29 Facts About Jakub Berman

Alongside Bierut, Berman was responsible for party oversight of the Stalinist Ministry of Public Security, commonly known as the "UB".

Jakub Berman was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Warsaw on 23 December 1901.

Jakub Berman became a member of the Communist Youth Union and in 1928 joined the Communist Party of Poland.

Jakub Berman was arrested a few times, but unlike many other activists, had not been imprisoned for a prolonged period.

Jakub Berman received a law degree in 1925 from the University of Warsaw.

The family was supported largely by Jakub Berman's wife, Gustawa, who was a well-regarded physician and dentist.

On 6 September 1939, after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Jakub Berman followed government directions for "able-bodied men" and took a train going in an easterly direction.

Jakub Berman later became an instructor at the International Lenin School, the Comintern school, where he trained displaced Polish communists, activists for the new Soviet-sponsored Polish Workers' Party.

In December 1943, Jakub Berman met Joseph Stalin at a Kremlin reception for activists of the Union of Polish Patriots.

Jakub Berman became a prominent figure among the Polish communists in the Soviet Union.

In 1945, after a survey suggested that 4.8 million Polish citizens including 3 million Jews had died in the war, Jakub Berman stated "if we accept that 3 million Jews were murdered, we must significantly increase the number of Polish victims".

Jakub Berman declared that 3 million non-Jewish Poles had died, in order to equalize the numbers, to make them acceptable to Polish public opinion.

In Lublin, at the Polish Committee of National Liberation, Jakub Berman practically led the foreign affairs department; which was primarily concerned with securing international recognition for the new communist-led governing entity.

In post-war Poland Jakub Berman organized state censorship, supervised the development of, and permissions for political parties and organizations, and was the main liaison between the PPR and the PKWN.

Jakub Berman became a member of the Politburo of the PZPR and remained in that capacity until 1956.

Jakub Berman was responsible for science, literature and cultural affairs, propaganda and ideology.

In 1954, he was attacked during a party plenum by Aleksander Zawadzki, who claimed that, as he originated from a bourgeois Jewish family, Jakub Berman lacked a proper understanding of the Polish workers' movement.

Jakub Berman was relieved from the Central Committee of the PZPR in the fall of 1956 and in May 1957, in the aftermath of the Polish October, dismissed from the party altogether.

Jakub Berman attempted to get his membership reinstated, wrote appeals in 1960 and 1964, but was rejected on both occasions.

Jakub Berman was considered responsible for the "Stalinist-era errors and distortions" by which they meant dogmatic and sectarian party attitudes and breaking the rule of law.

In September 1958, Jakub Berman was placed by the party in the state-run Ksiazka i Wiedza publishing house, where he worked until he was retired by the authorities in 1968.

Jakub Berman's wife was removed from her position at the Rheumatology Institute.

Jakub Berman engaged in activities, such as reading or attending films and theatrical productions.

Jakub Berman died in Warsaw in April 1984 and was buried at Powazki Cemetery.

Jakub Berman told a story to Teresa Toranska, by whom he was interviewed in the early 1980s.

Jakub Berman declined to take the files, because he considered them contrived and worthless.

Jakub Berman asked Bierut to make sure that no death sentences are issued based on such evidence.

Jakub Berman soon regretted not having taken the files and cooperated with Bierut's procedure.

Jakub Berman is believed to be responsible for the lessening of political repression, which began in the later 1940s.