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* {{pl icon}} {{Cite book | last1 = Dudek | first1 = Antoni | title = Bolesław Piasecki: próba biografii politycznej | trans_title=Bolesław Piasecki: sketch of a political biography | date = 1990 | publisher = "Aneks" | location = London | isbn = 0-906601-74-6 | pages = }} * {{pl icon}} {{Cite book | last1 = Dudek | first1 = Antoni | title = Bolesław Piasecki: próba biografii politycznej | trans_title=Bolesław Piasecki: sketch of a political biography | date = 1990 | publisher = "Aneks" | location = London | isbn = 0-906601-74-6 | pages = }}
* {{en icon}} {{cite interview |last=Mazowiecki |first=Tadeusz |interviewer=Małgorzata Dzieduszycka |title=Interview with Tadeusz Mazowiecki |url=http://www.instesw.ebox.lublin.pl/ed/0/mazowiecki.html.en |program=EuroDialog |year=1997 |month= |page= |accessdate=9 January 2012 |quote=|work=EuroDialog|issue=0/97}} * {{en icon}} {{cite interview |last=Mazowiecki |first=Tadeusz |interviewer=Małgorzata Dzieduszycka |title=Interview with Tadeusz Mazowiecki |url=http://www.instesw.ebox.lublin.pl/ed/0/mazowiecki.html.en |program=EuroDialog |year=1997 |month= |page= |accessdate=9 January 2012 |quote=|work=EuroDialog|issue=0/97}}
* {{pl icon}} {{Cite book | last1 = Friszke | first1 = Andrzej | author1-link = Andrzej Friszke | title = Koło posłów "Znak" w Sejmie PRL 1957-1976 | trans_title="Znak" parliamentary club in the Sejm of the PRP; 1957-1976 | date = 2002 | publisher = Wydawnictwo Sejmowe | location = Warsaw | isbn = 83-7059-527-8 | pages = }} * {{pl icon}} {{cite book |author1=] |coauthors= |editor1= |others= |title=Opozycja polityczna w PRL 1945-1980 |trans_title=Political opposition in the PRP, 1945-1980 |url= |edition= |series= |volume= |year=1994 |publisher=Aneks |location=London |isbn=1897962037 |oclc= |pages= }}
* {{pl icon}} {{Cite book | last1 = Friszke | first1 = Andrzej | title = Oaza na Kopernika: Klub Inteligencji Katolickiej, 1956-1989 | trans_title=Oasis at Kopernika Str.: Club of Catholic Intelligentsia, 1956-1989 | date = 1997 | publisher = Biblioteka "Więzi" | series=Biblioteka "Więzi" | volume=100| location = Warszawa | isbn = 83-85124-90-X | issn =0519-9336 }}
* {{pl icon}} {{Cite book | last1 = Friszke | first1 = Andrzej | title = Koło posłów "Znak" w Sejmie PRL 1957-1976 | trans_title="Znak" parliamentary club in the Sejm of the PRP; 1957-1976 | date = 2002 | publisher = Wydawnictwo Sejmowe | location = Warsaw | isbn = 83-7059-527-8 | pages = }}
* {{pl icon}} {{cite book|last=Kopka|first=Bogusław |coauthors=Żelichowski, Ryszard |title=Rodem z Solidarnośći: sylwetki twórców NSZZ "Solidarność" | trans_title=Roots in Solidarity: silhouettes of the creators of "Solidarity"|publisher=Stowarzyszenie Archiwum Solidarności|year=1997|page=135|isbn=9788370540999}} * {{pl icon}} {{cite book|last=Kopka|first=Bogusław |coauthors=Żelichowski, Ryszard |title=Rodem z Solidarnośći: sylwetki twórców NSZZ "Solidarność" | trans_title=Roots in Solidarity: silhouettes of the creators of "Solidarity"|publisher=Stowarzyszenie Archiwum Solidarności|year=1997|page=135|isbn=9788370540999}}
* {{pl icon}} {{cite journal | author1 =kospa | author2=dan | author3=gaw | year =2013 | month =October | title =Tadeusz Mazowiecki nie żyje. Miał 86 lat. "Uczył nas pokory w polityce" | trans_title=Tadeusz Mazowiecki dead. He was 86. "He taught us humility in politics" | journal =] | volume = | issue =28-10-2013 | pages = | issn =0860-908X | url =http://wyborcza.pl/1,75478,14854219,Tadeusz_Mazowiecki_nie_zyje__Mial_86_lat.html | format = | accessdate =28 October 2013 }} * {{pl icon}} {{cite journal | author1 =kospa | author2=dan | author3=gaw | year =2013 | month =October | title =Tadeusz Mazowiecki nie żyje. Miał 86 lat. "Uczył nas pokory w polityce" | trans_title=Tadeusz Mazowiecki dead. He was 86. "He taught us humility in politics" | journal =] | volume = | issue =28-10-2013 | pages = | issn =0860-908X | url =http://wyborcza.pl/1,75478,14854219,Tadeusz_Mazowiecki_nie_zyje__Mial_86_lat.html | format = | accessdate =28 October 2013 }}

