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 assassination in 1992.

Early life and education

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

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, Krasnoborsky District, 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 General Zygmunt Berling. The following year, he joined the Polish Workers Party and was promoted to deputy political commander of the 1st Army.

Political career

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 the 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.

Murder and aftermath

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.

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.

Friends and family said that Jaroszewicz had been even more paranoid than usual in the days before the murders,

Promotions

  • 50px Chorąży (Standard-bearer) – 1 February 1944
  • 50px Porucznik (First lieutenant) – 1 May 1944
  • 50px Kapitan (Captain) – 27 July 1944
  • 50px Major (Major) – 1 October 1944
  • 50px Podpułkownik (Lieutenant colonel) – 3 November 1944
  • 50px Pułkownik (Colonel) – 18 April 1945
  • 50px Generał brygady (Brigadier general) – 15 December 1945
  • 50px Generał dywizji (Major general) – 11 November 1950

Awards and decorations

  • Polish:
  • 70px Order of the Builders of People's Poland (18 July 1969)
  • 70px Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1979, deprived of in July 1981)
  • 70px Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 1st Class (8 October 1979)
  • 70px Order of the Banner of Labour, 1st Class (1964)
  • 70px Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd Class (12 July 1945)
  • 70px Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (19 July 1946)
  • 70px Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd Class (5 June 1945)
  • 70px Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari (1945)
  • 70px Medal of the 30th Anniversary of People's Poland (1974)
  • 70px Medal for Warsaw 1939–1945 (17 January 1946)
  • 70px Medal for Oder, Neisse and Baltic
  • 70px Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945
  • 70px Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland (30 December 1954)
  • 70px Medal for Participation in the Battle of Berlin (1966)
  • 70px Golden Medal of Merit for National Defence
  • 70px Silver Medal of Merit for National Defence
  • 70px Bronze Medal of Merit for National Defence
  • 70px Badge of the 1000th Anniversary of the Polish State
  • 70px Golden Badge of the Association of Volunteer Fire Departments (1966)
  • Soviet:
  • 70px Order of the October Revolution (1974)
  • 70px Order of Friendship of Peoples (1979)
  • 70px Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
  • 70px Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1972)
  • 70px Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1975)
  • 70px Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1969)
  • From other countries:
  • 70px Military Order of the White Lion, 1st Class (Czechoslovakia, 1949)
  • 70px Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (Finland, 1974)
  • 70px Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France, 1975)
  • 70px Knight Grand Cordon of Order of the Crown (Iran, 1974)
  • 70px Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (Portugal, 1976)
  • 70px Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (Belgium, 1977)
  • 70px Grand Cross of the Order of May (Argentina, 1974)
  • 70px Order of José Martí (Cuba, 1979)
  • 70px Order of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
  • 70px Order of the Balkan Mountains, 1st Class (Bulgaria, 1979)
  • 70px Medal of 90th Anniversary of the Birth of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 1972)

See also

  • List of prime ministers of Poland
  • List of unsolved murders (1980–1999)

References