Jan Olszewski
| Jan Olszewski | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 3rd Prime Minister of Poland | |
|
In office 6 December 1991 – 5 June 1992 |
|
| President | Lech Wałęsa |
| Deputy | none |
| Preceded by | Jan Krzysztof Bielecki |
| Succeeded by | Waldemar Pawlak |
| Member of the Sejm | |
|
In office 18 June 1991 – 31 March 1993 |
|
| Constituency | Warsaw I |
|
In office 20 October 1997 – 18 October 2005 |
|
| Constituency | Warsaw I |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
20 August 1930 Warsaw, Second Polish Republic |
| Political party |
Solidarity Citizens' Committee (1988-1990) Centre Agreement (1990–1992) Movement for the Republic (1992-1995) Movement for the Reconstruction of Poland (1995-2012) |
| Spouse(s) | Marta Olszewska |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Jan Ferdynand Olszewski ['jan ɔlˈʂɛfskʲi] (born 20 August 1930 in Warsaw) is a Polish conservative lawyer and politician. Olszewski served as the Prime Minister of Poland for five months between December 1991 to early June 1992, and later became a leading figure of the national conservative Movement for the Reconstruction of Poland. Olszewski's premiership was the second shortest in the history of the Third Republic.
As a native of Warsaw, Olszewski originated from a working-class family employed in the railway industry, who were strongly connected to the Polish Socialist Party. Olszewski is related to Stefan Aleksander Okrzeja, a Polish socialist nationalist from the turn of the 20th century, who was executed by Russian authorities in 1905 for leading insurgent activities. Despite Olszewski's active preference to right-wing politics later in life, he considered himself sympathetic to socialist causes during his early formative years.
During World War II, Olszewski was active in the Szare Szeregi ("Grey Ranks"), an underground part of the Polish Scouting Association, and participated in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
In the immediate post-war years, Olszewski graduated from secondary school in 1949, later going on to study law at the University of Warsaw, where he graduated in 1953. Afterward, he became an employee of the Ministry of Justice and later worked at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1956, Olszewski joined the writing staff of the weekly Po prostu (Plain Speaking) magazine. As a journalist during the relatively open Polish October, Olszewski came into contact with PZPR First Secretary and de facto head of state Władysław Gomułka, whom he spent many hours interviewing and described having a trustful relationship with after many frank discussions regarding the state of affairs of Poland and the Eastern Bloc. In an article titled "Na spotkanie ludziom z AK" ("Reaching out to the Men of the Home Army") published in March 1956, Olszewski, along with journalists Jerzy Ambroziewicz and Walery Namiotkiewicz, called for the rehabilitation of former Armia Krajowa soldiers, who faced persecution from communist authorities for anti-state activities. One of the first openly published articles of its kind to break the official silence on the Armia Krajowa, Olszewski argued that its veterans deserved a positive historical assessment in the struggle against Nazi Germany, describing all subsequent prosecutions of its ranks as being politically motivated. Despite the government's initial toleration of Po prostu's critiques, authorities moved in to forcibly close down the publication's offices in October 1956, citing it of presenting a false view of political and economic realities, spreading "disbeliefs" about socialism, and proclaiming "bourgeois concepts." For his part, Olszewksi faced a publication ban beginning in 1957. The forcible closure and censoring of Po prostu led Olszewski to become quickly disillusioned with the communist order. As a response, from 1956 to 1962, Olszewski was a member of the Klub Krzywego Koła (Club of the Crooked Circle), a Warsaw-based underground discussion group composed of intellectuals critical of the regime.
...
Wikipedia