Revision as of 01:42, 31 October 2013

Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
In office
24 August 1989 – 12 January 1991
PresidentWojciech Jaruzelski
Lech Wałęsa
DeputyLeszek Balcerowicz
Czesław Janicki
Jan Janowski
Czesław Kiszczak
Preceded byCzesław Kiszczak
Succeeded byJan Krzysztof Bielecki
Chairman of the Freedom Union
In office
1994–1995
Preceded by(Party formed)
Succeeded byLeszek Balcerowicz
Chairman of the Democratic Union
In office
1991–1994
Preceded by(Party formed)
Succeeded by(became a chairman of the Freedom Union)
Member of Sejm of the People's Republic of Poland
In office
1961–1972
Member of Sejm of the Republic of Poland
In office
1991–2001
ConstituencyPoznań (1991–97)
Kraków (1997–2001)
Personal details
Born(1927-04-18)18 April 1927
Płock, Second Republic of Poland
Died28 October 2013(2013-10-28) (aged 86)
Warsaw, Poland
Political partyPAX Association (1949–55)
Znak (1961–72)
Solidarity (1980–91)
Democratic Union (1991–94)
Freedom Union (1994–2005)
Democratic Party – demokraci.pl (2005–06)
Spouse(s)Krystyna (d.)
Ewa (d.)
ChildrenWojciech
Adam
Michal
ProfessionAuthor, journalist, social worker

Tadeusz Mazowiecki ; (18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.

Biography

Tadeusz Mazowiecki was born in Płock, Poland on 18 April 1927 to a Polish noble family, which uses the Dołęga coat of arms. Both his parents worked at the local Holy Trinity Hospital: his father was a doctor there while his mother ran a charity for the poor. His education was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. During the war he worked as a runner in the hospital his parents worked for. After the German forces had been expelled from Płock, Tadeusz Mazowiecki resumed his education and in 1946 he graduated from "Marshal Stanisław Małachowski" Lyceum, the oldest high school in Poland and one of the oldest schools still running in Europe. He then moved to Łódź and then to Warsaw, where he joined the Law Faculty of the Warsaw University. However, he never graduated and instead devoted himself to activity in various Catholic associations, journals and publishing houses.

From 1945 to 1955, Mazowiecki was a member of the Communist-controlled Catholic PAX Association from which he was later expelled for being the leader of the so-called internal opposition. Between 1953 and 1955, he was the editor-in-chief of the Wrocławski Tygodnik Katolicki (Wrocław Catholic Weekly, WTK). Under Stalinism in Poland he was involved in the defamation of the Bishop of Kielce Czesław Kaczmarek, groundlessly accused by the Communists of being an American and Vatican spy. In 1952, he published a pamphlet titled The enemy remains the same (Wróg pozostał ten sam, co-authored with Zygmunt Przetakiewicz, then editor-in-chief of WTK) imputing an alliance between Polish anti-communist resistance movement and Nazi war criminals.

