Janusz Onyszkiewicz

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz (Template:IPA, born 18 December 1937) is a Polish mathematician, alpinist and politician,<ref name=who>Europa Publications, "The International Who's Who 2004", Routledge, 2003, pg. 1258</ref> who served as Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and Jerzy Buzek (1997–2000).<ref name=simon>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.<ref name=ttv>"A 5-member delegation representing the European Parliament pays a 4-day visit to Taiwan.", Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

Onyszkiewicz was born in Lwów (then Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine).<ref name="dziennik">Dziennik Polski, "Ankieta Eurokandyta – Janusz Onyszkiewicz", 20 May 2009, [1]</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After Alison's death on Annapurna in 1978, Onyszkiewicz gave up altitude climbing and turned to politics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political career

In the 1980s, Onyszkiewicz became the spokesman for the anti-communist Solidarity movement.<ref name=who/> 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.<ref name="springer">Krzysztof Ciesielski and Zdzislaw Pogoda, "Janusz Onyszkiewicz", The Mathematical Intelligencer, Volume 12, Number 4 / December, 1990, [2]</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.<ref>2 Solidarity Activists Detained in Poland New York Times, 17 January 1986.</ref>

Member of the Polish Parliament

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.<ref name=springer/> Later, Onyszkiewicz was Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and Jerzy Buzek (1997–2000).<ref name=simon>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.<ref name=dziennik/>

In 1999, Onyszkiewicz was awarded the Manfred Wörner Medal by the German Minister of Defence.<ref name=who/>

Member of the European Parliament

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.

Other activities

Onyszkiewicz is Chairman of the ICDT's International Board of Directors.<ref name=icdt>"An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe", International Center for Democratic Transition, Template:Cite web</ref>

References

• Onuszkiewicz's page for elections to the European Parliament [3]

See also

• 2004 European Parliament election in Poland