Poland Under Communist Rule Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Oder-Neisse Line

The new Polish border was decided on by the Big Three (USSR, Great Britain and the United States) at the 1945 Yalta and Potsdam Conferences. The Soviet Union gained what had been Eastern Poland. Poland was compensated for its territorial losses by gaining 150 miles of what had been Germany. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) did not recognize this new border until 1970.

Answer: Marshall Konstanin K. Rokossovsky

The Warsaw Uprising took place in the section of the city located on the west bank of the Vistula River in the summer of 1944. Soviet troops had already reached the east bank at the time of the uprising. But Stalin ordered Marshall Rokossovsky to not aid the fighters, thereby insuring their slaughter by the German forces. Stalin wanted to eliminate all potential opposition to future Communist rule. Rokossovsky remained the Defense Minister of Poland until the mid-1950s.

Answer: Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev, the successor to Stalin, was the only Soviet leader not to die while in power until Gorbachev. He was deposed in 1964 and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. Georgi Malenkov was his main competitor for the position of Soviet Communist party chief. Yuri Andropov was the Russian ambassador to Hungary during Khrushchev's rule and played a vital role in the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

Answer: Boleslaw Bierut

Boleslaw Bierut was one of the Muscovite Communists who dominated Polish Communist politics. He died in March of 1956. His eventual successor was Gomulka (1956-70), a nationalist Communist. Edward Gierek(1970-80) succeeded Gomulka after widespread rioting over increased food prices forced him out of office. Gierek, in turn, was forced out of office when the Polish economy took another down turn in the late 70s. Stanislaw Kania held office very briefly following Gierek until he was replaced by Jaruzelski.

Answer: Wladyslaw Gomulka

In return for Soviet tolerance, Gomulka committed himself to preserving the Communist monopoly of power, although in a more national form. He dropped the Soviet Defense Minister, Marshall Rokossovsky from his government. But he would later squander his initial popularity by his unwillingness to initiate any substantial economic reform and his slavish support of Soviet foreign policy. Widespread riots in 1970 forced him out of office.

Answer: True

Over 90% of Polish land was owned by private individuals throughout the Communist regime.

Answer: Karol Wojtyla

The election of Wojtyla dealt a severe blow to already troubled government of Edward Gierek. Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan later formed an alliance called the 'Holy Alliance' whose purpose was the eradication of Communism in Poland and all of Eastern Europe. This alliance helped funnel crucial funds to the Solidarity Movement.

Answer: KOR

KOR (Komitet Obrony Robotnikow), or the Committee for the Defense of Workers, founded by Jacek Kuron and Adam Michnik, was crucial in garnering the support of all parts of Polish Society for the protest movement. Previous protests movements in Eastern Europe had often been plagued by lack of the necessary universal support. Past Communist leaders had successfully capitalized on discord between workers and intellectuals to stifle opposition groups. KOR, with its marginally legal status, helped in the organization of the illegal Solidarity Movement.

Answer: True

Solidarity did initially get the government to concede to 21 demands on August 31, 1980. Other concessions included the release of political prisoners, an agreement that the state radio system would broadcast Catholic Sunday Mass, and that competence not party affiliation be the criterion for designating managerial personnel.

However in 1981, martial law was declared in Poland and Solidarity was outlawed.

Answer: Wojciech Jaruzelski

Jaruzelski had hoped that the Solidarity movement would not survive its return to illegal status. But Solidarity survived to challenge the Communist regime again.

Answer: Lech Walesa

He had first become involved in unofficial, illegal trade union activity in the shipyards in Gdansk in 1970. Ten years later he established the first large independent trade union in post-war Poland and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. He was President of Poland from 1990-95.

Answer: Katyn Forest

The Katyn Forest massacre was first brought to international attention by Nazi German forces who called in the International Red Cross upon finding the mass graves. The International Red Cross found extensive evidence backing the Nazi claim that the massacre had been done by the Soviets.

But the incident was hushed up because the Soviet Union had just joined the Allied Forces fighting against Germany. Gorbachev made an official apology for the massacre to the Polish President, also in 1989.

Answer: Wojciech Jaruzelski

Because of a compromise worked out between the Communist government and Solidarity during round table negotiations for the election of 1989, the Communist leader, Jaruzelski became the first Post-Communist era President of Poland. This compromise, also, allocated 65% of all seats of the Sejm (the lower parliamentary house)to the Communist while all other seats were to be freely elected.

Other than the allocated seats, the Communist won only one more seat in the Senate but none in the Sejm. Jaruzelski would retire from office after only a year.

Answer: False

Romania was the only Eastern European country which refused to take part in crushing the Prague Spring of 1968 in Czechoslovakia.

Answer: Polish Peasant Party

In 1946, the Peasant Party claimed a membership of 600,000 much great than that of the Polish Worker's Party (aka Communist Party). The Communist were sufficiently concerned to postpone repeatedly the early and free elections which they had agreed to with the United States and Great Britain.

However, the Communist willingness to use intimidation and terrorization tactics assured their rise to power.