COMMUNISM'S NEGOTIATED COLLAPSE:
THE POLISH ROUND TABLE TALKS OF 1989,
TEN YEARS LATER
A Conference at the University of Michigan, April 7-10, 1999

A Professor of Law at the Catholic University of Lublin, Wieslaw Chrzanowski (b. 1923) has long been an active opponent of communism. After serving in the anti-Nazi resistance during the Second World War, Chrzanowski studied law at Jagiellonian University, Warsaw University, and the Warsaw School of Economics. He was arrested in 1948 and sentenced to eight years imprisonment for his involvement in the Union of Christian Youth. Although officially rehabilitated in 1956, Chrzanowski was refused permission to practice law (except in the modest position of "legal advisor"). He founded the "Start" Catholic Discussion Club in 1957 and was a member of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski's "Information Committee" from 1965. In the 1980s Chrzanowski served as an advisor to Solidarity and as a member of Cardinal Jozef Glemp's "Social Advisory Board." He was among the founders of the Christian-National Union in 1989 and served as its President until 1994. Chrzanowski was Minister of Justice in 1991, Marshal of the Sejm from 1991 to 1993, and a Senator since 1997.

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