Born in Zagórze, an outlying district of Sosnowiec, Edward Gierek (1913 – 2001) is best remembered as the man who took Poland to the brink of bankruptcy with his half-mad economic policies. His father died in a mining accident when Gierek was aged four, and soon after his mother hitched up with a new fella and made the decision to up sticks and move the brood to France. By the age of 17 he was a card carrying member of the French commie party, and it wasn’t long before his subversive activities had come to the attention of the authorities. Regarded as a political pest he was deported back to Poland, and was immediately called up for national service. By 1937, and with a marriage to his name, Gierek made the decision to head westwards once more, this time to Belgium where he grafted in the mines by Ghent. His personal history gets a bit cloudy around this time, though it’s commonly accepted he fought behind the frontlines with a unit of Polish guerillas. With the war over Gierek and wife moved back to Katowice in 1948, no doubt pleased as punch that the country was now communist controlled. It didn’t take long for Gierek to rise through the ranks, and in 1957 he was appointed as the regional head of the Communist party. He set about his task with ideological zeal, approving grandiose projects like the Spodek and Park of Culture and Recreation. He also remained true to his mining roots, and although conditions for Silesia’s miners remained brutal, under Gierek these modern day Gollum’s at least enjoyed the benefit of cheaper cars and housing. Championed as a man of the people Gierek enjoyed considerable public support, though a dark side surfaced during the student protests of 1968. ‘Don’t make ripples in this still Silesian water’, he warned local academics, before ominously adding, ‘or it will break your bones’. But the threat of military intervention did little to deter the protestors, and a sudden hike in food prices sparked a wave of rioting in December, 1970. Scores of people were killed, forcing Władysław Gomułka to resign his post as Polish First Secretary. The nation needed a new man, someone who could unite the country and lead Poland forward. The dynamic Gierek was the perfect candidate, and his promises of economic and social reform were just what the masses wanted to hear. He forged close links with the West, in particular France and Germany, and propped up by huge foreign loans set about modernizing industry and bringing the country out of the dark ages. His strategy was an immediate success, and saw him hailed an economic mastermind by workers across the country. But the oil crash of 1973 sent shockwaves throughout the globe, and by 1976 Poles were once more feeling the pinch. He had borrowed billions, and now his creditors wanted the money back – the cost was passed onto the people by ways of further price increases, and imports were cut dramatically while everything which could be exported was leading to empty shelves and longer queues than ever before; all this while Gierek and his cronies continued to enjoy a high life of hunting and holidays. By 1980 the people had had enough, and inspired by Lech Wałęsa’s Solidarity movement strikes and protests ripped through the country. Poland was in crisis, and Gierek was forced to abdicate his position. The hardline regime that followed him, led by General Jaruzelski, pinned Poland’s mounting economic and social crisis on him, and he was forced to resign his party membership before being locked away for a year. Choosing a quiet life after his ignominious exit from politics Gierek lived out the rest of his life in the southern town of Ustroń, and passed away in 2001 following a battle against a lung infection. The mark he left was immense, but while the rest of Poland finds itself still paying off the debts he racked up, the people of Katowice have something a little more solid to remember him by – namely the Gierkówka highway.