1970, he served as a deputy Prime Minister of Poland and briefly (1954–1956) as the minister of mining industry. Jaroszewicz was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party since its creation in 1948, and since 1964, he was also a member of the Political Bureau. From December 1970 until February 1980, he was the Prime Minister of Poland. The economic policies of Jaroszewicz and Edward Gierek led to a wave of protests in 1976 and 1980. In 1980, he gave up all his party posts and was expelled from the party the following year.

Death

After his departure from office and the party, Jaroszewicz and his second wife, Alicja Solska, settled in the Warsaw suburb of Anin. The couple largely kept to themselves and did not socialise much. Jaroszewicz was obsessed with security; he had a 3.3-metre (11-foot) fence topped with barbed wire installed around their villa. When he walked their dog, neighbours said, he often carried a pistol with him.

Despite these measures, their son Jan Jaroszewicz found the couple murdered when he entered the house on 3 September 1992. Poison gas had been used to incapacitate the dog. Jaroszewicz's body, found in his upstairs study, had the belt that had been used to strangle him secured by an antique ice axe from his collection. The attackers had also beaten him, yet had bandaged the wounds.

Solska's body was next to her husband's. Her hands had been tied behind her back, and she had been shot in the head at close range with one of the couple's hunting rifles. Investigators believe that she had earlier managed to injure one of the killers during a struggle, since blood from her and an unknown individual was found in another room in the house.

The killers appeared to have searched every room. It was initially reported that they only took what were presumed to have been documents from one safe and left behind valuable old coins and art, suggesting the thieves were not motivated by financial gain. However, police records show the thieves actually stole two guns, 5,000 German marks, five gold coins and a lady's watch.

Friends and family said that Jaroszewicz had been even more paranoid than usual in the days before the murders, which were determined to have occurred on 1 September, two days before the bodies were discovered. The killings received significant media attention in Poland, due both to Jaroszewicz's past leadership and the brutality of the crime. While initial theories suspected that the murders were politically motivated, in 2017, Warsaw police alleged the burglary had been committed by the 'Karate Gang' of Radom, a group of violent criminals active through the 1990s, who had broken into Jaroszewicz's home expecting to find significant sums of money and tortured him in an effort to find it. According to the police, when Jaroszewicz broke free the gang murdered both him and his wife, then hurriedly left. Several Karate Gang members went on trial for this and other crimes in 2020, but were acquitted of the robbery and murder of Jaroszewicz and his wife in 2024. The prosecution announced plans to appeal.

Promotions

  • [[File:Naramiennik Chorazy LWP 43-52.svg|50px]] Chorąży (Standard-bearer) - 1 February 1944
  • [[File:Naramiennik Porucznik.svg|50px]] Porucznik (First lieutenant) - 1 May 1944
  • [[File:Naramiennik Kapitan land.png|50px]] Kapitan (Captain) - 27 July 1944
  • [[File:Naramiennik Major.svg|50px]] Major (Major) - 1 October 1944
  • [[File:Naramiennik Podpulkownik.svg|50px]] Podpułkownik (Lieutenant colonel) - 3 November 1944
  • [[File:Naramiennik Pulkownik.svg|50px]] Pułkownik (Colonel) - 18 April 1945
  • [[File:Naramiennik Generał brygady land.png|50px]] Generał brygady (Brigadier general) - 15 December 1945
  • [[File:Naramiennik Generał dywizji land.png|50px]] Generał dywizji (Major general) - 11 November 1950

