Wojciech Jaruzelski was a Polish military officer and the Communist “de facto” leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, making him the last leader of the Communist state known as the Polish People’s Republic. He was born into an upper-middle-class Polish family in Kurow and received a strict Christian education. In June 1941, during the height of the Second World War, Germany invaded Poland, which was already under Soviet control. Wojciech’s family suffered significant losses during the war. He was later captured at a railway station and sent to work in the Soviet Union, where he was admitted to the Soviet Officer Training School. He joined the war as part of the Polish army under Soviet command. In 1948, after the war ended, Wojciech joined the Polish Workers' Party (which later became the Polish United Workers' Party). In 1981, he became the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party and also served as the Minister of Defense. On December 13, 1981, he declared martial law in Poland, aiming to suppress political opposition and stabilize the economy. In July 1989, following Poland's transition to democracy, Jaruzelski was elected president by the parliament, becoming the first president of post-Communist Poland. He retired from active politics in 1990 after Lech Wałęsa won the presidential election and succeeded him.