Aleksander Zawadzki

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Aleksander Zawadzki

Aleksander Zawadzki (Polish pronunciation: [alɛˈksandɛr zaˈvat͡skʲi]; December 16, 1899 – August 7, 1964) was a Polish Communist political figure and head of state of Poland from 1952 to 1964.

A member of the Communist Youth Union, Zawadzki went into exile in the Soviet Union in 1931, after spending six years in prison for "subversive activities." He returned to Poland in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, but was immediately arrested. Freed from prison by the Soviet invasion of the country, Zawadzki eventually joined the Soviet-organized Polish Army, rising to the rank of general.

Upon the conclusion of the Vistula-Oder Offensive, he was appointed the new government's representative to the former German territory of Silesia, which was transferred to Poland after the war. He was elected to the Sejm in 1947, and on November 20, 1952 he was appointed chairman of the Polish Council of State, to replace Bolesław Bierut. He died of cancer in 1964.

Honours and awards

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Polish Wikipedia.

• Knight's Cross of the Virtuti Militari
• Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
• Order of the Builders of People's Poland
• Order of the Banner of Labour, 1st Class
• Cross of Grunwald, 2nd Class
• Cross of Valour
• Partisan Cross (12 June 1946)
• Silesian Insurrectionary Cross

v t e Chairmen of the Polish Council of State Bolesław Bierut · Aleksander Zawadzki · Edward Ochab · Marian Spychalski · Józef Cyrankiewicz · Henryk Jabłoński · Wojciech Jaruzelski