Jozef Cyrankiewicz

Cyrankiewicz, Józef 

Born Apr. 23, 1911, in Tarnów. State and political figure of the Polish People’s Republic (PPR).

Cyrankiewicz is a journalist by profession. From 1935 to 1939 he was secretary of the Kraków district committee of the Polish Socialist Party (PSP). He took part in the war against fascist Germany and in 1941 was arrested and incarcerated in a fascist concentration camp. Freed in 1945, Cyrankiewicz served as general secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the PSP from 1946 to 1948. In 1946 he was a minister in the Government of National Unity, and from 1947 to 1952 he was prime minister.

Cyrankiewicz was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party from 1948 to 1972. He served as vice-premier of the PPR from 1952 to 1954, chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1954 to 1970, and chairman of the State Council from 1970 to 1972. Cyrankiewicz became chairman of the All-Polish Committee of Defenders of Peace in 1973.