Jusvyak, Franciszek

Born into a poor peasant family from the Lublin province of the Kingdom of Poland . He was the eldest of eight children ^[1] . Received primary education. From the age of twelve he worked in the village. In 1912, Franciszek Jusvyak joined the Polish Socialist Party ^[2] .

When the First World War began , Franciszek Jusvyak was mobilized into the army of the Russian Empire . However, already in 1914 he switched to the side of Austria-Hungary and joined the Polish legions . In July 1917, he followed the call of Jozef Pilsudski and refused to take the oath to the Kaiser of the German Empire . Until the end of the war he was interned in Shchiperno (concentration camp) .

Freed, he entered the service of the army of independent Poland ^[3] . He served in the non-commissioned rank of corporal .

In 1919, Franciszek Jusvyak participated in the creation of the Lublin Council of Workers' Deputies. In 1921 he joined the Communist Workers Party of Poland (since 1925 - the Communist Party of Poland, CAT) . He organized clandestine CPT committees.

The Communist Party supported Soviet Russia in the war of 1920 , was considered an anti-national organization in Poland and acted underground. Franciszek Yuzvyak was arrested several times for illegal communist activities. In total, during the period 1921 - 1939 he spent in prison about twelve years. (Stay in custody in 1937 - 1938 saved Yuzvyak from Soviet repression during the liquidation of the checkpoint.)

In 1928 - 1929 Yuzvyak studied at the courses of the NKVD of the USSR . In 1931, he headed the military department of the Central Committee of the checkpoint ^[2] . He specialized in command of party armed groups.

The outbreak of World War II, Franciszek Juzvjak met in prison, serving another term. He was released along with other prisoners. He moved to the territory annexed to the USSR . After the German attack on the Soviet Union, he was included in the Soviet partisan sabotage group to be taken to the German rear.

In 1942, Franciszek Juzvyak illegally made his way into Poland and joined the leadership of the Polish Workers Party (PPR, the party of Polish Communists, created instead of the checkpoint). He was a secretary of the Central Committee of the PPR, oversaw the power structures in the party. From August 1942, Yuzvyak was the chief of staff of the Guard of Ludova , and from January 1944 , he was chief of staff of the Army of Ludova ^[3] . He played a prominent role in the communist part of the Polish Resistance. He wore a guerrilla pseudonym Witold ^[2] .

In 1944, Franciszek Juzvjak, with the rank of division general, was appointed the first chief commandant of the civilian militia created by the new communist authorities. He held this post until 1949 . He was Deputy Minister of Public Security Stanislav Radkevich . He was a member of the Regional Council of the People . He was a member of the State Security Commission ^[2] .

Under the command of General Yuzvyak, the civilian militia was an instrument of the ruling PPR policy - the fight against the armed opposition, political power control, and forced seizure of products from peasant farms. At the head of the law enforcement body, Yuzvyak proceeded from party, not professional, criteria. In particular, he did not encourage the enrollment of people with higher education in the police, fearing that they would not follow the orders of superiors who (like himself) did not have higher education ^[4] .

When the ruling Communist Party of the PUWP was created in 1948, Franciszek Juzvjak was co-opted to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the party. Headed the Central Commission for Party Control. He served as chairman of the Supreme Control Chamber ( 1949 - 1952 ) and Minister of State Control ( 1952 - 1955 ). In 1949 - 1952 - Member of the State Council of Poland ^[3] . He was a deputy of the Sejm from the PUWP ^[5] . In addition, Franciszek Jusvyak was the first chairman of the Union of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy (he held this post for fifteen years).

On April 16, 1955, Franciszek Yuzvyak was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the NDP, Jozef Tsirankevich ^[2] .

In the internal party arrangements, Franciszek Jusvyak focused on Boleslav Berut and Jakub Berman . He ideologically and politically adhered to the rigid Stalinist course, actively participated in political repressions and party purges.

The 1956 Polish de-Stalinization dramatically undermined the political position of Franciszek Józvjak. October 24, 1956 - the day of Vladislav Gomulka’s speech with the “thaw” program - Yuzvyak was removed from the post of deputy chairman of the government and removed from the Politburo ^[1] .

In the last decade of his life, Franciszek Juzvjak did not hold public office and did not enjoy the former influence in the party leadership. He headed the group of " Natolinians " - an informal fraction of orthodox Stalinists of the PUWP who protested against even moderate liberalization of the regime ^[6] .

Franciszek Jusvyak died three days after his 71st birthday. He was buried in the Military Ponzki cemetery.

In Poland, the image of Franciszek Jusvyak was surrounded by official honor. Official biography of Franciszek Jóźwiak - Witold. Życie i działalność ( Franciszek Jusvjak - Vitold. Life and work ) ^[7] , published through departmental channels of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1974 , was apologetic. In 1979 , on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Civil Police and Security Service , a postage stamp with the image of Franciszek Jusvyak ^[8] was issued in Poland.

The police school in Szczytno , the 18th artillery brigade deployed in Boleslawiec , several schools in different cities of the country were named after Yuzvyak ^[2] . These names were canceled in 1989-1991 , when the socio-political system of Poland changed.

Franciszek Jusvyak was twice married. In 1940 , while in the USSR, he married the communist activist Frieda Springer, whom he broke up with after being transferred to occupied Poland.

From 1942 to 1956, Yuzvyak’s wife was Helena Volińska-Brus ^[3] - in Poland a military prosecutor, lieutenant colonel of justice, an active participant in repressions ^[9] . In 1956, during de-Stalinization, she divorced Yuzvyak, having restored her first marriage to the economist Włodzimierz Brus. This caused a tension between them, reflected in official affairs. It is known that Yuzvyak achieved the abolition of the death sentence to Army Commander Craiova Juliusz Sobolewski, imposed with the filing of Wolinski-Brus - solely as a personal revenge on the departed wife ^[10] . In 1968 , during the anti-Semitic campaign , Helena Wolinska-Brus emigrated to the UK .

Jozef Juzvyak - the brother of Franciszek Juzvyak - was a fighter of the 2nd Polish corps of General Anders , participated in the battle of Monte Cassino . Jozef Juzvjak did not hide his anti - communist views and sharply condemned his brother ^[1] .

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