Henryk Jablonski

Born Dec. 27, 1909, in Waliszew. Political and state figure of the Polish People’s Republic (PPR); historian. Academician of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1956). Foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1966).

Jabloński graduated from the University of Warsaw. In 1931 he joined the Polish Socialist Party (PSP). During World War II he fought against fascist German troops—in Poland in September 1939 and subsequently in Norway and southern France (as a member of the Resistance). After returning to Poland in 1945, Jabloński became a member of the Krajowa Rada Narodowa. He was elected to the Legislative Sejm in 1947 and became a deputy to the Sejm of the PPR in 1952. From 1946 to 1948 he served as secretary and then deputy chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the PSP. From 1947 to 1953 he was deputy minister of education.

Jabloński served as academic secretary of the Polish Academy of Sciences from 1955 to 1965 and as vice-president of the academy from 1966 to 1971. He was minister of education and higher education from 1965 to 1972. In March 1972 he became chairman of the State Council, and from 1948 to 1981 he was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PUWP). A candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PUWP in 1970 and 1971, he was a member of the Politburo from 1971 to 1981. He became chairman of the Presidium of the All-Polish Committee of the Front of National Unity in 1976.

Jabloński was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples in 1974 and the Order of the Badge of Honor in 1979.