Franciszek Szlachcic

Franciszek Szlachcic

Franciszek Szlachcic (born February 5, 1920 in Byczyna, Jaworzno ; † November 4, 1990 in Warsaw ) was a Polish politician of the Polish United Workers' Party PZPR ( Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza ) , who was Deputy Prime Minister between 1974 and 1976.

Life

Before and at the beginning of the Second World War, Szlachcic was employed as a loading worker in the mine in his native Jaworzno . Afterwards he was active in the communist underground movements People's Guard ( Gwardia Ludowa ) and People's Army ( Armia Ludowa ) and at times their commander in the Chrzanowski Powiat . In 1943 he joined the Polish Workers' Party PPR ( Polska Partia Robotnicza ) . After the end of the Second World War he was an employee of the MO citizen militia ( Milicja Obywatelska ) , the police authority at the time, and the Ministry of Public Security MBP ( Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego ) . After the forced unification of the PPR with the Polish Socialist Party PPS (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna), which had been cleansed of democratic forces on December 21, 1948, he became a member of the resulting Polish United Workers' Party PZPR ( Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza ) . In 1953 he was a graduate of the party school of the Central Committee of the PZPR and since 1955 an employee of the Interior Ministry MSW (Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych) . During this time he graduated from the Higher Military School in Moscow in 1956 and graduated in 1960 from the AGH Scientific and Technical University as an engineer for metallurgy.

In 1962 Szlachcic became Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior and held this post until 1971. At the 4th party congress of the PZPR (June 15-20, 1964) he was first a candidate of the Central Committee (ZK) and at the following 5th party congress (11th to 20th November 16, 1968) member of the PZPR Central Committee for the first time, to which he belonged until 1975. In addition, he was from 1964 until his death in 1990 as a member of the General Council of the War Veterans Association Association of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy ZBoWiD (Związek Bojowników o Wolność i Demokrację) . After he was First Deputy Minister of the Interior between January and February 1971, Brigadier General Szlachcic was finally Minister of the Interior on February 13, 1971 as the successor to Kazimierz Świtała (Minister spraw wewnętrznych) . However, he only held this ministerial office until December 22, 1971 and was then replaced by Wiesław Ociepka .

Brigadier General Szlachcic's grave at the Powązki Military Cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach) in Warsaw

On the VI. At the PZPR party congress (December 6-11, 1971), he also became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee and was a member of this top management body of the party until the 7th Congress (December 8-12, 1975). He was also the Central Committee Secretary between December 11, 1971 and June 1974. On March 28, 1972 he became a member of the Sejm for the first time , in which he represented constituency No. 36 Chrzanów until February 10, 1976 . At the same time he was from March 28, 1972 to May 25, 1974 a member of the State Council (Rada Państwa) , the collective state presidency. Szlachcic held from May 29, 1974 to March 27, 1976 Deputy Prime Minister (Wiceprezes Rady Ministrów) in the government of Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz . After leaving the Politburo, the government and the Sejm, he lost his political influence in the mid-1970s and was President of the Committee for Standardization and Metrology (Polskiego Komitetu Normalizacji i Miar) between 1976 and 1979 and, most recently, between 1979 and 1985, President of the resulting committee for Standardization, measurement technology and quality (Polskiego Komitetu Normalizacji, Miar i Jakości) .

Szlachcic has received several awards for his long-standing services and received, among other things, the Order of the Banner of Labor (Order Sztandaru Pracy) first and second class, the Order of the Grünwald Cross (Order Krzyża Grunwaldu) third class, the Cross of Brave (Krzyż Walecznych) , the medal the 30th anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland (Medal 30-lecia Polski Ludowej) , the Soviet Order of the October Revolution and the Soviet Red Banner Order . After his death he was buried in the Powązki military cemetery (Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach) in Warsaw.

Web links

• Entry on the Sejm's homepage
• Poland 1944–1989: Poliburo Members and Secretariat of the Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza
• The Governments of People's Republic of Poland 1944–1989