Poles in Australia

First Polish settler
In October 2003, the Polish community celebrated the 200th anniversary of its presence in Australia. Joseph Potaski, the first known Polish settler, arrived as a convict in 1803 on HMS Calcutta and initially settled in Sorrento at Sullivan Bay in Port Philip Bay. When the settlement was aborted and then moved to Hobart in Van Diemen’s Land, Potaski established himself as a successful wheat farmer.

Strzelecki’s contribution
Sir Paul Edmund Strzelecki arrived in Australia (Sydney) in 1839. He was a Polish nobleman who was an explorer, geologist, scientist and philanthropist. He discovered gold near Bathurst and in Tasmania, explored Snowy Mountains (incl. naming Mt. Kościuszko) and published the first map of Gippsland. He is on record to have been concerned about the fragility of the Australian natural environment and hence is given the title of ‘first Australian greenie’. In total, there are about 20 geographical features bearing his name in Australia.
 

Polish migration waves
In the 1921 Census there were 1780 people born in Poland in Australia. This was the first time Poles were listed as a separate category in an Australian Census. Today, over 60,000 Australians declare Polish as the language they speak at home.

You may be surprised to read that the Polish community in Australia, although medium size, has the largest number of refugees that ever arrived from one ethnic group to this date. This includes the almost 60,000 who arrived between 1947-53, largely as Displaced Persons (DPs) from war-torn Europe. Due to the communist regime, there was little migration from Poland between 1960-78. The second large wave of Polish migrants (almost 20,000 in total) peaked in the early 1980s when thousands began arriving under the Special Humanitarian Program, due to the political and economical upheavals in Poland at the time.

Since that time, Polish migrants have been arriving in Victoria in much smaller number, largely as professionals, fiancées, and students or for family reunion. At present, there are more overseas students coming from Poland than permanent migrants.

The Story of Polish Community in Victoria

Polish community is a medium-size community and Victoria has the largest number of Poles from any other state in Australia. The 2001 Census showed that there were 19,500 Polish-speaking people living in Victoria, of whom 42% (8,500 persons) are in the 65+ age group, with many being in their late 70s and early 80s. The municipality of Glen Eira has the largest number of Poland-born persons, many of whom identify as Jewish (please note that when WWII broke out, Poland had a significant Jewish community). It is estimated that approximately 17 per cent Poland-born people living in Victoria are of Jewish background.

Polish organisations
The first Polish organization was established in August 1863 in Melbourne, known as the Committee of the Polish Relief Fund, with the aim of fundraising to support the national uprising again Russian domination. Since then, numerous other Polish organisations were established with the main aim of freeing Poland from foreign domination or undemocratic political systems. In addition, many groups and organisations in Victoria were set up to serve the various interests of the Polish émigré community. These include: Polish RSL club, ex-servicemen associations, folk singing groups and choirs, dance ensembles, Polish community centers (of which there are currently six in Victoria), an umbrella organization named Polish Community Council of Victoria, Polish newspapers/magazines, Polish community radio programs, Polish language Saturday schools, welfare organisations, and many interest groups eg. skiing club, stamp collecting, art.

Polish community life
The Polish community in Victoria has a high level of voluntary activism, largely through its many organizations and groups, of which there are over seventy including 27 Polish senior citizens clubs. The range of activities varies from weekly or monthly gatherings, community concerts, exhibitions, festivals, sporting competitions, scout movement, book fairs, community markets, celebrations of Polish traditions, commemorations of important events in the Polish history, and discussion forums with interesting speakers.

Religious life
The majority of Poles are of Catholic faith and religious life is closely linked with the cultural life of the Polish community in Victoria. On average, almost 5000 attend church services in any given week. There are almost ten Polish priests who support the Polish community. In addition, Polish-speaking nuns provide assistance to the community through parish work, education and support to Polish older persons.

Publications about the Polish community
The Polish community in Victoria is fortunate to have a number of community historians and community writers who have written a number of well-researched publications. All of them are available through the State Library in Melbourne.
 