He was one of the founding members of the Club of Catholic Intelligentsia, which was established in 1957. In 1958, Mazowiecki established Więź monthly and became its editor-in-chief. From 1961 to 1971, he was a representative in the Sejm (the Polish Parliament), serving his third, fourth and fifth terms as a member of the Catholic party Znak. He raised the issue of the students' demonstrations which took place in March 1968, in the Sejm.

After the 1970 protests in Poland, Mazowiecki insisted on setting up a committee in order to find those who were responsible for the bloodshed. When in 1976 he was no longer allowed to run for parliamentary office, he joined the opposition.

In August 1980, he headed the Board of Experts, that supported the workers from Gdańsk who were negotiating with the authorities. From 1981, he was the editor-in-chief of the Tygodnik Solidarność weekly magazine. After martial law was declared in December 1981 he was arrested and imprisoned in Strzebielnik, then in Jaworz and finally in Darłówek.

He was one of the last prisoners to be released on 23 December 1982. In 1987, he spent a year abroad, during which he talked to politicians and trade union representatives. Starting in 1988, he held talks in Magdalenka. He firmly believed in the process of taking power from the ruling Polish United Workers' Party through negotiation and thus he played an active role in the Polish Round Table Talks, becoming one of the most important architects of the agreement by which partially free elections were held on 4 June 1989 and won by Solidarity in a historic landslide.

Solidarity then persuaded the Communists' two satellite parties to break their alliance with the Communists. This would all but force President Wojciech Jaruzelski to appoint a Solidarity member as prime minister, heading the first government in 45 years that was not dominated by Communists. At a meeting on 17 August 1989, Jaruzelski finally agreed to Lech Wałęsa's demand that the next Prime Minister of Poland should be a member of Solidarity. Walesa chose Mazowiecki as Solidarity candidate to lead the coming administration. On 21 August 1989 General Jaruzelski designated Mazowiecki as candidate for Prime Minister. On 24 August 1989 the Sejm gave him a vote of confidence, making Mazowiecki became the first non-communist Prime Minister of an Eastern European country in over 40 years.

Government of Mazowiecki

On 13 September 1989 during his parliamentary speech introducing his new cabinet and government program for parliamentary approval, Mazowiecki had a dizzy spell which necessitated a one hour break in proceedings. However the government was approved by a vote 402–0, with 13 abstentions. Mazowiecki's government managed to carry out many fundamental reforms in a short period. The political system was thoroughly changed; a full range of civil freedoms as well as a multi-party system were introduced and the country's emblem and name were changed (from the People's Republic of Poland to the Republic of Poland). On 29 December 1989, the fundamental changes in the Polish Constitution were made. By virtue of these changes, the preamble was deleted, the chapters concerning political and economic forms of government were changed, the chapters concerning trade unions were rewritten and a uniform notion of possession was introduced.

Mazowiecki used enormous popularity and credibility of the Solidarity movement to transform Polish economy by a set of deep political and economic reforms. Better known under the name of Balcerowicz Plan after Mazowiecki's minister of finance, Leszek Balcerowicz, the reforms enabled the transformation of Polish economy from centrally-planned shortage economy to modern, free market. The reforms have prepared ground for measures stopping the hyperinflation, introducing free market mechanisms and privatisation of state-owned companies, houses and land.

"Thick line"

Mazowiecki in 1989

In 1989, in his first parliamentary speech in Sejm, Mazowiecki talked about a "thick line" (gruba linia): "We draw a thick line on what has happened in the past. We will answer for only what we have done to help Poland to rescue her from this crisis from now on". Originally, as Mazowiecki explains, it meant non-liability of his government for damages done to the national economy by previous governments.

Srebrenica massacre

In 1991 Mazowiecki was appointed Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia. He also issued a 1993 report on human rights violations in the Former Yugoslavia. Mazowiecki stepped down in 1995 in protest at what he regarded as the international community's insufficient response to atrocities committed during the Bosnian war, particularly the Srebrenica massacre committed by the Serb army that year.

