Boleslaw Bierut
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Template:Infobox Polish politicians
Bolesław Bierut (true name Bolesław Biernacki, April 18, 1892–March 12, 1956) was a Polish Communist leader, a Stalinist who led Poland in the aftermath of World War II.
Bierut was born near Lublin. In 1925 he went to Moscow to be trained at the school of the Communist International. When the Polish Communist Party was dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1938, he was lucky to have survived the ensuing purge of the Polish communists. Recalled to head the new Polish Workers' Party in 1943, he functioned as head of the Polish provisional government from 1944 to 1947. Bierut was instrumental in the Soviet takeover of Poland by the Communists. Under the Bierut Decree of March 8, 1946, German lands and properties were confiscated. From 1947 to 1952, he was President of the Republic of Poland.
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Although Bierut imposed Stalinist Communism on Poland, he refused to stage show trials of politicians in 1948, sparing his eventual successor Władysław Gomułka. He did, however, sanction the show trials of World War II military leaders such as General Stanisław Tatar, 40 members of the WiN (Freedom and Independence) organisation and church leaders. Many more opponents of the regime were sentenced to death in secret trials.
| Preceded by: Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz (President of the Polish Republic in Exile) | Chairman of the People's Council 1944 (or 1945)–1947 | Succeeded by: became President |
| Preceded by: People's Council | President of Poland 1947–1952 | Succeeded by: Aleksander Zawadzki (Chairman of the Council of State) |
| Preceded by: Wladyslaw Gomulka | General Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party 1948–1956 | Succeeded by: Edward Ochab |
| Preceded by: Józef Cyrankiewicz | Prime Minister of Poland 1952–1954 | Succeeded by: Józef Cyrankiewicz Template:End boxde:Bolesław Bierut nl:Boleslaw Bierut pl:Bolesław Bierut |