Zawadzki, Aleksander

Born Dec. 16, 1899, in Bedzin; died Aug. 7, 1964, in Warsaw. Active in the Polish workers’ movement; statesman of the Polish People’s Republic.

Beginning in 1915, Zawadzki worked as a farm laborer and later in mines and metallurgical enterprises. He joined the Communist Youth League of Poland (CYLP) in 1922 and the Polish Communist Party in 1923. He was a member of the Central Committee of the CYLP from 1923 to 1925, becoming a member of the secretariat of the Central Committee of the CYLP of Western Byelorussia. He was arrested for revolutionary activity in 1925, 1934, and 1936, and spent a total of 11 years in prison.

Coming to the USSR at the end of 1939, Zawadzki was in 1943 one of the organizers of the League of Polish Patriots and of the Polish Army, which was being formed in the USSR. In 1944 he was chairman of the Central Bureau of Polish Communists in the USSR, and in 1944-45 he was deputy commander in chief for political affairs of the Polish Army and chief of staff of the Polish partisans.

From August 1944 to December 1948, Zawadzki was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Polish Workers’ Party. From 1945 to 1948 he was the government’s representative in Silesia and later wojewoda (governor) with full powers of the Slasko-Dabrowsko Województwo. In December 1948 he became a member of the Central Committee and of the Politburo of the Central Committees of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PUWP), from December 1948 to December 1949 he was also secretary of the Central Committee of the PUWP. Zawadzki was chairman of the Central Council of Trade Unions (1949-50), deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers (1949-52), chairman of the State Council of the PPR (from November 1952), and chairman of the All-Polish Committee of the Front of National Unity (from 1956).