Later years

T. Mazowiecki with President Bronisław Komorowski, former President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Minister of Education Katarzyna Hall

A conflict with Lech Wałęsa resulted in disintegration of Citizens' Parliamentary Club that represented solidarity camp. The Citizens' Parliamentary Club was divided into Centre Agreement, which supported Wałęsa, and ROAD, which took sides with Mazowiecki. That conflict lead both politicians to compete in presidential election at the end of 1990. Mazowiecki, who during Solidarity times was an advisor to Lech Wałęsa and strike committee in Gdańsk's shipyard, stood against Wałęsa in election and lost to him. He did not even join the second round (he gained support of 18.08% of people – 2,973,364 votes) and was defeated by Stanisław Tymiński, a maverick candidate from Canada.

In 1991, Mazowiecki became a chairman of Democratic Union (later Freedom Union), and from 1995 he was its honorary president. Together with Jan Maria Rokita, Aleksander Hall and Hanna Suchocka he represented the Christian Democratic wing of the party. Between 1989 and 2001 Mazowiecki was a representative to the Polish Parliament (first from Poznań, later from Kracow).

Mazowiecki was a member of parliament in first, second and third term (member of Democratic Union), later the Freedom Union. During the National Assembly (1997) he introduced compromise preamble of Polish constitution (previously written by founders of Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, which was accepted by the National Assembly. In November 2002, he left the Freedom Union, .

Mazowiecki in 2007

In 2005, he became one of the founders of the Democratic Party – demokraci.pl – created through expanding the former Freedom Union by new members, especially young people and few left-wing politicians. He was a leader on the parliamentary list in parliamentary elections in Warsaw constituency in 2005 with 30143 votes. The highest number of votes he gained in Żoliborz district, and the lowest in Rembertów. Until 2006 he was the leader of its Political Council.

Mazowiecki received numerous awards including an honorary degree from the universities in: Leuven, Genoa, Giessen, Poitiers, Exeter, Warsaw and the Katowice University of Economics. He also received the Order of White Eagle (1995), Golden Order of Bosnia (1996), Légion d'honneur (1997), Srebrnica Award (2005), the Giant award (1995) awarded by Gazeta Wyborcza (Election Gazette) in Poznań and Jan Nowak-Jezioranski Award (2004). In 2003, he was elected to the board of directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims. Mazowiecki was a member of the Club of Madrid. He was a supporter of a more united Europe.

Mazowiecki died in Warsaw on 28 October 2013, having been taken to hospital the previous week with a fever. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that he was "one of the fathers of Polish liberty and independence". He was survived by three sons from his second marriage.

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ BBC (corporate author), p. 1 Cite error: The named reference "BBC" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. Kopka & Żelichowski, p. 135
  3. ^ Pac, p. 1
  4. Friszke, p. 606
  5. Musiał, p. 1
  6. Jak Mazowiecki zwalczał podziemie, "Historia Do Rzeczy", issue No. 1/2013
  7. Szporer, p. 259
  8. Ost, p. 219
  9. Tagliabue, "Solidarity seems on verge...", p. 1
  10. Baczyńska & Słowikowska, p. 1
  11. Tagliabue, "Poles Approve Solidarity-Led Cabinet", p. 1
  12. ^ Sachs, pp. 44-46
  13. Leszkowicz, p. 1
  14. WŻ, p. 22
  15. Amnesty International (corporate author), p. 1
  16. Club de Madrid (corporate author), p. 1
  17. Dzieduszycka, p. 1
  18. Kospa et al., p. 1
  19. ^ Ścisłowska, p. 1

Bibliography

External links

Political offices
Preceded byCzesław Kiszczak Prime Minister of Poland
1989–1991 		Succeeded byJan Krzysztof Bielecki
Prime ministers of Poland
Duchy of Warsaw
(1807–1813)
Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)
Republic of Poland
(1918–1939)
Polish government-in-exile
(1939–1990)
Polish People's Republic
(1944–1989)
Republic of Poland
(1990–present)
*Acting
The Cabinet of Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Original members
Joined later
Chairmen of the Freedom Union (Poland)
Candidates in the 1990 Polish presidential election → following
Winner Jack of the President of the Republic of Poland
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