Stefan Olszowski | |
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Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 21 July 1982 – 12 November 1985 | |
Prime Minister | Mieczyslaw Rakowski |
Preceded by | Józef Czyrek |
Succeeded by | Marian Orzechowski |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 22 December 1971 – 2 December 1976 | |
Preceded by | Stefan Jędrychowski |
Succeeded by | Emil Wojtaszek |
Personal details | |
Born | Toruń, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland | 28 August 1931
Died | 19 December 2023 | (aged 92)
Political party | Polish United Workers' Party |
Stefan Michał Olszowski (28 August 1931 – 19 December 2023) was a Polish politician, who was a member of Polish United Workers' Party. He served as the foreign minister of the People's Republic of Poland for two terms.
Biography
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Photograph_of_President_Gerald_R._Ford_Meeting_with_Edward_Gierek%2C_First_Secretary_of_the_Central_Committee_of_the_Polish_United_Workers%27_Party_%28PZPR%29%2C_in_the_Oval_Office_-_NARA_-_7462055.jpg/220px-thumbnail.jpg)
Olszowski was born in Torun on 28 August 1931.[1] He was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party from December 1970 to his resignation on 12 November 1985.[2][3] He served as the propaganda chief of the party in the late 1960s and at the beginning of the 1970s.[4][5]
Olszowski was appointed foreign minister on 22 December 1971, replacing Stefan Jędrychowski in the post.[6] He was in office until 2 December 1976 when Emil Wojtaszek replaced him in the post.[6] In 1980, he was appointed ambassador to East Germany and left the politburo for this post that he held just six months.[3] Then he continued to serve at the politburo.[3] He acted as the party's central committee secretary for ideology and media from August 1980 to July 1982.[7][8] Then he was secondly appointed foreign minister in July 1982, replacing Józef Czyrek in the post.[8] Before his appointment as foreign minister he run for the presidency of the party, but he was not elected.[9] His term as foreign minister ended on 12 November 1985.[10] He was also dismissed from the party leadership in 1985, partly due to his relationship with a Polish journalist whom he married after divorcing his first spouse.[11] Then he and his girlfriend settled in New York in 1986.[12][13]
Views and activities
[edit]Under the Edward Gierek's rule in the party, Olszowski was a reformist.[14] However, later he became a hard-liner politician and a supporter of the Soviet Union while he was in office.[12] In March 1968, he was the leading orchestrator of the anti-Semitic campaign began in Poland.[4] In November 1973, he paid an official visit to Rome that was the first official visit to the Vatican by a Polish government minister since World War II.[15][16] However, during the visit of Pope to Poland from 16 to 23 June 1983 he and Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Rakowski directly attacked on some of the Pope's pronouncements.[17]
Olszowski together with other hard-liners strived for an armed confrontation with the Solidarity movement.[18] He was instrumental in cracking down the movement at its initial phase.[12]
Personal life and death
[edit]Olszowski married twice. Following his divorce, he married a younger Polish journalist woman.[13] They live in New York.[13]
Stefan Olszowski died on 19 December 2023, at the age of 92.[19]
References
[edit]- ^ Current world leaders: Almanac. 1972. p. 20.
- ^ "Poland's Foreign Minister Loses Power Struggle, Quits Politburo". Orlando Sentinel. 12 November 1985. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ a b c "Poland's foreign minister off politburo". Toledo Blade. Warsaw. AP. 12 November 1985. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ a b Feliks Tych (2011). "A Historical Miracle: Jewish Life in Poland afterCommunism" (PDF). Deep Roots, New Branches: 31.
- ^ "Red Poles put blame for economic failure". Star News. Warsaw. UPI. 7 February 1971. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ^ a b "Polish Ministries". Rulers. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ Karl Molin (30 June 2011). "The CPSU Politburo and the Polish crisis 1980—1981". Baltic Worlds. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ a b Anna Snutt (22 July 1982). "Veteran Polish politician is named foreign minister". The CS Monitor. Warsaw. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ "New leadership team shifts focus to economy" (PDF). CIA. 10 December 1985. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ Gillette, Robert (13 November 1985). "Poland Completes Leadership Reshuffle". Los Angeles Times. Warsaw. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ "Don't Mess with Cupid: A Remembrance". Hoover Archivists' Musings. Blog of the Hoover Institution Library and Archives. 7 September 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ a b c Douglas Martin (20 May 1988). "Love Moves Ex-Polish Leader From Warsaw to Rego Park". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ a b c "More of Polish Foreign Minister's Papers Received by Hoover Archives". Hoover Institution. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- ^ Werner G. Hahn (1987). Democracy in a Communist Party: Poland's Experience since 1980. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 023106540X.
- ^ George Schopflin. "Poland: Troubled Relations Between Church and State" (PDF). Biblical Studies.
- ^ "Warsaw minister calls on the Pope". Calgary Herald. Rome. 13 November 1973. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ^ J. B. de Weydenthal (1984). "The Pope's Pilgrimage to Poland". Religion in Communist Lands. 12 (1): 69–76. doi:10.1080/09637498408431112.
- ^ Przemysław Gasztold-Seń (4 October 2011). "The Road to Martial Law: Polish Communist Authorities vs. Solidarity" (PDF). Polish Institute of National Remembrance. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ "Wojskowe Powązki dla kolejnego dygnitarza z PRL" (in Polish). RP. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
External links
[edit]Media related to Stefan Olszowski at Wikimedia Commons