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Poznań June
(also known as Poznań 1956 uprising)
On June 28, 1956, Demonstrations by workers demanding better conditions began on June 28, 1956, at Poznań's Cegielski Factories and were met with violent repression. The workers took to the streets, and were soon joined by workers from other factories, students, and intellectuals, resulting in over 100,000 people gathering at the Imperial Castle in Poznan, where city officials and the Polish secret police had their headquarters.
400 tanks and 10,000 soldiers of Ludowe Wojsko Polskie and Korpus Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego under Polish-Soviet general Stanislav Poplavsky were ordered to suppress the demonstration and during the pacification fired at the protesting civilians. The death toll was placed between 57 and 78 people. Hundreds of people sustained injuries.
The Poznań protests were an important milestone on the way to the installation of a less Soviet-controlled government in Poland.
On June 21, 2006, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the events, the Polish Sejm declared June 28 to be a national holiday in Poland; the Day of Remembrance of the Poznań June 1956
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