Mieczysław Wilczek

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Mieczysław Wilczek (born January 25, 1932 in Sandomierz ; † April 30, 2014 in Warsaw ) was a Polish entrepreneur , chemist , lawyer and politician of the Polish United Workers' Party PZPR, who held several patents in the field of chemistry and was Minister of Industry of the People's Republic of Poland from 1988 until 1989 was.

Life

Second World War, degree and business manager

Wilczek, who spent his youth in Bielsko-Biała , was unable to attend a regular school between 1939 and 1945 due to the lack of access during the Second World War and most recently worked as a farmhand and cattle keeper on a farm run by Germans . After the war he visited in 1945 for a year, a primary school and following a high school and a technical school for chemistry. He then completed a degree in chemistry at the Silesian Technical University in Gliwice and a degree in economics at the local business school.

Even during his chemistry studies, Wilczek worked as a research assistant in spite of the lack of a degree, and in the field of organic chemistry, in particular , he dealt with plastics, fertilizers and detergents. In 1952 he became a member of the Polish United Workers' Party PZPR (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza) . After completing his chemistry degree, he became director of the Viola cosmetics factory in Gliwice in 1956 , before undertaking a research stay in Great Britain in 1958 as part of a six-monthly scholarship . On his return in 1959 he became Technical Director of the Association of Cosmetics and Detergent Manufacturers in Warsaw. During this time he also studied law at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the University of Warsaw , where he graduated in international law .

During his work as director of the Chemical Industry Association from 1965 to 1969, he gained a reputation as a capable organizer and rationalizer of the chemical industry in Poland. He also established contacts with foreign companies such as Royal Dutch Shell while traveling to Western Europe . By starting the production of the Ixi 65 detergent in 1965, he contributed to the development of the Pollena brand. He also participated in the work of international organizations and conferences.

Chemical patents and successes in the private sector

In 1969 he resigned as director of the Chemical Industry Association and bought a farm in Ołdakowizna , where he ran a guinea fowl farm. In addition, he also founded a laboratory for biochemistry , in which fat-based creams with egg yolk were made. In the 1970s he sold patents in the field of chemistry at a profit, for example with a factory founded in 1973 in Stanisławów , in which animal feed was made from waste concentrates. In the following years he founded several meat processing companies and became one of the richest men in Poland.

In addition to his own companies, in the 1980s he also served as Vice President of the Polish- Japanese company PolNippon and the fur company Lavil in Stanisławów. He also had trade relations with companies in the Soviet Union .

Industry minister and entrepreneur

On September 27, 1988 Wilczek, who had been an advisor to various Sejm committees since 1985 , was appointed Minister-President Mieczysław Rakowski as Minister of Industry ( Minister przemysłu ) in his cabinet. He held this ministerial office until the end of Rakowski's term of office and his replacement by Tadeusz Syryjczyk on September 12, 1989.

As Minister for Industry, he became the spokesman for a thorough reform of the Polish economy, proposing the closure of many state-owned companies that he considered to be unprofitable from an economic point of view. In doing so, he prepared legal changes to introduce a market economy . In 1988 he presented a bill named after him (Ustawa Wilczka) in the Sejm for a liberal market economy, which initiated the establishment of small businesses in the final months of the Polish People's Republic.

In the round table talks that took place in Warsaw between February 6 and April 5, 1989 during the transition from the communist regime to the democratic republic , he took part as the government's representative for economic and social policy.

In the parliamentary elections on June 4 and 18, 1989, he applied for a seat in the Senate of the Republic of Poland for the Siedlce Voivodeship , but was defeated by Gabriel Janowski .

After leaving the government, Wilczek withdrew from political life and was again active as an entrepreneur in the private sector. Most recently he was co-owner of the Farmeat group of companies , the main shareholder of which was the Italian finance company Fortrade Financing . In addition, he was a board member of the construction company Mostostal Warszawa (MSW).

In 1990 he was awarded the Kisiel Prize (Nagroda Kisiela) named after Stefan Kisielewski for his business achievements . In 2008 Wilczek, who was listed several times on the list of the 100 richest Poles, was honored for his entrepreneurial achievements by the Adam Smith Center , a think tank founded in 1989 in Warsaw to promote the free market.

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personal data
SURNAME Wilczek, Mieczysław
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish politician, entrepreneur and business manager
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Sandomierz , Poland
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 2014
Place of death Warsaw