Awards and decorations

  • Polish:
    • [[File:POL Order Budowniczych Polski Ludowej (rozetka) BAR.svg|70px]] Order of the Builders of People's Poland (18 July 1969)
    • [[File:POL Polonia Restituta Wielki BAR.svg|70px]] Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1979, deprived of in July 1981)
    • [[File:POL Order Krzyża Grunwaldu 1 Klasy BAR.svg|70px]] Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 1st Class (8 October 1979)
    • [[File:POL Order Sztandaru Pracy 1 klasy BAR.svg|70px]] Order of the Banner of Labour, 1st Class (1964)
    • [[File:POL Order Krzyża Grunwaldu 2 Klasy BAR.svg|70px]] Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd Class (12 July 1945)
    • [[File:POL Polonia Restituta Komandorski BAR.svg|70px]] Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (19 July 1946)
    • [[File:POL Order Krzyża Grunwaldu 3 Klasy BAR.svg|70px]] Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd Class (5 June 1945)
    • [[File:POL Virtuti Militari Srebrny BAR.svg|70px]] Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari (1945)
    • [[File:POL Medal 30-lecia Polski Ludowej BAR.svg|70px]] Medal of the 30th Anniversary of People's Poland (1974)
    • [[File:POL Za Warszawę 1939-1945 BAR.svg|70px]] Medal for Warsaw 1939–1945 (17 January 1946)
    • [[File:POL Medal za Odrę Nysę i Bałtyk BAR.svg|70px]] Medal for Oder, Neisse and Baltic
    • [[File:POL Medal Zwycięstwa i Wolności BAR.svg|70px]] Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945
    • [[File:POL Medal 10-lecia Polski Ludowej BAR.svg|70px]] Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland (30 December 1954)
    • [[File:POL Za udział w walkach o Berlin BAR.svg|70px]] Medal for Participation in the Battle of Berlin (1966)
    • [[File:POL Złoty Medal za Zasługi dla Obronności Kraju BAR.svg|70px]] Golden Medal of Merit for National Defence
    • [[File:POL Srebrny Medal za Zasługi dla Obronności Kraju BAR.svg|70px]] Silver Medal of Merit for National Defence
    • [[File:POL Brązowy Medal za Zasługi dla Obronności Kraju BAR.svg|70px]] Bronze Medal of Merit for National Defence
    • [[File:POL Odznaka 1000-lecia Państwa Polskiego BAR.png|70px]] Badge of the 1000th Anniversary of the Polish State
    • [[File:POL Złoty Znak ZOSP BAR.png|70px]] Golden Badge of the Association of Volunteer Fire Departments (1966)
  • Soviet:
    • [[File:SU Order of the October Revolution ribbon.svg|70px]] Order of the October Revolution (1974)
    • [[File:SU Order of Friendship of Peoples ribbon.svg|70px]] Order of Friendship of Peoples (1979)
    • [[File:SU Medal For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 ribbon.svg|70px]] Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
    • [[File:SU Medal Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 ribbon.svg|70px]] Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1972)
    • [[File:SU Medal Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 ribbon.svg|70px]] Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1975)
    • [[File:SU Medal In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ribbon.svg|70px]] Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1969)
  • From other countries:
    • [[File:TCH CS Vojensky Rad Bileho Lva 1st (1945) BAR.svg|70px]] Military Order of the White Lion, 1st Class (Czechoslovakia, 1949)
    • [[File:FIN Order of the White Rose Grand Cross BAR.svg|70px]] Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (Finland, 1974)
    • [[File:Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg|70px]] Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France, 1975)
    • [[File:Order of Crown Ribbon Bar - Imperial Iran.svg|70px]] Knight Grand Cordon of Order of the Crown (Iran, 1974)
    • [[File:PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Collar BAR.svg|70px]] Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (Portugal, 1976)
    • [[File:BEL - Order of Leopold - Grand Cordon bar.svg|70px]] Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (Belgium, 1977)
    • [[File:ARG Order of May - Grand Cross BAR.png|70px]] Grand Cross of the Order of May (Argentina, 1974)
    • [[File:Ribbon jose marti.png|70px]] Order of José Martí (Cuba, 1979)
    • [[File:OrderOfGeorgiDimitrovRibbon.jpg|70px]] Order of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
    • [[File:BUL Order Stara planina ribbon.svg|70px]] Order of the Balkan Mountains, 1st Class (Bulgaria, 1979)
    • [[File:OrderOfBraveryRibbon.jpg|70px]] Medal of 90th Anniversary of the Birth of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 1972)

