Stefan Michał Olszowski (born 28 August 1931) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

politician, who was a member of

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

. He served as the foreign minister of the People's Republic of Poland for two terms.

Biography

Olszowski was born in Torun on 28 August 1931. He was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party from December 1970 to his resignation on 12 November 1985. He served as the propaganda chief of the party in the late 1960s and at the beginning of the 1970s. He was appointed foreign minister on 22 December 1971, replacing Stefan Jędrychowski in the post. He was in office until 2 December 1976 when

Emil Wojtaszek Emil Wojtaszek (22 August 1927 – 17 June 2017) was a Polish politician who served as the minister of foreign affairs of the People's Republic of Poland from 1976 to 1980. Biography Wojtaszek was born in Kraków on 22 August 1927. He was centr ...

replaced him in the post. In 1980, he was appointed ambassador to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and left the politburo for this post that he held just six months. Then he continued to serve at the politburo. He acted as the party's central committee secretary for ideology and media from August 1980 to July 1982. Then he was secondly appointed foreign minister in July 1982, replacing Józef Czyrek in the post. Before his appointment as foreign minister he run for the presidency of the party, but he was not elected. His term as foreign minister ended on 12 November 1985. 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. Then he and his girlfriend settled in New York in 1986.

Views and activities

Under the

Edward Gierek Edward Gierek (; 6 January 1913 – 29 July 2001) was a Polish Communist politician and ''de facto'' leader of Poland between 1970 and 1980. Gierek replaced Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (P ...

's rule in the party, Olszowski was a reformist. However, later he became a hard-liner politician and a supporter of

the Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

while he was in office. In March 1968, he was the leading orchestrator of the anti-Semitic campaign began in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. In November 1973, he paid an official visit to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

that was the first official visit to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

by a Polish government minister since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. 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. Olszowski together with other hard-liners strived for an armed confrontation with the Solidarity movement. He was instrumental in cracking down the movement at its initial phase.

Personal life

Olszowski married twice. Following his divorce, he married a younger Polish journalist woman. They live in New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olszowski, Stefan 20th-century Polish politicians 1931 births Ambassadors of Poland to East Germany Living people Members of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party Members of the Polish Sejm 1969–1972 Members of the Polish Sejm 1972–1976 Members of the Polish Sejm 1976–1980 Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Poland People from Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939) People from Toruń People of the Cold War