Janusz Onyszkiewicz | |
---|---|
Minister of National Defence | |
In office 31 October 1997 – 16 June 2000 | |
Prime Minister | Jerzy Buzek |
Preceded by | Stanisław Dobrzański |
Succeeded by | Bronisław Komorowski |
In office 11 July 1992 – 26 October 1993 | |
Prime Minister | Hanna Suchocka |
Preceded by | Romuald Szeremietiew |
Succeeded by | Piotr Kołodziejczyk |
Personal details | |
Born | Lwów, Poland | 18 December 1937
Political party | Democratic Party – demokraci.pl |
Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjanuʂ ɔnɨʂˈkʲɛvʲitʂ], born 18 December 1937) is a Polish mathematician, alpinist, politician [1] who served as Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and Jerzy Buzek (1997–2000). [2]
Later in his career, Onyszkiewicz was a Member of the European Parliament. [3]
Onyszkiewicz was born in Lwów (then Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine). [4] He graduated in mathematics from Warsaw University. He became a mathematician, and was also known as an alpinist in the 1970s along with his wife Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz.
In the 1980s, Onyszkiewicz became the spokesman for the anti-communist Solidarity movement. [1] He became popular among foreign journalists because of his fluent English. After the introduction of martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981, he was arrested and interned. [5] 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. [6]
After the fall of communism in 1989, Onyszkiewicz became a member of the Polish Sejm. He served all subsequent terms from May 1989 until 2001. In the spring of 1990, Onyszkiewicz and Bronisław Komorowski became the first civilian vice-ministers of defence in the communist-dominated Ministry of Defence. [5] Later, Onyszkiewicz was Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and Jerzy Buzek (1997–2000). [2]
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. [4]
In 1999, Onyszkiewicz was awarded the Manfred Wörner Medal by the German Minister of Defence. [1]
On 13 June 2004, Onyszkiewicz was elected to the European Parliament as a candidate of Democratic Union in the 10th constituency ( Lesser Poland+ Swietokrzyskie Voivodeships) receiving 50 155 votes (6,37%). On 20 July 2004 he was elected a vice-president of the European Parliament.
Onyszkiewicz is Chairman of the ICDT's International Board of Directors. [7]
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