Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and de facto leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989, and a military dictator from 13 December 1981 until 22 July 1983. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party between 1981 and 1989, making him the last leader of the Polish People's Republic. Jaruzelski served as Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985, the Chairman of the Council of State from 1985 to 1989 and briefly as President of Poland from 1989 to 1990, when the office of President was restored after 37 years. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's Army, which in 1990 became the Polish Armed Forces.

Born to Polish nobility in Kurów in eastern (then-central) Poland, Jaruzelski was deported with his family to Siberia by the NKVD after the invasion of Poland. Assigned to forced labour in the Siberian wilderness, he developed photokeratitis, which forced him to wear protective sunglasses for the rest of his life. In 1943, Jaruzelski joined the newly created First Polish Army and fought alongside the Soviets against Nazi Germany in the Eastern Front, most notably in the liberation of Warsaw and in the Battle of Berlin. Following the Polish October and the expatriation of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky back to the Soviet Union, Jaruzelski became the chief political officer of the Polish People's Army and eventually Polish Minister of Defence in 1968.

Jaruzelski became the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party and leader of Poland after the brief one-year term of Stanisław Kania. Kania's predecessor, Edward Gierek, left Poland indebted by accepting loans from foreign creditors and the country's economy, rocked by strikes, was unstable by the time Jaruzelski became head of state. As Poland headed towards insolvency, rationing was enforced due to shortages of basic goods, which only contributed to the tense social and political situation. The declining living and working conditions triggered anger among the masses and strengthened anti-Communist sentiment; the Solidarity union was also gaining support, which worried the Polish Central Committee and the Soviet Union, which viewed Solidarity as a threat to the Warsaw Pact. After his request for a joint Soviet-Polish operation was denied by the Soviets, who were already deeply embroiled in the Soviet-Afghan war, Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981 to crush the anti-communist opposition. The military junta, curfew and travel restrictions lasted until 22 July 1983.

With the Brezhnev doctrine now effectively rendered forceless due to deepening Soviet entanglement in Afghanistan and their own economic crisis, the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)'s two unsuccessful reform attempts in 1982 and 1987, resulting in the complete collapse of the party's legitimacy and support, as highlighted by the 1988 Polish strikes and a resurgent Solidarity, Jaruzelski began negotiations with the still-banned movement's leaders in late 1988. Acquiescing to their demands, the Polish Round Table Talks were held in early 1989, transforming the system to a multi-party one, with the first semi-free election in the Communist bloc scheduled for 4 June 1989. Solidarity scored an unexpectedly overwhelming victory in the election, starting the chain reaction that resulted in the Fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe. Prices were fully freed on 1 August 1989, with Poland becoming only the second Communist country to do so after China in 1985. Facing hyperinflation and increasing strike pressure, Jaruzelski's Prime Minister-designate Czesław Kiszczak failed to clear the vote as PZPR's satellite parties shifted their support to Solidarity's candidate Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who formed the first non-communist government in the Eastern Bloc. Left with only a ceremonial post from July 1989 as President of the Polish People's Republic, he exercised no real power; the PZPR dissolved itself in January 1990 and Jaruzelski retired, with the Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa succeeding him in the 1990 Polish presidential election as the first President elected in a popular vote.

Having served as the country's leader during its turbulent final years of Communist rule, Jaruzelski remains a controversial figure in Poland to this day. He was praised for allowing the country's peaceful transition into democracy, but was also fiercely criticised by contemporaries for his imposition of martial law, including his government's violent suppression of protests and imprisonment of thousands of opposition activists without definite charges, among other human rights violations.

Early life

Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski was born on 6 July 1923, at 9 PM in Kurów, The name which he had received was a tribute to his grandfather, who fought in the January Uprising. He was the 7th out of the total of 8 children, which Wanda (née Zaremba) and Władysław Mieczysław Jaruzelski, a Czech-educated agronomist and volunteered soldier who fought in the war against Soviet Russia in 1920 had and was raised on the family estate near Wysokie (in the vicinity of Białystok). From 1933 until September 1939, he was educated in a Catholic school in Warsaw where he received strict religious education.