Short History of Poland

Between the sixth and ninth century the area that is now Poland was settled by West Slavonic tribes. These tribes established in 966 Poland as the Polish Principality. Poland became the Polish Kingdom in 1024. Since 1370 the kingship was elective, but in fact the nation kept choosing the kings in hereditary order until 1572.

Poland and Lithuania were first united by a common King in 1386, then in a real union since 1569 as the Polish Commonwealth. It became a major European power stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

The role of Poland in European history was to defend Europe, its freedom and Christianity from the invaders coming from the East: the Tartars, the Turks, and ultimately the Russians. This culminated in the famous battle of Vienna (1683), where a devastating charge of Polish cavalry wiped out a grand Turkish army laying siege to Vienna, the gateway to Europe.

History repeated itself again in 1920, where the Poles defeated Red Army invaders at the gates of Warsaw, thus saving Europe from the Bolshevik experiment.

 
In 1939 Germany and the USSR attacked Poland together, starting the Second World War. During this war about 6 million Poles were killed, including more than 3 million Polish Jews. Thousands of Polish soldiers fought alongside the British Army defending Britain and its colonies.
 
Unfortunately for the Poles, even though the War ended with defeat of Germany, the Russians were one of the victors, the Red Army in command of Poland and most of Central Europe. This meant not only loss of half the national territory, but also a Russian-controlled communist government for the rest.
 
For decades it seemed that the Soviet Union, the most powerful empire in the history of mankind, would never be defeated again. Any attempts by the Free World to stop its expansion with military might ended in failure.

And then an idea came up, an idea of the Solidarity of the people, born in the shipyards of Northern Poland. The empire struggled against it for several years until, as the world watched with disbelief, it crumbled down like a house of cards...
 
As it weakened, the Poles were the first to peacefully transfer power from the communist regime to democratically elected Government. This peaceful transition became the model not only for the rest of the Soviet Bloc, but also for South Africa and other non-democratic regimes.
 

In 1999, after long negotiations, Poland joined the NATO alliance, and the Polish Army once again resumed its duty of guarding the Eastern borders of Europe.

For a detailed account of Poland's way to freedom click here.

Excerpts from Polish History

Soviet’s invasion on Poland – 17th September 1939

LEST WE FORGET

(Introduction to the publication edited by Monika Wiench and Elizabeth Drozd published in 2004 by Australian Polish Community Services Inc.)

In September 1939, as a result of Hitler's and Stalin's partition of Poland 13 million of Polish citizens, including over 5 million ethnic Poles, found themselves under Soviet occupation. From the very beginning of this period they suffered arrests, deportations and murders.

All Poles inhabiting the occupied terrains were, in an enforced manner, granted Soviet citizenship. By 1939, the Red Army began the process of ‘recruitment’. This process included approximately 210,000 young people who were sent to the far east of the Soviet Empire (the East). Polish prisoners of war were also sent into the depth of USSR territory. In total, in 1939 about 250,000 Polish soldiers and officers were imprisoned by the Soviets.

Many Polish citizens, classified by the Soviet administration as "enemies of USSR", were also deported. These deportations reached their peak in February, April and June in 1940 and in June 1941.

On 10th February 1940, the first mass deportation of Polish citizens from the eastern terrains, which had been occupied by the Red Army and annexed by force to the USSR, took place. About 300,000 people (men, women and children) were deported to the East. There were predominantly civil servants of middle and lower levels of government, self-government administration and farm settlers.

On 13th April 1940, additional 300,000 (approx.) people found themselves being relocated to Siberia. This group of people predominantly included family members of those who had already been deported and it consisted mainly of women and children. People were being crammed into cattle wagons and taken away in an unknown direction. The same year, in June, there was another mass deportation of over 240,000 people. They were mainly prisoners of war who came from the Western and Central regions of Poland.

In 1941, another mass deportation of 300,000 Poles to the East took place. In total, 1.7 million Polish citizens were expatriated, with the primary targets being members of intelligentsia, families of soldiers, farm settlers, more affluent farmers (who were called "kułakami" back then), office workers and qualified craftsmen. After 1944, the number of deportees increased by 50,000 soldiers, who were a part of the Home Army and by around 150,000 civilians.

