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Zenon Kliszko

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Polish politician (1908–1989)
Zenon Kliszko
Member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party
In office
1959–1970
Deputy Marshal of the Sejm
In office
20 February 1957 – 13 February 1971
Personal details
Born(1908-12-08)8 December 1908
Łódź, Congress Poland
Died4 September 1989(1989-09-04) (aged 80)
Warsaw, Poland
Political partyPolish United Workers' Party
Alma materWarsaw University

Zenon Kliszko (8 December 1908 – 4 September 1989), was a politician in the Polish People's Republic, considered the right-hand man of Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) leader Władysław Gomułka. He was born in Łódź and died in Warsaw.

Biography

Kliszko graduated from Warsaw University and joined the Communist Party of Poland in 1931. He was arrested in 1934 for anti-state agitation and released after the courts established that he was mentally challenged. Kliszko took part in the Warsaw Uprising during Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland and escaped capture by swimming across the Vistula river. He met Gomułka in Lublin, befriended him, and became the KC PZPR functionary after the Soviet takeover in 1945.

On Kliszko´s advice and recommendation, the communist party took down the production of Dziady by Mickiewicz at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw, leading to the 1968 Polish political crisis and student protests across the country, brutally suppressed by ORMO, as well as the expulsion from Poland of thousands of individuals of Jewish ancestry.

Kliszko was responsible for issuing an order to regular army units under General Bolesław Chocha to open fire on striking workers in Gdańsk and Gdynia during the Polish 1970 protests. The protests would lead to Gomułka's resignation in December 1970; shortly thereafter, Kliszko was fired from his position and removed from the PZPR by Edward Gierek.

Awards and decorations

References

  1. "Towarzysz Zenon Kliszko". Polityka.pl. August 28, 1998. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2012. Text only version. {{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  2. ^ Adam Leszczyński (17 January 2014). "Towarzysz Zenon, prawa ręka towarzysza Wiesława" [Tovarishch Zenon, the right hand of comrade Wiesław]. Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  3. (in Polish) Wręczenie odznaczeń w Belwederze. „Nowiny”, s. 1, nr 170 z 20 lipca 1964.
  4. (in Polish) Najwyższe odznaczenia dla zasłużonych obywateli Polski Ludowej, „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 173, 22 lipca 1959, s. 7.
  5. (in Polish) M.P. z 1946 r. nr 26, poz. 43 („w pierwszą rocznicę wyzwolenia Warszawy zasłużonym w walce o wyzwolenie i odbudowę Stolicy (...)”).
  6. (in Polish) „Życie Partii”, styczeń–marzec 1987, s. 20.
  7. (in Polish) „Odznaka Tysiąclecia” dla czołowych działaczy partyjnych i państwowych, „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 37, 13 lutego 1963, s. 1.
  8. (in Polish) Order Odrodzenia dla G. Saragata. Odznaczenia włoskie dla przywódców polskich. „Dziennik Polski”. 246, s. 1, 16 października 1965.
  9. (in Polish) „Trybuna Robotnicza”, nr 79, 4 kwietnia 1967, s. 1.
  10. (in Polish) Euzebiusz Basiński, Polska-ZSRR. Kronika faktów i wydarzeń 1944–1971, Wyd. Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 1973, s. 392.
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