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Polish politician (1931–2023) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Stefan Olszowski | |
---|---|
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 92) | (aged
Political party | Polish United Workers' Party |
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]
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]
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]
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