Zenon Kliszko
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Zenon_Kliszko.jpg/170px-Zenon_Kliszko.jpg)
Zenon Kliszko (Łódź, December 8, 1908 – September 4, 1989, Warsaw), was a politician in the Polish People's Republic, considered the right-hand man of Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) leader Władysław Gomułka.
Kliszko graduated from Warsaw University and joined the Polish Communist Party in 1931. He was arrested in 1934 for anti-state agitation and released after the courts established that he was mentally challenged.[1] Kliszko took part in the Warsaw Uprising during Nazi German occupation of Poland and escaped capture by swimming across the river. He met Gomułka in Lublin, befriended him, and became the KC PZPR functionary after the Soviet takeover in 1945.
Crimes[]
Kliszko was responsible for issuing an order to regular army units under General to open fire on striking workers in Gdańsk and Gdynia during the Polish 1970 protests.[2] 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 1968 Polish political crisis and the student protests across the country, brutally suppressed by ORMO, as well as the expulsion from Poland of thousands of individuals of Jewish ancestry. He was fired from his job and removed from the Party by Edward Gierek.[2]
References[]
- ^ "Towarzysz Zenon Kliszko". Polityka.pl. August 28, 1998. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
Text only version.
- ^ Jump up to: a b 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.
- 1908 births
- 1989 deaths
- Politicians from Łódź
- People from Piotrków Governorate
- Communist Party of Poland politicians
- Polish Workers' Party politicians
- Members of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party
- Members of the State National Council
- Members of the Polish Sejm 1947–1952
- Members of the Polish Sejm 1957–1961
- Members of the Polish Sejm 1961–1965
- Members of the Polish Sejm 1965–1969
- Members of the Polish Sejm 1969–1972
- Gwardia Ludowa members
- Armia Ludowa members
- Recipients of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari
- Recipients of the Order of the Builders of People's Poland
- Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd class
- Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work
- Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery