Henryk Jabłoński

Infobox_President | name=Henryk Jabłoński


nationality=Polish
order=5^th Chairman of the Council of State of the People's Republic of Poland
term_start=March 28, 1972
term_end=November 6, 1985
predecessor=Józef Cyrankiewicz
successor=Wojciech Jaruzelski
birth_date=December 27, 1907
birth_place=Waliszewo, then Russian Empire, now Poland
death_date=January 27, 2003 (aged 93)
death_place=
spouse=
party=Polish Socialist Party
Polish United Workers' Party
profession=Historian

Henryk Jabłoński (27 December 1909 - 27 January2003) was a Polish Socialist, after 1948 Communist politician, historian and professor at Warsaw University. He was a head of the People's Republic of Poland (President) between 1972 and 1985.

Jabłoński was born in Waliszewo near Łowicz. From 1931, he was a member of the Polish Socialistic Party (PPS). During World War II he fought in the battle of Narvik (Norway) and then joined the French Resistance. In 1945 Jabłoński become a member of the State National Council (KRN), and during the years 1946 and 1948 he had high functions in the PPS (chairman of Central State Committee and its vice-leader). He approved joining the PPS with the Polska Partia Robotnicza (PPR) (Polish Workers' Party).

From 1947 to 1972, he was a deputy to the Sejm. In 1948 he was appointed professor at Warsaw University (from 1952 member of Polish Academy of Sciences - PAN). Between 1948 and 1981, Henryk Jabłoński was in the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party (KC PZPR).

In 1972, based on the initiative of Edward Gierek, Jablonski was chosen the "de iure" leader (chairman of the Council of State) of the People's Republic of Poland. From 1976 to 1983 he was a chief of the Front Jedności Narodu (FJN, Front of the National Unity). From 1983 to 1990 he was chief of ZBoWiD, the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy, an organisation of war veterans. In 1985 he was replaced as head of state by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.

See also