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 Solidarity activist in Bielsko-Biala during the 1980s, Grazyna Staniszewska (b. 1949) participated in the Round Table negotiations for the opposition. She received a master's degree in Polish philology from Jagiellonian University in 1972. Over the next decade, she worked in a local high school, cultural center, and research center library in Bielsko-Biala. Staniszewska joined Solidarity in 1980; she was detained from 1981 to 1982 and imprisoned in 1983. From 1983 to 1988, she edited the regional newspaper Solidarnosc Podbeskidzia and was a member of th Helsinki Committee in Poland. In 1988, she was chosen a regional representative to Solidarity's National Executive Committee. From 1988 to 1990, she was a member of the Citizens' Committee. A Deputy to the Sejm since 1989, Staniszewska has represented the Civic Parliamentary Club (1989-91), Democratic Union (1991-94), and Freedom Union (1994-present).

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