Czesław Kiszczak, Polish general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Poland (b. 1925)
Czesław Jan Kiszczak [ˈt͡ʂɛswaf ˈkiʂt͡ʂak] (listen) (19 October 1925 – 5 November 2015) was a Polish general, communist-era interior minister (1981–1990) and prime minister (1989).In 1981 he played a key role in imposing martial law and suppression of the Solidarity movement in Poland. But eight years later he presided over the country's transition to democracy as its last communist prime minister and a co-chairman of the Round Table conference, in which officials of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party faced the democratic opposition leaders. The conference led to the reconciliation with and reinstatement of Solidarity, the 1989 elections, and the formation of Poland's first non-communist government since 1945.