In June 1941, they were stripped of their valuable possessions and deported. At the railway station, Jaruzelski was separated from his father, who was sent directly to a gulag. Jaruzelski and his mother were sent on a month-long journey to Biysk, Altai Krai. After that, Jaruzelski walked for to Turochak where he was responsible for forest cleaning. During his labour work, he was stricken with snow blindness, suffering permanent damage to his eyes as well as to his back. Anti-communist historian Sławomir Cenckiewicz identifies that around 70% of Jaruzelski's military engagements in this period were against the UPA, whereas 30% were against the National Armed Forces. After the end of the war, Jaruzelski graduated from the Polish Higher Infantry School and then from the General Staff Academy. at the age of 67.

Early political career

He joined Poland's Communist party, the Polish United Workers' Party, in 1948 A BBC News profile of Jaruzelski states that his career "took off after the departure [from Poland] in 1956 of Polish-born Soviet Marshal, Konstantin Rokossovsky",

In August 1968, Jaruzelski, as the defence minister, ordered the 2nd Army under General Florian Siwicki to invade Czechoslovakia, resulting in military occupation of northern Czechoslovakia until 11 November 1968 when under his orders and agreements with the Soviet Union his Polish troops were withdrawn and replaced by the Soviet Army. In 1970, he was involved in the successful plot against Władysław Gomułka, which led to the appointment of Edward Gierek as General Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party. There is some question whether he took part in organising the violent suppression of striking workers or whether his orders to the Communist military led to massacres in the coastal cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia, Elbląg and Szczecin. As Minister of Defense, General Jaruzelski was ultimately responsible for 27,000 troops used against unarmed civilians. He claims that he was circumvented, which is why he never apologised for his involvement. As early as September, while he was still merely prime minister, he met with his aides to find an excuse to impose martial law.

In spite of severe economic sanctions introduced by the Reagan Administration, martial law was largely successful in suppressing and demoralising the opposition, marginalising the Solidarity movement until the late 1980s. As demonstrators gradually declined towards the end of 1982, martial law was suspended on 31 December of that year, and was formally lifted (along with the final restrictions) on 22 July 1983.

Political stabilisation

In 1982, Jaruzelski helped reorganise the communist political alliance, Front of National Unity, as the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth. At the invitation of Jaruzelski, a delegation of the ruling Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party visited Poland between 27 and 29 December of that year, with the Hungarian delegation sharing their experiences on crushing the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

In 1985, Jaruzelski resigned as prime minister and defence minister and became the Chairman of the Polish Council of State, a post equivalent to that of the head of state of Poland. However, his power centred on and was firmly entrenched in his coterie of generals and lower ranks officers of the Polish Communist Army.

From 6 February to 4 April 1989, negotiations were held between 13 working groups during 94 sessions of the roundtable talks. These negotiations "radically altered the shape" of the Polish government and society, and resulted in an agreement which stated that a great degree of political power would be given to a newly created bicameral legislature. It also restored the post of president to act as head of state and chief executive. Solidarity was also declared a legal organisation. During the ensuing partially-free elections, the Communists and their allies were allocated 65% of the seats in the Sejm. Solidarity won all the remaining elected seats, and 99 out of the 100 seats in the fully elected Senate were also won by Solidarity-backed candidates. Amid such a crushing defeat, there were fears Jaruzelski would annul the results. However, he allowed them to stand. Jaruzelski was elected by parliament to the position of president. He was the only candidate.

President of Poland (1989–1990)

Jaruzelski was unsuccessful in convincing Lech Wałęsa to include Solidarity in a "grand coalition" Mieczysław Rakowski succeeded him as party leader.

Accepting that he would have to appoint a Solidarity member as prime minister, Jaruzelski then asked Wałęsa to select three candidates, one of whom he would ask to form a government. Ultimately, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who had helped organise the roundtable talks, was selected as the first non-Communist prime minister of an Eastern Bloc country in four decades. Jaruzelski resigned as president in 1990.

After retirement

thumb|Meeting of the on 24 November 2010. Jaruzelski in the middle along with [[Leszek Miller (left) and Aleksander Kwaśniewski (right)]]

In October 1994, while attending a book-selling activity in Wrocław, Jaruzelski was attacked by a male pensioner with a stone; his jaw was injured, requiring surgery. The attacker, who had been imprisoned during the martial law period, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined 2,000,000 złoty.

