The social welfare system in the period of the Polish People’s Republic (1944-1989)

Abstract

In Polish People’s Republic (1944—1989), a number of organisational and ideological changes were made in the social welfare sector: most of the ways of organising help that were tested during the in­terwar period were replaced with new concepts, often with sad consequences for those in need. This article presents the changes that took place in the Polish social security sector in the decades af­ ter World War II. Subsequent attempts to reform the social welfare system have been shown with the use of archival materials, other historical sources and literature of the subject.