Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz (, born 18 December 1937) is a Polish mathematician, alpinist and politician,Europa Publications, "The International Who's Who 2004", Routledge, 2003
pg. 1258
/ref> who served as

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and

Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (; born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and former Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he serv ...

(1997–2000).Jeffrey Simon, "Poland and NATO: a study in civil-military relations", Rowman & Littlefield, 2004
pg. 19
/ref> Later in his career, Onyszkiewicz was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

."A 5-member delegation representing the European Parliament pays a 4-day visit to Taiwan.",

Early life and education

Onyszkiewicz was born in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

(then Poland, now Lviv,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

).Dziennik Polski, "Ankieta Eurokandyta – Janusz Onyszkiewicz", 20 May 2009

/ref> He graduated in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from Warsaw University. He became a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, and was also known as an alpinist in the 1970s along with his wife Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz. After Alison's death on Annapurna in 1978, Onyszkiewicz gave up altitude climbing and turned to politics.

Political career

In the 1980s, Onyszkiewicz became the spokesman for the

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

movement. He became popular among foreign journalists because of his fluent English. After the introduction of

martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...

on 13 December 1981, he was arrested and interned.Krzysztof Ciesielski and Zdzislaw Pogoda, "Janusz Onyszkiewicz", The Mathematical Intelligencer, Volume 12, Number 4 / December, 1990

/ref> In 1986, he was again detained by the police, preventing him from holding a news conference on behalf of political prisoners that was scheduled to coincide with the start of a conference of intellectuals.2 Solidarity Activists Detained in Poland
�''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 17 January 1986.

Member of the Polish Parliament

After the fall of communism in 1989, Onyszkiewicz became a member of the Polish

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

. He served all subsequent terms from May 1989 until 2001. In the spring of 1990, Onyszkiewicz and

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who was the fifth president of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski previously served as Ministry of National Defence (Poland), Minister of National Defence ...

became the first civilian vice-ministers of defence in the communist-dominated Ministry of Defence. Later, Onyszkiewicz was Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and

(1997–2000).Jeffrey Simon, "Poland and NATO: a study in civil-military relations", Rowman & Littlefield, 2004
pg. 19
/ref> Initially, Onyszkiewicz was a member of the Obywatelski Klub Parlamentarny, then the Democratic Union and the Freedom Union. Today, he is a member of the Democratic Party, the continuation of Democratic Union. In 1999, Onyszkiewicz was awarded the Manfred Wörner Medal by the German Minister of Defence.

Member of the European Parliament

On 13 June 2004, Onyszkiewicz was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

as a candidate of Democratic Union in the 10th constituency (

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

+ Swietokrzyskie Voivodeships) receiving 50 155 votes (6,37%). On 20 July 2004 he was elected a vice-president of the European Parliament.

Other activities

Onyszkiewicz is Chairman of the ICDT's International Board of Directors."An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe", International Center for Democratic Transition,

References