Czesław Kiszczak
| Czesław Kiszczak | |
|---|---|
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Prime Minister of the Polish People's Republic 11th and last communist Prime Minister of Poland |
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In office 2 August 1989 – 19 August 1989 |
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| President | Wojciech Jaruzelski |
| Preceded by | Mieczysław Rakowski |
| Succeeded by | Tadeusz Mazowiecki |
| Minister of Internal Affairs of the Polish People's Republic |
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In office 31 July 1981 – 6 July 1990 |
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| President | Wojciech Jaruzelski |
| Prime Minister |
Wojciech Jaruzelski Zbigniew Messner Mieczysław Rakowski Czesław Kiszczak Tadeusz Mazowiecki |
| Preceded by | |
| Succeeded by | Krzysztof Kozłowski |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
19 October 1925 Roczyny, Second Polish Republic |
| Died | 5 November 2015 (aged 90) Warsaw, Poland |
| Resting place | Orthodox Cemetery (Warsaw) |
| Political party | Polish United Workers' Party |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | Ewa Kiszczak Jarosław Kiszczak |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Poland |
| Service/branch | Polish People's Army |
| Years of service | 1945–1990 |
| Rank | Generał broni |
Czesław Kiszczak [ˈt͡ʂɛswaf ˈkiʂt͡ʂak] (19 October 1925 – 5 November 2015) was a Polish general, communist-era interior minister (1981–1990) and prime minister (1989).
In 1981 he played a key role in imposing martial law and suppression of the Solidarity movement in Poland. But eight years later he presided over the country’s transition to democracy as its last communist prime minister and a co-chairman of the Round Table conference, in which officials of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party faced the democratic opposition leaders. The conference led to the reconciliation with and reinstatement of Solidarity, the 1989 elections, and the formation of Poland’s first non-communist government since 1945.
Czesław was born on 19 October 1925, in Roczyny, the son of a struggling farmer who was fired as a steelworker because of his communist affiliation. Due to his father's beliefs, young Czesław was brought up in an anti-clerical, pro-Soviet atmosphere.
During World War II, in 1942, when he was 16, Kiszczak was arrested by the German occupants with his mother, older brother and an aunt and sent for forced labour. At first Czesław was recruited at the German coal mine, but later was sent to Austria. Towards the end of the war he was in Vienna, where he joined a communist-led anti-Nazi resistance group which collaborated with the Red Army.
After the war Kiszczak returned to Poland, joined the communist Polish Workers' Party almost immediately, and was sent to the Central Party School in Łódź, which was training civilian and military Party apparatchiks. Kiszczak entered the Polish Army, where he fought guerrilla groups that were resisting the communist takeover. Guerrillas beat his father and spared his life only after his mother intervened. Kiszczak later explained that those struggles had shaped his response to the pro-democracy upheaval decades later: “Experiences linked with that drama, that fratricidal struggle, are among the major reasons that shaped my role in the complicated years of 1980–82,” he said. “I did not want that tragic history to repeat itself.”
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