Stanisław Kociołek

Stanisław Kociołek (3 May 1933 – 1 October 2015), often referred to as the "butcher of Tri-City", was a Communist official who served as deputy prime minister of Poland in 1970. After the fall of Communism, he was charged with crimes committed in Gdańsk and Gdynia during the Polish 1970 protests. Kociołek personally approved the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) order, issued along with Zenon Kliszko, for the regular Army to fire at striking workers in Polish shipyards, which resulted in hundreds of innocent people being killed.

Career

After World War Two, Kociołek worked as head-master at an elementary school near Iława, and in 1957 graduated from Warsaw University. He joined the communist party right there, and served as leader of its own PZPR party-cell. He quickly rose to become the first secretary of the Warsaw Committee of PZPR (1958–1960 and 1963–1964), as well as the secretary of Socialist Youth Association. Between December 1967 and July 1970 he was the first secretary of communist party in Gdańsk. During the massacre of shipyard workers in 1970 he served as deputy prime minister. Afterwards, he was sent abroad to various diplomatic posts, for his own safety. He was brought back to Warsaw for the crushing of the Solidarity trade union, and during the Martial law in Poland resided in Moscow as ambassador. He returned to Poland in 1985, and was charged with communist crimes in 1995, after the collapse of communism.