References

References

  1. (2006). "Eastern, Northern & Central Europe. Annex: International Organisations". Walter de Gruyter.
  2. Engelberg, Stephen. (14 November 1992). "Warsaw Journal; Strange, Brutal Murders, and Everyone's Baffled". [[The New York Times]].
  3. (7 September 1992). "Murder of a Polish ex-premier". [[Kommersant]].
  4. (22 August 2021). "The Karate gang - They killed the former prime minister of the Polish People's Republic and his wife". [[Onet.pl]].
  5. (22 November 2024). "Three men acquitted over murder of Polish ex-PM and his wife". [[tvpworld.com]].
  6. (19 July 1969). "Z okazji srebrnego jubileuszu Polski Ludowej. Dekoracja zasłużonych działaczy najwyższymi odznaczeniami".
  7. {{in lang. pl''Będą pozbawieni odznaczeń'', [w:] „[[Trybuna Śląska. Trybuna Robotnicza]]”, nr 139, 14 lipca 1981, s. 1.
  8. Aleksander Mazur. (2005). "Order Krzyża Grunwaldu: monografia historyczna".
  9. (20 July 1964). "Wręczenie odznaczeń w Belwederze".
  10. Aleksander Mazur. (2005). "Order Krzyża Grunwaldu: monografia historyczna".
  11. {{Monitor Polski. 1947. 74. 490
  12. Aleksander Mazur. (2005). "Order Krzyża Grunwaldu: monografia historyczna".
  13. {{in lang. pl''Medale 30-lecia dla czołowych działaczy partyjnych i państwowych'', [w:] „Trybuna Śląska. Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 170, 19 lipca 1974, s. 1.
  14. {{Monitor Polski. 1946. 26. 43
  15. {{Monitor Polski. 1955. 22. 220
  16. "Strażak: pismo Związku Ochotniczych Straży Pożarnych", nr 19 (330), 1-15 October 1966, page 5
  17. {{in lang. pl ''Medale radzieckie dla polskich przywódców'', [w:] „Dziennik Bałtycki”, nr 106, 9–11 May 1975, page 1.
  18. {{in lang. pl Euzebiusz Basiński, ''Polska-ZSRR. Kronika faktów i wydarzeń 1944–1971'', Wyd. Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 1973, s. 392.
  19. {{in lang. pl ''Odznaczenia generałów i oficerów WP orderami Republiki Czechosłowackiej'', [w:] „Dziennik Zachodni”, nr 57, 27 lutego 1949, s. 2.
  20. {{in lang. pl ''Rozpoczęcie polsko-fińskich rozmów plenarnych'', [w:] „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 277, 27 listopada 1974, s. 1–2.
  21. {{in lang. pl Zbigniew Dunin-Wilczyński, ''Legia Honorowa. Zarys historii orderu''. Ostrołęka 1997, s. 63.
  22. ''Drugi dzień wizyty premiera PRL w Iranie'', [w:] „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 265, 13 listopada 1974, s. 2.
  23. (1976). "Ordem do Infante D. Henrique". Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas.
  24. {{in lang. pl „Biuletyn Informacyjny”, T. 18. Wyd. 40–52, s. IR-11.
  25. {{in lang. pl ''Polsko-argentyńskie rozmowy'', [w:] „Trybuna Robotnicza]]”, nr 109, 9 maja 1974, s. 2.
  26. {{in lang. pl ''Premier PRL przebywał w prowinicji Matanzas'', [w:] „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 69, 28 marca 1979, s. 1–2.
  27. ''Umocnienie braterskiej przyjaźni polsko-bułgarskiej'', [w:] „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 268, 10 listopada 1972, s. 1–2.
  28. ''Spotkanie przywódców Polski i Bułgarii – rozpoczęcie rozmów plenarnych'', „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 24, 1 lutego 1979, s. 1.
  29. ''Medale Georgi Dymitrowa dla członków kierownictwa PZPR'', [w:] „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 266, 8 listopada 1972, s. 1.
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