History of Poland (1945–1989)
Poland’s history from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of communist rule imposed over Poland after the end of World War II. Poland suffered the heaviest proportionate human losses during World War Two, amounting to 16–17 percent of its population. It is estimated that up to 6 million Polish citizens died from war-related causes between 1939 and 1945. Poland had about 35 million inhabitants in 1939, but fewer than 24 million in 1946.
About History of Poland (1945–1989) in brief
Poland’s history from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of communist rule imposed over Poland after the end of World War II. These years, while featuring general industrialization, urbanization and many improvements in the standard of living, were marred by early Stalinist repressions, social unrest, political strife and severe economic difficulties. Poland suffered the heaviest proportionate human losses during World War Two, amounting to 16–17 percent of its population. It is estimated that up to 6 million Polish citizens died from war-related causes between 1939 and 1945. The number of ethnically Polish victims was perhaps 2 million. The implementation of the task of reconstructing the country was accompanied by the struggle of the new government to acquire further authority, further complicated by the new centralized authority. A large proportion of the country’s pre-war social and political elite perished or were dispersed or dispersed. The Polish educated class suffered greatly but gone within several years after the war. The country’s multiethnic national diversity reflected in Poland’s prior national censuses was all but gone by the 1990s. Poland had about 35 million inhabitants in 1939, but fewer than 24 million in 1946, within the respective borders. The July Constitution was promulgated on 22 July 1952 and the country officially became the Polish People’s Republic. Following Stalin’s death in 1953, a political ‘thaw’ allowed a more liberal faction of the Polish communists, led by Władysław Gomułka, to gain power.
In early August 1980, a new wave of strikes resulted in the founding of the independent trade union \”Solidarity\” led by Lech Wałęsa. The 1989 Round Table Talks led to Solidarity’s participation in the 1989 election. Its candidates’ striking victory gave rise to the first of the succession of transitions from communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe. In 1990, Wojciech Jaruzelski resigned from the presidency following the presidential election and was succeeded by Lech Wałł�’sa, who was later elected president of Poland. The current president, Andrzej Duda, has been in office since January 2011. Poland is a member of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. Poland’s borders were drawn after the Potsdam Conference in July–August 1945, which approved its new territory between the Oder–Neisse line and Curzon Line. Poland became for the first time in its history an ethnically homogeneous nation-state without prominent minorities. In 1976, the government of Edward Gierek was forced to raise prices again which led to the June 1976 protests. The government introduced a new economic program based on large-scale loans from western creditors, which resulted in a rise in living standards and expectations, but the program meant growing integration of Poland’s economy with the world economy and it faltered after the 1973 oil crisis. In 1978, the election of Karol Wojtyła as Pope John Paul II.
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