MINC, HILARY

MINC, HILARY (1905–1974), Polish Communist politician. Born in Kazimierz Dolny into an assimilated family, Minc joined the Communist youth movement in 1921. From 1925 to 1928, studying economics in France, he was a member of the French Communist Party. After his return to Poland, he worked in the chief statistical office in Warsaw and at the same time joined the illegal Communist Party, becoming secretary of its central editorial staff. During World War II Minc lived in the Soviet Union, and was one of the chief organizers of the Soviet-sponsored Union of Polish Patriots. He was also prominent in the formation of the Polish Army units organized in Russia. Following the liberation of Poland from the Germans (1945), Minc became minister for industry and commerce. He was made a vice premier in 1949 and in the same year was appointed chairman of the State Planning Commission. In this capacity he was the chief author of Poland's economic policy; but in 1956, when Wladyslaw Gomulka came to power, he was removed from all his posts in the party and government, both as a Stalinist and as a Jew. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. Gutman, Ha-Yehudim be-Polin aharei Milḥemet Olam ha-Sheniyah (1985), index; K. Nusbaum, Ve-Hafakh la-Hem le-Ro'eẓ, Ha-Yehudim be-Ẓava ha-Amami ha-Polani be-Verit ha-Mo'eẓot (1984), index. (Abraham Wein)