History of Lublin

After the war, the few surviving Jews in hiding or Soviet territory reestablished a small Jewish community in the city, but it quickly shrank to insignificance, as most Jews left Poland for Israel and the West.

On 24 July 1944, the city was taken by the Soviet Army and became the temporary capital of a Soviet-controlled communist Polish Committee of National Liberation established in the city, which was to serve as basis for a puppet government. The capital was moved to Warsaw in January 1945. In the postwar years Lublin continued to grow, tripling its population and greatly expanding in area. A considerable scientific and research base was established around the newly founded Maria Curie-Sklodowska University. A large car factory (FSC) was established in the city.

In July 1960, the workers of Lublin and nearby Świdnik began the first in the wave of mass strikes aimed against the Communist regime, which eventually led to the emergence of the Solidarity movement. The first strike began on 8 July in the WSK factory in Świdnik. It then quickly spread to other factories in Lublin and the surrounding region. The railway network and city transit came to a standstill. Ultimately, 150 factories employing 70,000 workers joined the strike. The strikers used a novel tactic of staying inside their factories and occupying them, instead of marching in the streets where the authorities would have found it easy to use force against them. The workers made demands for their economic situation to be improved. They also made political demands, such as: new elections for the leadership of the trade unions, liquidation of privileges for the Communist Party governing class, and the reduction of the bureaucracy in the factories.