Professor Jan Kielanowski. The academic as an oppositionist (Part 1, 1969–1977)

Abstract

The article presents a political biography of Professor Jan Kielanowski (1910– 1989) in the years 1969–1976. Kielanowski was an outstanding zootechnician and opposition political activist in autocratically ruled communist Poland. He was a rare example of a man who combined the qualities of a scientist, artist, political writer, and activist, as well as being a practicing Catholic and a Freemason. The article shows the Professor at the time when his underground (illegal) civic activity began. In 1975, Kielanowski became the co-author of Letter 59 – the basic program of the Polish anti-communist opposition. A program demanding the introduction of free elections to the Sejm (Parliament), the defence of rights and freedoms of conscience, religion, and science, and the abolition of censorship. In 1976, Kielanowski joined the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR), which advocated for persecuted people and inspired the creation of an independent civil society. The author of the article is also interested in the Professor’s activities in the years 1969–1976 in defence of the autonomy and self-government of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and in the Academy’s reaction to the opposition activities undertaken by Kielanowski.