Jakub Berman

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Jakub Berman (23 December 1901 – 10 April 1984) was a Polish communist politician. An activist during the Second Polish Republic, in post-war communist Poland he was a member of the Politburo of the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and then of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). From 1948, he was considered the second most powerful politician in Poland after President Bolesław Bierut, until he was removed from power in 1956, following Bierut's death.

Alongside Bierut, Berman was responsible for party oversight of the Stalinist Ministry of Public Security, commonly known as the "UB". Under Berman's leadership, 200,000 people were imprisoned for alleged political crimes, and 6000 were executed.<ref name="hoover.org">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Berman also oversaw Poland's cultural affairs.

Early careerEdit

Jakub Berman was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Warsaw on 23 December 1901. His younger brother was Adolf Berman. Jakub became a member of the Communist Youth Union and in 1928 joined the Communist Party of Poland (KPP).<ref name="hoover"/> He was arrested a few times, but unlike many other activists, had not been imprisoned for a prolonged period.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 27">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], p. 27. UNIVERSITAS, Kraków 2016, Template:ISBN.</ref> He received a law degree in 1925 from the University of Warsaw.<ref name="hoover">"Jakub Berman’s Papers Received at the Hoover Institution Archives", Template:Webarchive Stanford University Hoover Institution, August 11, 2008</ref> He wrote a magister thesis entitled Służba domowa w Warszawie w końcu w. XVIII oraz próby jej zrzeszenia się zawodowego ('Domestic servantry in Warsaw at the end of the 18th century and its attempts to establish a trade association'). Berman's academic adviser, Marxist sociologist Prof. Ludwik Krzywicki, wanted to hire Berman at the university as his assistant, but this was not allowed because of Berman's Jewish origin. Krzywicki's efforts to find Berman a mainstream non-university job also failed and Berman ended up working for a Jewish agency, in a poorly paid position.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 28–29">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 28–29.</ref><ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 21"/> The family was supported largely by Berman's wife, Gustawa (née Grynberg), who was a well-regarded physician and dentist.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 21">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], p. 21.</ref>

Berman's social contacts in Warsaw included many communist sympathizing members of the Polish intelligentsia; Janina and Władysław Broniewski, as well as Wanda Wasilewska, were among his associates.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 45–51">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 45–51.</ref> Between 1935–36, he worked with Aleksander Wat (as his tutor on behalf of the KPP) in an attempt to establish a leftist periodical, with the intention of the cooperation of the communists with other leftist forces in Poland (mostly the Polish Socialist Party (PPS)), within the Popular Front.<ref name="Caviar and Ashes 108–109">Marci Shore, Caviar and Ashes, pp. 108–109. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2006. Template:ISBN.</ref>

World War IIEdit

On 6 September 1939, after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Berman followed government directions for "able-bodied men" and took a train going in an easterly direction.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 38">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], p. 38.</ref> He went to Białystok, occupied by the Soviet Union after the Soviet invasion of Poland. With his friend Alfred Lampe, Berman was active in Polish-communist circles there and became a Soviet citizen. In March 1941 he moved to Minsk, where he worked as an editor at Sztandar Wolności ('The Banner of Freedom'), a Polish-language bulletin published by the Communist Party of Byelorussia.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 45–51"/> Berman's doctoral dissertation, written under the direction of Krzywicki and entitled O strukturze miast polskich na podstawie spisu ludności w 1791 r. ('On the structure of Polish cities based on the population census of 1791'), was brought to Białystok by his friend and colleague Irena Sawicka, but burned in Minsk when a dormitory where Berman and other journalists were housed was bombed by the Germans.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 45–51"/><ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 51–55">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 51–55.</ref>

After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Berman escaped to Moscow. He 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 (PPR).<ref name="hoover" /><ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 57–63">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 57–63.</ref> With the help from Georgi Dimitrov and Jerzy Borejsza, Berman was able to bring his wife and daughter Lucyna there too.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 57–63"/>

In December 1943, Berman met Joseph Stalin at a Kremlin reception for activists of the Union of Polish Patriots (ZPP). Berman became a prominent figure among the Polish communists in the Soviet Union (according to Berman, however, Stalin hated him).<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 74–79">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 74–79.</ref>

In 1945, after a survey suggested that 4.8 million Polish citizens including 3 million Jews had died in the war, Berman stated "if we accept that 3 million Jews were murdered, we must significantly increase the number of Polish victims".<ref name="Polish Problem">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He declared that 3 million non-Jewish Poles had died, in order to equalize the numbers, to make them acceptable to Polish public opinion.<ref name="Polish Problem"/> According to Jan Grabowski, this policy of "equalizing" the respective numbers of Jewish and Polish victims has since been propagated in Poland and that is how the issue is presently taught to students in public schools.<ref name="Polish Problem"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Political career in communist-ruled PolandEdit

