Polish leaders pay tribute to ex-PM Jan Olszewski
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
08.02.2019 12:00
Tributes from top politicians flowed in on Friday to former Polish Prime Minister Jan Olszewski, who has died at the age of 88.
Jan Olszewski, pictured in 1991. Photo: PAP
Olszewski served as prime minister from 1991 to 1992. He was a lawyer who during the communist era defended oppositionists in political trials.
In the 1980s, he was a leading figure in Poland's Solidarity freedom movement.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland “has suffered an unimaginable loss.”
Morawiecki wrote on Twitter: "Jan Olszewski was a person who was impeccably honest and faithful to his views, and at the same time extremely courageous.”
President Andrzej Duda described Olszewski as "a man of great kindness, great experience" and as a statesman who “served Poland until the end."
Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the ruling, conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, said Olszewski was a “great man,” adding: "Poland has suffered a great loss."
In 1989, Olszewski took part in the country's landmark Round Table talks that paved the way to the collapse of communism in Poland and across the region.
From 2006 to 2010, he worked as an adviser to President Lech Kaczyński.
(pk/gs)
Source: PAP