Bread & Freedom - Poznań June 1956
Content
1. Photographs
2. Background Information & Assessment
1. Photographs
'We Demand Bread'
'Down with Russian Democracy'
'Down with Dictatorship'
Freedom, Bread
'We want bread for our children'
June 1956 Monument, Kochanowskiego Street
Monument to those who fell in the Uprising
'Rebel Town'
All photos by Aneta
2. Background Information & Assessment
Poznań June 1956 Uprising
Reasons for the outbreak
In the mid-1950s, following Stalin's death, the communist system imposed on the Central and Eastern Europe ceased to be a monolith. The changes under way in the USSR have forced the communist authorities in Poland to review their policy. The first attempts at criticizing the "security", the much-hated pillar of the communist power in Poland led to loosening the grip of a psychosis of fear.The contempt for Stalinism and willingness to overcome "the period of mistakes and perversions" coincided in Poznań with the dissatisfaction with both living and working conditions, which had been building up since early 1950s. Wielkopolska, like the rest of country, was subject to a mandatory adjustment of all spheres of life to the Soviet model. The traditional hospitality of Wielkopolska clashed in a brutal way with the practice of real socialism, which was accompanied by the atmosphere of blatant propaganda, class struggle and everyday life permeated with ideology to an extent unknown before. Each attempt at opposing the new reality was nipped in the bud and brutally repressed.
The sham of the planned socialist economy was especially severe for workers of large Poznań industrial plants. Workers used to pre-war arrangements, good work organisation and fair pay were finding it more and more difficult to support their families...
Warsaw Voice: Hot June '56, by M.M.
The rebellion On June 28, protests spread throughout Poznań and quickly transformed into bloody disturbances. Starting at 6 a.m., workers organized strikes in the city's largest plants, and then took to the streets in a procession that developed from a workers' demonstration into a mass manifestation by the residents of Poznań. A crowd of about 100,000 assembled in front of the City's People's Council Presidium headquarters in the former Prussian Imperial Palace. Workers demanded that the authorities withdraw the imposed production quotas, cut prices and raise wages. At this point the demonstration was still peaceful. Attempts were made to talk with representatives of the Provincial People's Council, but then the workers demanded direct talks with Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz.At one point, a rumor spread through the crowd about the alleged detention of members of the workers' delegation that had been to the talks in Warsaws. As a result, a crowd several thousand strong set off towards the prison and destroyed it, letting out 257 prisoners and destroying prison files. The prosecutor's office and court buildings were also captured, their files thrown out into the street and burnt. At one point, firearms fell into the hands of the protesters. One of the groups went to the railway station, halting train traffic. Devices used for jamming Western radio programs were thrown down from the roof of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) building on Dąbrowskiego Street. The crowd gathered in front of the court building, preventing firefighters from extinguishing the blaze. The unrest in the area of the prison, courthouse and the prosecutor's office lasted through noon.
CrackdownAnother group of demonstrators attacked the Provincial Public Security Office (UBP - the infamous communist secret political police founded and controlled by the Soviet NKVD) building on Kochanowskiego Street, where reinforcements had arrived earlier. At about 10:40 a.m., the first shots were fired from the building. In the afternoon, the authorities deployed regular military units to the city, at first just the 19th Armored Division, then another armored division and two infantry divisions. Altogether the city's pacification required over 10,000 soldiers, about 400 tanks and more than 30 armored vehicles. Under Deputy Minister of Defense Stanisław Popławski's command, those forces fought with groups of civilians, mostly young people, armed with 188 kinds of weapons, including one automatic rifle and bottles with gasoline. The violent exchanges lasted the afternoon of June 29, with sporadic shots fired through June 30. During the clashes, more than 70 people were killed, including a few soldiers and UBP functionaries, with about 900 injured on both sides.
Beginning on June 28, the authorities started to detain rioters. Those arrested were treated brutally. The intensive investigation, which employed the torture of detainees, was conducted by functionaries from Warsaw who intended to confirm the authorities' claim that the instigators of the events of June 28 were members of opposition groups or foreign agents. The authorities, were not, however, able to prove this claim.
Cut that hand off
For years afterwards, many people associated the Poznań June with the graphic phrase: "he who raises their hand against the people's state, let them know that the people's state will cut that hand off," which is a quote from one of Prime Minister Cyrankiewicz's speeches. Additionally, the image of Romek Strzałkowski, a 13-year-old participant in the demonstrations who was killed during the crackdown, became a powerful symbol of opposition to the authorities.