In the summer of 1944, Berman joined the Politburo of the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and returned to Poland.<ref name="hoover" /> In Lublin, at the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN), Berman practically led the foreign affairs department; which was primarily concerned with securing international recognition for the new communist-led governing entity.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 101–102">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 101–102.</ref>

In January 1945, with the liberation of Warsaw from the Nazis by the Red Army, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland (formerly the PKWN) moved from Lublin to the Praga district of Warsaw. Berman, as a member of the Politburo of the PPR, was charged with oversight of the state security apparatus (the Ministry of Public Security).<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 104–111">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 104–111.</ref><ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 119–120">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 119–120.</ref> In post-war Poland 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.Template:Ref label Berman's decisions had to be consulted with and could be vetoed by two resident Soviet advisers, who remained in Poland until 1953 and 1954.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 119–120"/>

From 1948, together with Bolesław Bierut, general secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), a successor of the PPR, and economist Hilary Minc, Berman formed a triumvirate of Stalinist leaders of Poland.<ref name="hoover" />Template:Ref label According to Lucyna Tych, Berman's daughter, all three "Stalinist" leaders sought to implement communism in Poland in ways different from the manner in which it was done earlier in the Soviet Union (while remaining entirely loyal to the Soviet leadership).<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 74–79"/> Berman and Minc were close friends and partners. They successfully cooperated in protecting Poland's economic interests. For example, after their repeated interventions with the Soviets, the practice of dismantling industrial equipment in Poland and taking it to the Soviet Union was discontinued. They were somehow able to fend off Soviet attempts to introduce broader (Soviet-like) railroad tracks in Poland, which would cut-off Poland's transportation links with Germany and the West.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 114–115">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 114–115.</ref>

In late 1949, Stalin attempted to remove Berman from his position of power, accusing him of participation in an international anti-communist conspiracy and illicit foreign contacts, but the effort did not succeed.<ref name="Eisler siedmiu 36–37">Jerzy Eisler, Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], pp. 36–37. Wydawnictwo Czerwone i Czarne, Warszawa 2014, Template:ISBN.</ref> In 1952 Berman's friend Wasilewska, having found out Stalin's plan to eliminate Berman, traveled from Kyiv to Warsaw to warn him.<ref name="Caviar and Ashes 268">Marci Shore, Caviar and Ashes, p. 268.</ref> Berman attributed his own survival to Bierut's protection.<ref name="Caviar and Ashes 310">Marci Shore, Caviar and Ashes, p. 310.</ref>

In August 1951, Gomułka was arrested, probably on Stalin's and Lavrentiy Beria's orders; they demanded his quick trial. Berman and Bierut, however, managed to keep delaying the proceedings to the point that the trial never took place.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 117–121" />

Berman became a member of the Politburo of the PZPR and remained in that capacity until 1956. He was responsible for science, literature and cultural affairs, propaganda and ideology.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 119–120" /> From 1949 to 1953, he was officially and personally involved in the fight for the dominant position of socialist realism in art and literature, but in the post-war years he also helped and cultivated contacts with many Polish artistic personalities and his influence was essential to the establishment and continuous existence of such Polish mainstream institutions as the Czytelnik publishing house or Cepelia chain of craft stores. The canon of classical Polish literature was published and the production of memorable films commenced.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 130–136">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 130–136.</ref> Berman helped Tadeusz Sygietyński organize the folk ensemble Mazowsze.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 140–141">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 140–141.</ref> Following Berman's repeated interventions with Vyacheslav Molotov and other Soviet authorities, the Ossolineum collections were transferred from Lviv to Wrocław in 1946 and 1947.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 150">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], p. 150.</ref> In the spring of 1955, Berman authorized the creation of the Crooked Circle Club, a free discussion forum in Warsaw, which marked the gradual departure from Stalinism.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 158–164">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 158–164.</ref>

While Berman was one of the officials responsible for party oversight of the security apparatus, at least 200,000 people were imprisoned and some 6,000 executed on political charges.<ref name="hoover.org"/> Hundreds of former members of the Polish resistance movement in World War II were persecuted, especially from the Home Army and the National Armed Forces.Template:Ref label

Fall from powerEdit

In 1952, Anna Duracz, Berman's secretary, was arrested. In 1954, he was attacked during a party plenum by Aleksander Zawadzki, who claimed that, as he originated from a bourgeois Jewish family, Berman lacked a proper understanding of the Polish workers' movement. After the death of First Secretary Bierut, Berman resigned from the PZPR Politburo (and from the position of first deputy prime minister) in May 1956.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 158–164" /><ref name="Eisler siedmiu 120">Jerzy Eisler, Siedmiu wspaniałych. Poczet pierwszych sekretarzy KC PZPR [The Magnificent Seven: first secretaries of the PZPR], p. 120.</ref> He was earlier incriminated by Józef Światło, a former official in the Ministry of Public Security, who defected to the West.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 158–164"/> 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. He attempted to get his membership reinstated, wrote appeals in 1960 and 1964, but was rejected on both occasions.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 167">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], p. 167.</ref> He 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.<ref name="Werblan 172">Andrzej Werblan, Szkice i polemiki [Sketches and polemics], p. 172, published in 1970 by Książka i Wiedza, Warsaw</ref>

