Henryk Jabłoński
Henryk Jan Jabłoński was a Polish Socialist. After 1948, he became a Communist politician, as well as a historian and professor at Warsaw University. He served as head of state of the People's Republic of Poland between 1972 and 1985.Life and career
Jabłoński was born in Stary Waliszew in the Warsaw Governorate of Congress Poland. From 1931, he was a member of the Polish Socialist Party. During World War II he fought in the battle of Narvik and then joined the French Resistance. In 1945 Jabłoński become a member of the State National Council, and during the years 1946 and 1948 he had high functions in the PPS. He approved joining the PPS with the Polish Workers' Party.
From 1947 to 1972, he was a deputy to the Sejm. In 1948 he was appointed professor at Warsaw University. Between 1948 and 1981, Henryk Jabłoński was in the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party.
In 1972, on the initiative of Edward Gierek, Jablonski was chosen the de iure leader of the People's Republic of Poland. From 1976 to 1983 he was a chief of the Front of 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. His wife died in 1999.
