Albin Siwak Explained

Albin Siwak (January 27, 1933 – April 4, 2019[1]) was a Polish politician, construction worker and a social activist, who acted as a government sponsored antagonist of opposition leader Lech Wałęsa during the 1980s. After his career in the People's Republic, Siwak held nationalist and anti-semitic views, arguing that Solidarity had been a Jewish conspiracy.[2]

Biography

Son of Józef and Czesława née Mielczarek.[3] He was born in Wołomin. In 1935 he and his family moved to Praga. His father was a member of the Polish Socialist Party, his mother worked as a housewife. He spent World War II and occupation of Poland with his family in Warsaw.[4] After the war, he and his father left for the Recovered Territories, where in the village of Lutry.[5] He completed seven classes of elementary school.

In 1950 he went to Warsaw in search of work. He was directed to the masonry brigade. He quickly became a shock worker and then a foreman.[6] He took part in the construction of Nowa Huta.[7] From the 1950s he was an active activist in trade unions. From 1968 he belonged to the Polish United Workers' Party.[8] He was delegate for the VIII, IX and X Congress of the Polish United Workers' Party. In 1979, the Congress of Trade Unions elected him a member of the World Federation of Trade Unions.

From July 1981 was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party. From 1981 to 1986 was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party. In the 1980s, he was an opponent and critic of Solidarity movement. From 1986 he was a councilor of the Polish Embassy in Tripoli. Dismissed from his diplomatic position in March 1990 by Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski.[9] [10]

After 1990, he was a member of the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland. He was removed from the party after a conflict with Leszek Miller. Siwak later joined the Catholic nationalist National Party "Ojczyzna".[11]

Siwak wrote nomerous autobiographic books after retirement, reflecting on his personal journey from mason to diplomat, his political conversion from communist and atheist to nationalist and Catholic, expatiating the socio-political changes in Poland during his lifetime.[12] In 2001, a biopic was released.[13] Towards the end of his life, he aligned with the radical panslavic movement and engaged in bogus archeology.[14] He and his wife had three children.

Publications

Notes and References

  1. News: Eckardt . Maciej . Wczoraj pochowano Albina Siwaka - ikonę PRL-u . 28 April 2019 . salon24.pl . Salon24 . 13 April 2019 . pl.
  2. Przemysław Gasztold: Towarzysze z betonu. Dogmatyzm w PZPR 1980–1990. Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2019. .
  3. Web site: Aferyprawa - Albin Siwak - Bez strachu - WSPOMNIENIA STARE I NOWE - czyli jak ujarzmiano Polskę i Polaków.. www.aferyprawa.eu. 2020-01-12.
  4. Web site: Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej. katalog.bip.ipn.gov.pl. 2020-01-13.
  5. Web site: Historia. Ochrzcili mnie betonem i ciemniakiem. gazetaolsztynska.pl. pl. 2020-01-12.
  6. Book: Politics of Time: Dynamics of Identity in Post-Communist Poland. Koczanowicz. Leszek. 2008. Berghahn Books. 978-1-84545-510-1. New York. 35. 26 March 2016.
  7. Web site: Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej . 2024-09-10 . katalog.bip.ipn.gov.pl.
  8. Web site: Trwały ślad po Siwaku… Myśl Polska. www.mysl-polska.pl. 2020-01-13.
  9. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=871lA55INgEC&pg=PA58. Documents: Working Papers of the Thirty-Fourth Ordinary Session, First Part, Volume 2. 19 April 1982. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Stausborg. 58. Doc. 4880: Situation in Poland and East-West Relations. 10. The most prominent of hardliners are Albin Siwak, a member of the Politburo and Tadeusz Grebski.
  10. Book: Letters from freedom post-cold war realities and perspectives. Michnik. Adam. 1998. University of California Press. 978-0-520-92249-5. Grudzińska Gross. Irena. Berkeley. 271. Cave. Jane. 26 March 2016.
  11. Cf. flap text of "Bez strachu" [Without fear], see https://tezeusz.pl/bez-strachu-siwak-albin-809076.
  12. Web site: Od łopaty do dyplomaty . 2024-09-08 . wydarzenia.interia.pl . pl.
  13. Web site: Ja, robotnik budowlany (Ja, robotnik budowlany) . 2024-09-08 . www.sfp.org.pl . polish.
  14. Web site: Wyborcza.pl . 2024-09-08 . wyborcza.pl.

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