Biographical Note
Janusz Onyszkiewicz was born on 18 December 1937 in Lwów (then Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine). He graduated in mathematics from Warsaw University. He became a famous mathematician and a alpinist in the 1970s. In the 1980s, he became the spokesman for the anti-communist Solidarity movement. 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.
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. Later, Onyszkiewicz was Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and Jerzy Buzek (1997–2000).
Initially, he 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.
In 1999, Onyszkiewicz was awarded the Manfred Wörner Medall by the German Minister of Defence.
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. Onyszkiewicz is Chairman of the ICDT's International Board of Directors.
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