In an interview in 2001, Jaruzelski said that he believed communism failed and that he was now a social democrat. He also announced his support for President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Leszek Miller, later Prime Minister. Both Kwaśniewski and Miller were members of the Democratic Left Alliance, the social democratic party that included most of the remains of the PZPR. Czech President Václav Klaus criticised this step, saying that Jaruzelski was a symbol of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Jaruzelski said that he had apologised and that the decision on the August 1968 invasion had been a great "political and moral mistake".

On 28 March 2006, Jaruzelski was awarded a Siberian Exiles Cross by Polish President Lech Kaczyński. However, after making this fact public, Kaczyński said that this was a mistake and blamed his staff for giving him a document containing 1,293 names without notifying him of Jaruzelski's inclusion. After this statement, Jaruzelski returned the cross.

On 31 March 2006, the Institute of National Remembrance charged Jaruzelski with committing communist crimes, mainly the creation of a criminal military organisation with the aim of carrying out criminal acts — mostly concerned with the illegal imprisonment of people. A second charge involved inciting state ministers to commit acts beyond their competence. and, in March 2011, he was diagnosed with lymphoma.

Death

Jaruzelski died on 25 May 2014 in a Warsaw hospital after suffering a stroke earlier that month. He had reportedly requested confession and last rites by a Roman Catholic priest. President Bronisław Komorowski, former Presidents Lech Wałęsa and Aleksander Kwaśniewski, and hundreds of other Poles attended his funeral mass at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army in Warsaw on 30 May. Wałęsa and Komorowski, who were among the thousands imprisoned during the crackdown on Solidarity in 1981, both said that judgment against Jaruzelski "would be left to God". Jaruzelski was cremated and buried with full military honours at Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw, near the grave of Bolesław Bierut, the first Communist leader of Poland after World War II. The decision to bury Jaruzelski at the Powązki Military Cemetery caused protests. in 1961. They had a daughter, Monika who was born on 11 August 1963.

Legacy

Domestic perception

In the years shortly succeeding the 1989 democratic transformation, Jaruzelski maintained an overall positive image. According to Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS) polls, Jaruzelski began his brief presidency with a 74% approval rating, by the end of his presidency, his approval shrunk to 32%. In 1994, an poll showed 52% of Poles respected Jaruzelski over Wałęsa as a politician, whereas only 24% preferred Wałęsa. In 2008, a CBOS poll showed 46% approved of Jaruzelski's historical political activity, whereas 29% rated him negatively. Compared to his predecessors, he ranked above Władysław Gomułka (34% approved/37% disapproved) and Bolesław Bierut (19/42%), but below Edward Gierek (55/24%). However, further after the fall of communism, Jaruzelski's popularity degraded: another CBOS poll from 2018 showed only 28% ranked his actions positively, and 42% negatively. CBOS polls from 1994 to 2016 also generally showed Poles agreed with the decision to impose martial law, with a plurality — 41 to 54% — deeming it the "right decision", although a 2021 poll indicated a plurality of 37% perceived it as "wrong" (with 31% perceiving it as "right"). In a 1994 OBOP poll, 71% of respondents disagreed with penalising Jaruzelski for the introduction of martial law, with only 15% agreeing. Croatian writer Slavenka Drakulić described Jaruzelski as a "tragic believer in Communism who made a pact with the devil in good faith".

Justification for imposing martial law

According to Jaruzelski, an internal crackdown on Solidarity through martial law was necessary to avoid a Soviet invasion. In a May 1992 interview with Der Spiegel, Jaruzelski said: "Given the strategic logic of the time, I probably would have acted the same way if I had been a Soviet general. At that time, Soviet political and strategic interests were threatened." Jaruzelski also claimed in 1997 that Washington had given him a "green light", stating that he had sent Eugeniusz Molczyk to confer with Vice-President George H. W. Bush, who had agreed with Molczyk that martial law was the lesser of two evils. Whether this meeting with the American vice-president occurred is disputed. While it is erroneously cited, Harvard historian Mark Kramer has pointed out that no documents support Jaruzelski's claim.

