Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki ( born April 18, 1927 in Płock, † October 28, 2013 in Warsaw) was a Polish journalist, civil rights activist and politician. From August 1989 to December 1990 he was the first Premier of Poland after the Second World War, which did not belong to the Communist regime.
From the civil head of government
Was founded in 1958 Mazowiecki intellectual monthly magazine Wiez (English bond) and was its editor. For the Catholic movement Znak (German mark ), he was already 1961 to 1971 deputy in the Sejm, the Polish parliament. Then he participated in opposition movements of Catholic intellectuals, including the Club of Catholic intelligentsia in Wroclaw, against the Communist regime of the Polish United Workers' Party.
Since 1980 he has been a consultant and publicist of Solidarność ( Solidarity dt ). After the imposition of martial law on 13 December 1981 he was imprisoned from 1981 to 1982. In 1989 he again took an adviser to Lech Wałęsa part in the round table discussions.
On August 24, 1989, the Sejm elected him prime minister. He was the first head of government after the Second World War, which did not belong to the Communist regime.
The relationship to the "workers ' hero ' Wałęsa became strained, as Mazowiecki decided to compete in the presidential election in the autumn of 1990 against Wałęsa. When he did not even against this on December 9, 1990 in the runoff election, he stepped back on 14 December 1990 by the Office of the Prime Minister.
Political agendas and honors
From 1990 to 1995 was Mazowiecki, who worked as a deputy until 2001, Chairman of the Liberal Party Unia Demokratyczna (German Democratic Union) and later its successor party Unia Wolności (German Freedom Union ). In 2002 he resigned from the latter, after they had left the Christian Democratic International. Since 2004 he was involved again as a member and top candidate of the social-liberal partia Demokratyczna (German Democratic Party).
During the wars in the former Yugoslavia Mazowiecki was the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the situation of human rights. In protest against the passivity of the international community during the Srebrenica massacre put Mazowiecki this mandate down.
As the first non- communist prime minister of Poland, he acquired a reputation as a reform - Premiers. The government of Mazowiecki led by radical market reforms. Criticized the "shock therapy" to reduce inflation and the budget deficit, because it came hundreds of thousands into unemployment. His saying " We draw a thick line under the past " also found numerous critics. This led to the relatively poor outcome of Mazowiecki in the presidential election in 1990.
In 1995 he was awarded by the German Society for the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Medal of Honor. In 2009 he was made an honorary citizen of the cities of Warsaw and Gdansk. 2010, the European City Görlitz / Zgorzelec awarded him the International Bridge price.
Mazowiecki died on October 28, 2013 in Warsaw. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski called him " one of the fathers of Polish freedom." EU Kommissionspräsient Jose Manuel Barroso called him " a great European and humanist ".
Writings
- Tadeusz Mazowiecki: Party take for hope. About morality in politics, with a foreword by Manfred Seidler and an afterword by George Ziegler, [ translator's from Pol. by Angelika Weber and Georg Ziegler ], Freiburg im Breisgau, 1990, ISBN 3-451-21825-9