%0 Journal Article
%T Sovietization of social life in Poland as exemplified by the Opole Silesia region in the years 1947–1951
%A Bereszyński, Zbigniew
%J Archival and Historical Review
%V 2018
%R 10.4467/2391-890XPAH.18.006.14923
%N Vol. V
%P 99-110
%K Opole Silesia, Sovietization, communists, totalitarian system
%@ 2391-890X
%D 2018
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/przeglad-archiwalno-historyczny/article/sowietyzacja-zycia-spolecznego-w-polsce-na-przykladzie-slaska-opolskiego-w-latach-1947-1951
%X 
	Parliamentary elections of January 1947, rigged by communists, began the process of gradual Sovietization of social life in Poland. It aimed at establishing a totalitarian political system, mo- deled after the Soviet Union. The events which took place in the Opole Silesia region in the years 1947–1950 are a great illustration of this process. Progressive Sovietization of the social life became a major obstacle in the process of achieving social integration in the Opole Silesia. Actions such as a fight with the Catholic Church or creating collective farms resulted with stronger pro-German attitudes among native inhabitants. Communist authorities reacted to manifestations of social resistance among various groups with repressions. However, within a few years, faced 110 Zbigniew Bereszyński with events such as the people’s uprising in Poznań in 1956, they were forced to attenuate their policy toward the society and allow for partial liberalization of social life.