Siberia became the place that would signify repression and became the symbol of Polish repression. Labour camps, prisons and places of exile that covered almost all the territory of the former USSR marked its place on the map. The exiles and prisoners were mainly sent to Kazakhstan and other republics in Middle Asia. Before the year 1943, as a result of hunger, disease and executions by firing squad, around half a million Polish citizens perished. This number includes the murders of Polish officers in Katyn, Charkow and Miednoje and of Polish prisoners prior to the advancement of the German Front in 1941.

Many of those who had managed to leave USSR with the armies of General Anders, and later on with General Berling, returned to Poland after 1945. The remaining members of these groups did not return until 1957. Many of the exiles, however, remained forever in the place of exile, "in the inhumane land" (na nieludzkiej ziemi), many who were afraid of repercussions emigrated.

For many years the truth about those crimes was covered up by Soviet administrations and Polish governments, who were serving the Soviet interests. Only recently, school text books began historical acknowledgement and analysis covering this subject. Before then they were only available in the West, or in the so called "underground circulation" (obiegu podziemnym).

Fortunately, some people who remember these events are still alive. Some of them, having survived such atrocities, do not wish to talk about their experiences.

The time has come to reveal again this historical truth for the benefit, not only of the present, but also for the future generations, and not only for Poles, but also members of other nations.

The time has come to save it from oblivion.

This study is dedicated to them, their children and grandchildren, and also to the memory of those whose war memoirs we will not be able to hear.

Monika Wiench

Jerzy Popiełuszko.
Kalendarium życia i archiwalne zdjęcia

Ks. Jerzy zyskał sławę niezłomnego duszpasterza dopiero podczas strajku robotników w Hucie Warszawa, ale jego droga do wyniesienia na ołtarze rozpoczęła się już dużo wcześniej.

1947
14 września: We wsi Okopy w województwie białostockim, Władysławowi i Mariannie Popiełuszkom urodził się syn, który dwa dni potem ochrzczony został imieniem Alfons.

1956
Popiełuszko przystępuje do Pierwszej Komunii świętej i Bierzmowania: przyjmuje imię Kazimierz – na cześć patrona Archidiecezji Wileńskiej.

1958
Alek Popiełuszko zostaje ministrantem. Do Mszy świętej służyć będzie aż do matury.

1965
Popiełuszko zdaje maturę w suchowolskim liceum. 24 czerwca: Prymas Polski Stefan kard. Wyszyński decyduje o przyjęciu Alfonsa Popiełuszki do warszawskiego Wyższego Seminarium Duchownego. W seminarium alumn Popiełuszko przyjmuje imię Jerzy.

1966
16 października: Obłóczyny księdza Jerzego Popiełuszki. 24 października: Powołanie Jerzego Popiełuszki do jednostki specjalnej Ludowego Wojska Polskiego w Bartoszycach, gdzie alumn Popiełuszko miał odwagę odmówić zdjęcia różańca i brać udział w zakazanych wspólnych praktykach religijnych. Do końca pobytu w jednostce będzie prześladowany. Za swoich prześladowców modlił się także w czasie odbywania kar.

1968
Po zakończeniu służby wojskowej Popiełuszko trafia do Instytutu Gruźliczego. W wojsku nabawił się ostrej anemii. Chorował będzie już do końca życia.

1972
28 maja: W Katedrze św. Jana Chrzciciela w Warszawie Ks. Jerzy przyjmuje święcenia kapłańskie z rąk Prymasa Wyszyńskiego. Do świeżo wyświęconych kapłanów Prymas mówi: „Idziecie w teren bardzo pracowity, gdzie trzeba będzie włożyć ogromnie dużo wysiłku, poświęcenia i ofiary. Życie wasze nie będzie miękkie”. Ksiądz Popiełuszko odprawia Mszę świętą prymicyjną w kościele w Suchowoli. Na obrazku pamiątkowym umieszcza cytat z Ewangelii św. Łukasza: „Posyła mnie Bóg, abym głosił Ewangelię i leczył rany zbolałych serc”. Czerwiec: Otrzymuje nominację na wikariusza parafii Trójcy Świętej w Ząbkach.

