Florian Siwicki (ˈflɔrjan ɕiˈvit͡skʲi; born January 10, 1925 in Łuck, Poland) is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 military officer, diplomat and a communist politician, as well as a General of the Polish Army (retired). Throughout his career he held a number of posts, including military attaché

Military attaché

A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...

 in China, commanding officer of the 2nd Polish Army during the invasion of Czechoslovakia

Prague Spring

The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...

 in 1968, the Chief of General Staff of the Polish Army and a long-time Minister of Military Affairs in the governments of Wojciech Jaruzelski

Wojciech Jaruzelski

Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's...

, Zbigniew Messner

Zbigniew Messner

Zbigniew Messner was a Communist economist and politician in Poland. In 1972, he became Professor of Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice...

, Mieczysław Rakowski and Tadeusz Mazowiecki

Tadeusz Mazowiecki

Tadeusz Mazowiecki is a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.-Biography:Mazowiecki comes from a Polish...

. As one of the people behind the imposition of the martial law in Poland

Martial law in Poland

Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...

 in 1981, after Poland deposed the ruling communist regime in 1989 Siwicki was forced into retirement in July of 1990.

After Jaruzelski stepped down from his position as Defense Minister, Siwicki was then appointed to the position, along with serving as Jaruzelski's "top deputy on the defense council".

In October of 1983, Siwicki was awarded with the Cross of Grunwald

Cross of Grunwald

Order Krzyża Grunwaldu 1943-1960, Krzyż Grunwaldu 1960-1992 was a military decoration created in November 1943 by the High Command of Gwardia Ludowa, a World War II Polish resistance movement in Poland organised by the Polish Workers Party...

, first class.