RetirementEdit

For two years Bermam remained without steady employment and supported himself by accepting various assignments, such as translations of works by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In September 1958, Berman was placed by the party in the state-run Książka i Wiedza ('Book and Knowledge') publishing house, where he worked until he was retired by the authorities in 1968. His wife was removed from her position at the Rheumatology Institute.<ref name="hoover" /><ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 158–164"/><ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 202">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], p. 202.</ref> For the first time, according to his daughter Lucyna Tychowa, Berman could enjoy normal life with his family and friends. He engaged in activities, such as reading or attending films and theatrical productions. In the autumn of 1981, he was hit by a car and permanently injured while he attempted to cross a street. He died in Warsaw in April 1984 and was buried at Powązki Cemetery.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 158–164"/><ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 208–212">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 208–212.</ref>

Awards and decorationsEdit

File:POL Order Sztandaru Pracy 1 klasy BAR.svg Order of the Banner of Labour, 1st Class (24 December 1951)<ref>Template:Monitor Polski.</ref>
File:POL Polonia Restituta Komandorski ZG BAR.svg Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (19 July 1946)
File:TCH Rad Bileho Lva 2 tridy (pre1990) BAR.svg Grand Officer of the Order of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia, 1947)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
File:HUN Order of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civil) 2class BAR.svg Hungarian Order of Merit (Hungary, 1948)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
File:Order of merits for the people with golden star Rib.png Order of Merits for the People, 1st Class (Yugoslavia, 1946)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
File:Bg1ocm.png Order of Civil Merit (Bulgaria, 1946)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
File:Order99442Ribbon.jpg Order of the 9 September 1944, 2nd Class (Bulgaria, 1948)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

NotesEdit

Template:Refbegin

a.Template:Note label Speaking during a plenum of the PPR in October 1947, Berman strongly expressed his agreement with Gomułka's views: "It is our tremendous achievement, as communists, that we are able to create a national party, which has become deeply rooted in Polish society. ... It is our greatest treasure, which we have to defend, and will not ever allow anybody to push us back to the enchanted ring of the KPP. It had been our greatest disaster. ... We are not a communist party, we are the PPR". Already in August–September 1948, Berman found it necessary to alter his views in order to comply with Stalin's current directives. They required the "building of the foundations of socialism" according to the Soviet example.<ref name="PPR to nie KPP">Lech Mażewski, PPR to nie KPP [The PPR is not the KPP], Przegląd 14-20.06.2021, p. 36.</ref>

b.Template:Note label Berman told a story to Teresa Torańska, by whom he was interviewed in the early 1980s. Afterwards, he requested that Torańska refrains from printing it, because he was concerned that his revelations may reflect badly on Bierut, "a noble man". Torańska published the account anyway.

In November 1949, at Belweder Palace, Bierut wanted to give Berman investigation files concerning cases of officers accused of political crimes, because he wanted Berman's opinion on the matter. Berman declined to take the files, because he considered them contrived and worthless. He asked Bierut to make sure that no death sentences are issued based on such evidence. Berman soon regretted not having taken the files and cooperated with Bierut's procedure. Bierut, who normally followed his advice, this time did not and twenty death sentences were eventually carried out. "Unfortunately", lamented Berman, "he believed in those papers too much".<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 115–116">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 115–116.</ref>

c.Template:Note label The degree and nature of Berman's involvement with the state security apparatus are matters of controversy. It is not known whether he was kept informed by Minister Stanisław Radkiewicz and his people, or whether they saw him, an idealistic communist, as an impediment to their operation. According to the testimony of people familiar with Berman in this role, he often alleviated the cruelties of the system. He had no formal decision-making capacity, which rested with Gomułka and Bierut, or with Radkiewicz at the operational level. On the other hand, as the communist regime struggled to contain the armed underground in the mid-1040s, Berman lobbied for an expansion of state security. Berman is also believed to be responsible for the lessening of political repression, which began in the later 1940s.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 117–121">Lucyna Tychowa and Andrzej Romanowski, Tak, jestem córką Jakuba Bermana [Yes, I'm the Daughter of Jakub Berman], pp. 117–121.</ref>

Berman, responsible for culture, was despised by the literary circles and others, on whom he had imposed harsh censorship and other restrictions. After the death of Bierut, Berman's adversaries produced highly negative written evaluations of him in printed media and he quickly became a scapegoat for all the misdeeds of the Stalinist period. A "good Bierut and bad Berman" stereotype was created.<ref name="Jestem córką Jakuba 117–121"/>

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ReferencesEdit

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Teresa Torańska, Them: Stalin's Polish Puppets, Harper & Row, 1987, Template:ISBN.

Template:Authority control Template:Jews and Judaism in Poland