The Polish-Soviet Friendship Society ( Polish: Towarzystwo Przyjaźni Polsko-Radzieckiej, TPPR ) is a public organization operating in Poland from 1944 to 1991.
| Polish-Soviet Friendship Society | |
|---|---|
| Base | |
| Established | |
| Liquidation | |
| Dissolution date | 1991 |
History
The Polish-Soviet Friendship Society was founded in 1944. The aim of society was to strengthen relations between the Polish People's Republic and the USSR. In its activities, the Society of Polish-Soviet Friendship propagated the achievements of the Soviet regime, celebrated the annual anniversary of the October Revolution, organized trips to the Soviet Union, festivals of Soviet songs, exchange programs and promoted Soviet culture among the Polish population.
The first president of the Polish-Soviet Friendship Society was a Polish journalist and deputy of the Regional Council of the People’s, Jozef Vasovsky.
Until the 1980s, the Polish-Soviet Friendship Society consisted of about 3 million people. In 1991, the Polish-Soviet Friendship Society was transformed into the Polish-Russian Friendship Society.
The society awarded Polish figures who played a significant role in the development of relations between the Polish People’s Republic and the USSR with their own medal "For Merit in Strengthening Polish-Soviet Friendship" , which had three degrees: gold, silver and bronze. On November 17, 1989, at the headquarters of the Polish-Soviet Friendship Society, the last award of the group of Polish leaders with the medal “Honored Worker of TPPR” for the development of Polish-Soviet friendship took place. Among the awarded were Brigadier Generals of the Polish Army Zygmunt Guscha, Franciszek Tsimbarevich, Tadeusz Valihovsky, Jan Rachkowski, Jan Szydlyak, leaders of the PUWP Vladislav Kruchek , Ignacy Loga-Sovinsky , Jadwiga Lokkai and writer Jozef Ozga-Michalski.
For outstanding services in strengthening friendship between the Polish and Soviet peoples, the V. L. Vasilevskaya Prize was awarded annually.
The Polish-Soviet Friendship Society published the monthly magazine Przyjaźń (Friendship) and the weekly Kraj Rad (Land of Soviets), which were published in the Nowosti dla Polaków print agency.
Presidents
- Jozef Vasovsky (1944-1945)
- Henryk Svyatkovsky (1945-1950)
- Edward Ohab (1950-1952)
- Jozef Tsirankevich (1952-1955)
- Stefan Ignar (1955-1957)
- Cheslav Vytsekh (1957-1974)
- Jan Shidlak (1974-1980)
- Stanislav Vronsky (1980-1987)
- Henryk Bednarsky (1987-1991)