Former Polish PM Jan Olszewski dies at 88
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
08.02.2019 10:00
Former Polish Prime Minister Jan Olszewski has died at the age of 88.
Jan Olszewski, pictured in 2008. Photo: PAP
A onetime anti-communist dissident, Olszewski served as prime minister from December 1991 to June 1992.
He was a lawyer who defended members of Poland's democratic opposition in political trials during the communist era.
In the 1980s, he was a leading figure in Poland's Solidarity freedom movement.
In 1989, he took part in the country's landmark Round Table talks that paved the way to the collapse of communism in Poland and across the region.
From 2006 to 2010, he worked as an adviser to President Lech Kaczyński.
Born in Warsaw in 1930, Olszewski took part in the city's 1944 uprising against Poland's Nazi German occupiers during World War II.
In 2009, he was presented with the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state decoration.
President Lech Kaczyński confers the Order of the White Eagle on Jan Olszewski on May 3, 2009. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, PAP, TVP Info