Historical evidence released under Boris Yeltsin's presidency paints a more complicated picture: while Eastern Bloc countries were fully in favour of a crackdown on Solidarity, minutes from Politburo, Warsaw Pact and special commission meetings from the year leading up martial law details strong internal divisions on the question of intervening: Senior Soviet party figures and ministers in a special commission formed to respond to developments in Poland, such as Mikhail Suslov, Yuri Andropov, Andrei Gromyko, and Dmitriy Ustinov were reluctant to intervene, citing the 1970 Polish protests and the ongoing Soviet-Afghan war, while the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, along with East German and Czechoslovak leaders Erich Honecker and Gustáv Husák, expressed a strong willingness to intervene if necessary. To this end, plans were made for a joint Soviet, East German and Czechoslovak attack under the pretext of a Warsaw Pact military exercise called "Soyuz-80", (dubbed Operation Krkonoše in Czechoslovakia) in December 1980; Before it could be carried out, Brezhnev was convinced by Stanisław Kania to postpone the planned invasion in order to give Polish leadership a chance.

By the time of Jaruzelski's rise to power, the Soviet leadership's anti-intervention faction had prevailed thanks to the influence of Yuri Andropov, who at this point was already a highly influential figure in the Politburo: minutes from their 29 October 1981 meeting detail a discussion of Jaruzelski's demands for military support if he failed to control the situation, which were unanimously rejected. any notion of a Warsaw Pact intervention was firmly and consequently shut down by Andropov in a Politburo meeting three days before Jaruzelski's proclamation: "We do not intend to introduce troops into Poland. That is the proper position, and we must adhere to it until the end. I don't know how things will turn out in Poland, but even if Poland falls under the control of Solidarity, that's the way it will be."

"Wyjaśniam" (2001)

"Przed sądem" (2002)

"Przeciwko bezprawiu" (2004)

"Pod prąd. Refleksje rocznicowe" (2005)

"Historia nie powinna dzielić" (2006)

"Być może to ostatnie słowo (wyjaśnienia złożone przed Sądem)" (English translation: "It may be the last word (explanations given in the Court)"; 2008).

"Starsi o 30 lat" (2011)

Promotions

  • 50px Chorąży (Standard-bearer) – 16 December 1943
  • 50px Podporucznik (Second lieutenant) – 11 November 1944
  • 50px Porucznik (First lieutenant) – 25 April 1945
  • 50px Kapitan (Captain) – 22 July 1946
  • 50px Major (Major) – 10 July 1948
  • 50px Podpułkownik (Lieutenant colonel) – 25 January 1949
  • 50px Pułkownik (Colonel) – 31 December 1953
  • 50px Generał brygady (Brigadier general) – 14 July 1956
  • 50px Generał dywizji (Major general) – 13 July 1960
  • 50px Generał broni (Lieutenant general) – 9 July 1968
  • 50px Generał armii (General) – 23 September 1973

Honours and awards

Poland

{|

|-

|60px

|Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari

|-

|60px

|Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta

|-

|60px

|Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta – 5 November 1948

|-

|60px

|Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia) – 1977

|-

|60px

|Jubilee Medal "50 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (Russia) – 1995

|-

|60px

|Jubilee Medal "60 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (Russia) – 2005

|-

|60px

|Gold Star Order (Vietnam) – 1983

|}

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Berger, Manfred E., Jaruzelski: Traitor or Patriot? Hutchinson, 1990,
  • Berger, Manfred E. and Zbigniew Bauer, Jaruzelski. Kraków: Oficyna Cracovia, 1991,
  • Labedz, Leopold, Poland Under Jaruzelski: A Comprehensive Sourcebook on Poland During and After Martial Law. New York: Scribner, 1984,
  • Pelinka, Anton Politics of the Lesser Evil: Leadership, Democracy, & Jaruzelski's Poland. Transaction Publishers, 1999.
  • Swidlicki, Andrzej. Political Trials in Poland, 1981–1986. London: Croom Helm, 1988.
  • Weschler, Lawrence. The Passion of Poland, from Solidarity Through the State of War. Pantheon Books, 1982.
  • , "Jaruzelski, the Shaker of Polish History" Beijing, Shijie Zhishi, 2016,
  • Jaruzelski: Selected Speeches
  • Marek Jan Chodakiewicz (12 December 2006), The Jaruzelski Case: The Ascent of Agent "Wolski" , World Politics Review