Poland's interior minister who imposed martial law then co-chaired the Round Table
At the Round Table signing, Kiszczak declared: 'There are neither winners nor losers. The Polish nation is the victor.'
A soldier and communist politician of the Polish People's Republic, he was appointed interior minister in 1981 and, alongside Wojciech Jaruzelski, planned and executed martial law, leading the crackdown on the Solidarity trade union. In 1989, as the government co-chairman of the Round Table, he negotiated with Lech Wałęsa, paving the way for the re-legalization of Solidarity and partially free elections. After Solidarity's landslide victory, he was named prime minister but was forced to resign after only three weeks when Solidarity refused to join his government; he served briefly as deputy prime minister and interior minister in Tadeusz Mazowiecki's cabinet before retiring from political life.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1973–1979Head, Second Directorate of the General Staff (military intelligence)
- 1979–1981Commander, Internal Military Service (WSW)
- 1981–1990Minister of internal affairs
- 1981–1983Member, Military Council of National Salvation
- 1982–1990Politburo member, Polish United Workers' Party
- 1989Co-chairman, Round Table (government side)
- 1989.8Prime minister-designate (failed to form a government)
- 1989–1990Deputy prime minister and interior minister
Related historical events
- 1980–1981Solidarity and Martial Law in Polandmartial-law planner and executorIn 1981, he planned and imposed martial law alongside Jaruzelski, leading the crackdown on Solidarity.
- 1989The Revolutions of 1989government co-chair of the Round TableAs government co-chair in 1989, he negotiated with Wałęsa, paving the way for Solidarity’s re-legalization and partially free elections.
The Interior Ministry and security-service transition, 1989–1990
Even after the June 1989 elections, the Interior and National Defense ministries remained under communist control, and Kiszczak continued to head the Interior Ministry, including the Security Service. After Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a Solidarity-linked politician, became prime minister in August, Kiszczak stayed on as deputy prime minister and interior minister, remaining loyal to President Wojciech Jaruzelski. The security services were gradually transformed from August 1989 to May 1990; the Security Service was dissolved in May and replaced by the Office for State Protection. Kiszczak remained interior minister until July 1990.
During the change of government, records held by the Interior Ministry’s Security Service were also destroyed on a large scale. In July 1989, Security Service chief Henryk Dankowski recommended at a telephone conference that subordinates destroy “useless” materials, and document destruction took place across several institutions. Historian Tomasz Kozłowski notes that a substantial part of the Security Service archive was destroyed in 1989–1990, with major regional differences. The extent to which Kiszczak was personally responsible for the full archive destruction should be distinguished from these established facts. He did, however, remain in command of the security apparatus as interior minister, and after his departure from office, documents concerning Security Service secret collaborator “Bolek” were found in his home. The Polish Institute of National Remembrance released an expert opinion examining 158 documents from 1970–1976 found there; the experts concluded that some were handwritten by Lech Wałęsa. Wałęsa denied having collaborated. These records concern alleged cooperation in the early 1970s; the circumstances in which Kiszczak retained them, and the historian’s suggestion that he might have intended to use them for political blackmail, are matters of interpretation rather than established motive.