1980
20 maja: Zostaje rezydentem w kościele św. Stanisława Kostki w Warszawie. Zostanie tam aż do śmierci 31 sierpnia: Odprawia w Hucie Warszawa pierwszą w historii tego zakładu Mszę świętą.

1981
Listopad: Wspiera strajkujących studentów Wyższej Oficerskiej Szkoły Pożarnictwa. Po jej pacyfikacji 2 grudnia pomagać będzie relegowanym studentom. Po wprowadzeniu stanu wojennego 13 grudnia pomagać będzie także prześladowanym, zwalnianym z pracy, ściganym przez aparat terroru robotnikom i studentom. Jeździł będzie na procesy niewinnie oskarżanych pracowników i pomagał materialnie wszystkim potrzebującym i ich rodzinom.

1982
17 stycznia: Ks. Jerzy Popiełuszko odprawia pierwszą „Mszę świętą za Ojczyznę i tych, którzy dla niej cierpią” w kościele św. Stanisława Kostki. Od tej chwili w każdą ostatnią niedzielę miesiąca w Mszach za Ojczyznę uczestniczyć będą setki, a z czasem tysiące ludzi. 13 na 14 grudnia: „Nieznani sprawcy” wrzucają w nocy do mieszkania księdza Jerzego cegłę z materiałem wybuchowym. Od tego czasu jest systematycznie nękany i inwigilowany przez SB i MO. Modli się za swych prześladowców; obserwującym jego mieszkanie funkcjonariuszom SB wynosi ciepłe napoje.

1983
19 maja: Po Mszy żałobnej w kościele św. Stanisława Kostki kilkadziesiąt tysięcy ludzi odprowadza w kondukcie na Powązki zamordowanego wcześniej maturzystę Grzegorza Przemyka. W czasie pogrzebu nie dochodzi do żadnych incydentów – o zachowanie absolutnej ciszy prosił ksiądz Jerzy. 16-23 czerwca: W czasie drugiej pielgrzymki Jana Pawła II do Ojczyzny Ks. Jerzy jest odpowiedzialny za organizację opieki medycznej w Warszawie. Wrzesień: Organizuje pierwszą pielgrzymkę ludzi pracy na Jasną Górę pod hasłem: „Bóg i Ojczyzna”. 12 grudnia: Ksiądz Popiełuszko jest przesłuchiwany w Prokuraturze. Po rewizji w jego mieszkaniu i znalezieniu podrzuconych tam wcześniej materiałów wybuchowych, ksiądz zostaje przewieziony do aresztu i poddany rewizji osobistej. Umieszczony w celi z więźniami kryminalnymi spowiada jednego z nich – recydywistę.

1984
Wrzesień: Ksiądz Jerzy prowadzi drugą pielgrzymkę świata pracy do Częstochowy. Po raz ostatni odwiedza rodziców w Okopach. Do ojca mówi: „Tylko nie płaczcie po mnie, gdy zginę”. 13 października: Ma miejsce pierwsza, nieudana próba zamordowania wracającego z Gdańska księdza Jerzego. 19 października: Odprawia ostatnią Mszę świętą w bydgoskiej parafii Polskich Braci Męczenników. W czasie rozważań bolesnych tajemnic różańca mówi słowa, które uważane są za jego duchowy testament: „Módlmy się, byśmy byli wolni od lęku, zastraszenia, ale przede wszystkim od żądzy odwetu i przemocy”. W czasie powrotu do Warszawy, nocą, zostaje uprowadzony i zamordowany przez Grzegorza Piotrowskiego, Leszka Pękalę i Waldemara Chmielewskiego, funkcjonariuszy Departamentu IV MSW. 30 października: Ciało porwanego kapłana zostaje odnalezione w wodach Wisły pod Włocławkiem. 3 listopada: W pogrzebie i uroczystościach żałobnych przy kościele św. Stanisława Kostki uczestniczy blisko milion ludzi. Do dzisiaj grób księdza Jerzego odwiedziło ponad 18 milionów pielgrzymów z całego świata. 5 listopada: Papież Jan Paweł II mówi do Polaków: „Modlę się za ks. Jerzego Popiełuszkę, a jeszcze bardziej się modlę o to, ażeby z tej śmierci wyrosło dobro, tak jak z Krzyża zmartwychwstanie... Niech ta śmierć będzie źródłem nowego życia”.

1985
W tzw. procesie toruńskim skazano tylko bezpośrednich sprawców zbrodni i ich bezpośredniego przełożonego Adama Pietruszkę. Nikogo z mocodawców zbrodni nie osądzono.

1987
14 czerwca: W czasie trzeciej pielgrzymki do Polski Ojciec Święty Jan Paweł II modli się przy grobie księdza Jerzego i spotyka z jego rodzicami.

2001
Luty: Zakończenie diecezjalnego etapu procesu beatyfikacyjnego księdza Jerzego Popiełuszki.

2002
Watykańska Kongregacja Spraw kanonizacyjnych wydaje dekret o ważności procesu beatyfikacyjnego księdza Jerzego Popiełuszki. 25 maja: Kard. Joseph Ratzinger, obecny papież Benedykt XVI, odwiedza grób księdza Jerzego i wpisuje następujące słowa w księdze pamiątkowej: „Niech Pan błogosławi Polskę, dając jej kapłanów w duchu ewangelicznym Popiełuszki”.

2003
Maj: Następuje otwarcie drugiego etapu procesu beatyfikacyjnego.

2004
W podziemiach kościoła św. Stanisława Kostki otwarto Muzeum Sługi Bożego ks. Jerzego Popiełuszki. Do dnia dzisiejszego Muzeum odwiedziło blisko 360 tysięcy zwiedzających.

2008
Czerwiec: Następuje oficjalne złożenie „Positio super martyrio Servi Dei Georgio Popiełuszko” w Kongregacji Spraw Kanonizacyjnych.

2009
Luty: Premiera filmu „Popiełuszko. Wolność jest w nas”. Do dnia dzisiejszego film obejrzało ok.1,5 miliona widzów w Polsce i na świecie.

2010
6 czerwca: Na Placu Piłsudskiego w Warszawie odprawiona zostanie uroczysta Msza święta beatyfikacyjna księdza Jerzego Popiełuszki. Po jej zakończeniu relikwie ks. Jerzego zostaną procesyjnie przeniesione do Świątyni Opatrzności Bożej w Wilanowie.

Źródło www.fronda.pl

Lubin 31.08.1982

On September 31, 1982, the communist regime perpetrated a crime in Lubin that shall forever remain in the hearts and minds of the townsmen as well as all Poles. Due to the actions of Civic Militia 3 people were fatally shot and other tens were wounded. The memory of the victims of the Martial Law is crucial for coming generations. The memory of Michał Adamowicz, Andrzej Trajkowski and Mieczysław Poźniak, all of whom were killed by the 'people's government', should never wane. The names of those whose decisions contributed to the killing of innocent people should also never be forgotten.

I decided to use the website to publish photographs documenting the happenings of those days, collect publications concerning the said tragic events and document exhibitions related directly or indirectly to them. Should you be in possession of any materials or know links to the internet archives I have not managed to find, please feel free to share. I will be more than grateful for any help.

All of these pictures were taken by accident. Having worked for several years as a reporter, I had the camera on me from force of habit. Before I began to take pictures I felt this regular, humane fear. Fear of the crowd: that they would take me for a secret service agent. Fear of the militia: that they would take me and beat me up. Only when someone with whom I was bilking from a charge of ZOMO-men (ZOMO – Motorised Reserves of the Civic Militia) cried: "C’mon man, shoot this motherfucking hell!", did I set my eye against the view-finder.

Frankly, I do not exactly remember what followed. Hundreds of scenes and people fly by my eyes. But for these pictures, it would be even more difficult to put the fragments in chronological order. When I go over them, the jigsaw becomes evolvable.

I took the most important picture of my life - that of the group of men carrying fatally wounded Michał Adamowicz - running hand in hand with them. A moment earlier I took a picture of people leaning over a bleeding man; his head could be seen from behind them. I was in some sort of shock at that time, my memory hardly took a notice of the scene.
It was only the following day, when I processed the film and blew up the frames, that I saw the scene that made my heart beat really hard. It came to me what I had witnessed: a man had been killed before my eyes. And it was not a nameless soldier or a car accident victim. It was someone who, several minutes before, could have been running through the meadow like me, ducking behind the trees, hearing the zipping of the bullets and watching leaves showering down when cut by them.

The scene of the tragic events of September 31, 1982, is strewn with stones-witnesses that constitute a monumental sculpture installation by Zbigniew Frąckiewicz. On one of the stones the author engraved the following inscription: "Silent; yet, they cry".

Photography – I think – is like a stone. There is no sound, no scent, nor twinkling fairy lights. Instead, there are emotions, moods, light, and – most importantly – truth.

I want my pictures to keep crying, silent like the stones.

© Krzysztof Raczkowiak
 

March 1968

Since the mid 1960s, sections of the Polish intelligentsia entered into a conflict with the authorities. Academics, journalists and artists resented the increasing political de-liberalization and many university students could see no future for themselves in communist Poland.

The “March 1968” events were sparked by the Motor Civic Militia (ZOMO) attack on students and academics at the University of Warsaw.

From this moment, the students’ movement spread to all civilian tertiary educational institutions, involving tens of thousands of young people.

On March 21-23, students from the two largest colleges in Warsaw – the University of Warsaw and the Institute of Technology organized a sit-down strike. The government responded with another wave of arrests.

34 students were expelled and another 11 suspended. The Institutes of Economy, Philosophy, Psychology and third year of Physics and Mathematics were disbanded, as a result of which 1616 young people lost their student status. Many of them were then forcibly enlisted in the army.
 

Katyn Massacre

The Katyń Forest Massacre, also known as the Katyn massacre, was the mass execution of Polish citizens by the Soviet Union during World War II. Initially, the expression referred to the massacre of the Polish officers from the Kozielsk POW camp in Katyn forest near the village of Gnezdovo, a short distance from Smolensk, Soviet Union. More recently, the phrase also became associated with the murder of about 22,000 Polish citizens - POWs from Kozielsk, Starobielsk and Ostashkov camps and inmates from West Belarusian and West Ukrainian prisons, shot on Stalin's orders in Katyn forest and the prisons of Kalinin (Tver), Kharkov and other Soviet cities.
Many Poles had become prisoners of war following the invasion and defeat of Poland by the Nazis and the Soviet Union in September 1939. Many POW camps were used for their internment, including Ostashkov, Kozielsk and Starobielsk. Kozielsk and Starobielsk were used mainly for officers, while Ostashkov was mainly used for scouts, gendarmes, policemen and jailers. Contrary to a widespread misconception, only about 8,000 out of about 15,000 POWs in these camps were officers.
Since Poland's conscription system required every university graduate to become a reserve officer, the Soviets gathered much of the Polish, Jewish and Belarusian intelligentsia.
On March 5, 1940, according to a note to Stalin prepared by Beria, members of Soviet politburo – Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov, and Lavrenty Beria – signed an order of execution of "nationalist and counterrevolutionary" activists kept in camps and prisons of the occupied Western parts of Ukraine and Belarus. This resulted in the murder of about 22,000 Polish citizens, including about 15,000 prisoners of war. The broad definition of the accused included significant numbers of Polish intelligentsia, in addition to policemen, reservists, and active military officers.

Technology of the massacre
People from Kozielsk were murdered in the usual mass murder site of Smolensk country, called Katyn forest; people from Starobielsk were murdered in the inner NKVD prison of Kharkov and the bodies were buried near Pyatikhatki; and police officers from Ostashkov were murdered in the inner NKVD prison of Kalinin (Tver) and buried in Miednoje.
Detailed information on the executions in Kalinin NKVD prison was given during the hearing by Dmitrii S. Tokarev, former head of the Board of the District NKVD in Kalinin.
According to Tokarev the shooting started in the evening and ended at dusk. The first transport on April 4, 1940 was 390 strong and the executioners had a hard time doing their duty with so many people during one night. The following transport were not greater than 250 people. The executions were usually performed with Walther-type pistols supplied by Moscow.
The executions were carried out as follows. After the condemned's personal information was checked, he was then handcuffed and led to a cell insulated with a felt-lined door. In addition, the sounds of the execution were masked through the operation of loud machines (perhaps fans) throughout the night time. After being taken into the cell the victim was immediately shot dead in the back of the head. His body was then taken out through the opposite door and laid in one of the five or six waiting trucks, whereupon the next condemned was taken inside. The procedure went on every night, except for the May Day holiday.
Near Smolensk the Poles with the hands tied behind were led to the graves and shot in the neck.
 
The discovery of the massacre precipitated the severance of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government-in-exile in London in 1943. The Soviet Union denied the accusations until 1990, when USSR acknowledged that NKVD was responsible for the massacre and cover-up.

Poznań 1956 protests
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Poznań 1956 protests (also known as Poznań 1956 uprising or Poznań June (Polish: Poznański Czerwiec) was the first of several massive protests of the Polish people against the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland. The protests of workers demanding better conditions began on June 28, 1956, at Poznań's Cegielski Factories and were met with violent repression. A crowd of 100,000 gathered in the city center near the UB secret police building and were fired upon. 400 tanks and 10,000 soldiers of Ludowe Wojsko Polskie and Korpus Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego under Polish-Soviet general Stanislav Poplavsky were ordered to smash the demonstration. Between 57 to78 people died, including a 13-year-old boy, Romek Strzałkowski. Hundreds of people sustained injuries.

Background
After Stalin's death, the process of destalinization prompted increasing debates about fundamental issues throughout the entire Eastern Bloc. Nikita Khrushchev's speech On the Personality Cult and its Consequences had wide implications outside the Soviet Union and in other communist countries. In Poland, in addition to cult of personality, the popular topics centered about the right to steer a more independent course of 'local, national socialism' instead of following the Soviet model down to every little detail; such views were seen in discussion and critique by many Polish United Workers' Party members of the Stalin's execution of Polish communists from Communist Party of Poland during the Great Purge.
Anti-communist resistance in Poland was also bolstered, and in Poznań a group of opposition leaders and cultural figures founded the Klub Krzywego Koła (Club of the Skewed Wheel) organization. It promoted discussions about Polish independence, economical fallacies of the state controlled economy, or governments disdain of the Polish Armed Forces in the West and Armia Krajowa actions during the Second World War. While intelligentsia expressed its dissatisfaction with discussions and publications, workers took to the streets. The conditions of living in Poland did not improve, despite government propaganda, and workers increasingly found that they have little power compared to bureaucracy of the Party (Nomenklatura).
City of Poznań was one of the largest urban centers of the People's Republic of Poland, and an important industrial center. Tensions were groiwng there particulary since autumn of 1955. Workers in the largest factory in the city, Joseph Stalin's (or 'Cegielski's) Metal Industries, were complaining about higher taxes for most productive workers ('udarnik's), which affected several thousands of workers. Local directors were unable to make any significant decisions due to micromanagement by the higher officials; over several months, petitions, letters and delegations were sent to the Polish Ministry of Machine Industry and Central Committee of Polish United Workers' Party, but to no avail. Finally a delegation of about 27 workers was sent in the days 23 June. On the night of 26 June, a delegation of workers came back to Poznań, confident that some of their demands had been positively considered. The next morning, the minister of Machine Industry arrived at the factory and withdrew some of the Warsaw agreements with workers during a mass meeting.
Another factor contributing to the raising tensions was the ongoing Poznań International Fair.

Strikes
On 27 June, Thursday, several factories and enterprises in the city went on strike, most of whom lost premium pay in June as the government suddenly raised the required work quota. In the morning of 28 June the strike was joined by Cegielski's workers; soon many workers took to the streets forming a large demonstration that was joined by many other people living in Poznań; it is estimated that in few hours about 100,000 people took to the streets. The workers, gathered around official buildings, including the Imperial Castle in Poznań, demanded peacefully - lowering of food prices, rising of wages and revoking some of the recent law changes that worsened workers conditions; further they requested the arrival of Polish Prime Minister, Józef Cyrankiewicz - since the local government declared they have no authority to solve the problems. Some police officers joined the crowd as well.
After 10 a.m. the situtation rapidly deteriorated, as the information that members of the negotiating delegation had been allegedly arrested spread through the crowds. The local units of Milicja Obywatelska were unable to contain the crowd, which has turned on official buildings. The prison was attacked, as some of the protesters thought the members of the delegation may be imprisoned there; 257 prisoners were set loose; the police documents at local police station, procurature and court were destroyed. The crowds ransacked the Communist Party Headquarters and then attacked the Polish secret police - Urząd Bezpieczeństwa - headquarters where they were repulsed by police shooting into the crowd.
In the afternoon of the 29 June, the Government sent in the army: Polish 10th Armoured Division, Polish 19th Armoured Division, Polish 4th Infantry Division and Polish 5th Infantry Division, in total, about 10 300 troops under command of Polish-Soviet general Stanislav Poplavsky. A two hour long procession of tanks, armored cars, field guns, and lorries full of troops went through the city and surrounded it. The events in the city were hidden from the rest of Poland by the censors to prevent unrest from spreading. On 29 June Cyrankiewicz declared, in what became one of his most famous quotes, that "any provocateur or lunatic who raises his hand against the people's government may be sure that this hand will be chopped off." Together with the 13-year-old boy, Romek Strzałkowski, who died, his quote formed one of the two most lasting memories of those events. Hundreds of people sustained injuries. Until the 30 June the troops were pacyfing the city, exchanging fire with some violent demonstrators. From 57 to78 people died during the riots; including 8 members of the government forces; hundreds were wounded on both sides.
 

Aftermath
Crosses in Poznań commemorating the 1956 protests and subsequent Polish protests against the Communist political system. Photograph from 2006, after significant changes to the older monument
About 250 people were arrested in the first few days, including 196 workers; several hundred others were arrested in the following weeks. Lawyer Stanisław Hejmowski who defended them was later repressed for his statement that governments actions led to the death of innocent civilians. The government tried to brutally coerce them to admit that they were provocated by foreign (Western) secret services, but failed; nonetheless this became the official line of the government for years to come.
Soon the hard-liners realized that they had lost the support of the Soviet Union, and the regime turned to conciliation: it announced wage rises and other reforms. Realizing the need for new leadership, the Polish communists chose a new leader, Władysław Gomułka, considered a moderate; this transistion is known as Polish October (or Gomułka thaw). Nonetheless for the next 25 years the communist authorities blocked any information on these bloody events. Historians were denied any source research, and the censorship effectively eliminated any mentions of June 1956. The most active participants of these events have been persecuted for years. The memory of the events was however preserved by the participants and members of opposition. One of the first initiatives of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity" after the Gdańsk Agreement was to erect a monument commemorating Poznań June 1956.

Many historians consider the Poznań 1956 protests to be an important milestone in history of Poland, and one of the events that brought the fall of communism in Poland. Nonetheless it should be noted that the protests of 1956 were not anti-communists; the workers demands were mostly economic - better work conditions - not political; the workers sung The Internationale and their banners read "We demand bread". It was government's consistent failure to provide the first which eventually led to the demands for the second - but even during the history of Solidarity few demanded wide political reforms.
 

For a detailed account of Poland's way to freedom click here.