Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (pronounced [ˈvɔi̯t​͡ɕɛx jaruˈzɛlskʲi] ( listen); born 6 July 1923) 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 Army (LWP). He resigned from power after the Polish Round Table Agreement in 1989 led to democratic elections in Poland.

Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski was born on 6 July 1923 in Kurów, into a family of gentry. He was raised on the family estate near Wysokie (in the vicinity of Białystok). He was educated in a Catholic school during the 1930s.

On 1 September 1939, the September Campaign started when Poland was invaded by Germany, with the latter country aided by another invasion begun sixteen days later by the Soviet Union. The invasions resulted in the defeat of Poland by the following month, and its partition between Soviet and German control. Jaruzelski and his family fled to Lithuania and stayed with some friends there. However, a few months later, after Lithuania and the other Baltic states were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, Jaruzelski and his family were captured by the army of the Soviet Union, and deported to Siberia. In 1940 at the age of sixteen, Jaruzelski was sent to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, where he performed forced labour in the Karaganda coal mines. During his labour work, having experienced snow blindness, developed permanent damage to his eyes and back. The damage to his eyes forced him to wear dark sunglasses most of the time, which became his trademark.

Tomasz Lis [ˈtɔmaʂ ˈlis] ( listen) (born March 6, 1966, Zielona Góra) is one of the most popular Polish journalists, former TV anchor of “TVN Fakty” ("TVN Facts") and “Wydarzenia” ("Events").

Tomasz Lis began his career in TVP (Polish Public Television) in 1990 after winning an open competition for the post of a newsreader.

Since 1994, until 1997 correspondent in Washington, D.C. for TVP.

From 1997 to 2004 co-author of “TVN Fakty” on Polish television station TVN.

From 2006 to 2007 chief editor of "Wydarzenia" Polsat.

In 2003 published his book, Co z tą Polską? (What's with Poland?) which has become a bestseller in Poland (selling over 100,000 copies).

As at end 2010, up to February 2012, Editor-in-Chief of the current affairs weekly "Wprost".

He married Kinga Rusin in June 1994, divorced on June 27, 2006 They have two daughters: Pola and Iga. In 2007 married a Polish journalist Hanna Smoktunowicz.

Prof. Andrzej Paczkowski (born 1 October 1938 in Krasnystaw) is a Polish historian. Professor of Collegium Civitas, director of Modern History Studies in the Political Institute of Polish Academy of Sciences, member of Collegium of Institute of National Remembrance.

In 1960 he finished studies at the history department of the University of Warsaw. In 1966 Paczkowski defended his doctorate thesis, and was habilitated in 1975. In 1990 he was given the professor degree.

In 1974-1995 (for 7 terms) he was a president of the Polish Mountaineering Association (Polski Związek Alpinizmu).

Radosław (Radek) Tomasz Sikorski [raˈdɔswaf ɕiˈkɔrskʲi] ( listen) (born 23 February 1963 in Bydgoszcz), is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as Deputy Minister of National Defense (1992) in Jan Olszewski's Cabinet and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998–2001) in Jerzy Buzek's Cabinet. He was also Minister of National Defense (2005–2007) in Jarosław Kaczyński's Cabinet. He is presently Minister of Foreign Affairs in Donald Tusk's Cabinet since 2007.

Sikorski chaired the student strike committee in Bydgoszcz in March 1981 while studying at the I Liceum Ogólnokształcące. In June, he traveled to the United Kingdom to study English. After martial law was declared in December 1981, he was granted political asylum in Britain in 1982. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, where Zbigniew Pelczynski was one of his tutors. During his time at Oxford, Sikorski was head of the Standing Committee of the debating society, The Oxford Union (where he organised debates on martial law), president of the Oxford University Polish Society, member of the Canning Club, and was elected to the Bullingdon Club, a dining society that counted among its members current British Prime Minister David Cameron and current Mayor of London Boris Johnson. In 1987, Sikorski was awarded British citizenship, which he renounced in 2006 as Minister of Defence of Poland.

Piotr Gontarczyk (born April 29, 1970 in Żyrardów) is a Polish historian with a doctorate in history and political science.

Gontarczyk is employed by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance and specializes in history of the Polish communist movement during the World War II and in contemporary history. In 2008 Gontarczyk and Sławomir Cenckiewicz published a historical publication entitled "SB a Lech Wałęsa. Przyczynek do biografii" ("Lech Wałęsa & SB"). The book caused a major controversy in Poland and both authors were heavily criticised. In their work Gontarczyk and Cenckiewicz claim that in the 1970s the Solidarity leader and former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa was a secret informer of the Polish communist secret police - Służba Bezpieczeństwa (SB).

Gontarczyk's work as a historian, researcher and political scientist comprises several books and numerous press articles as well as scientific papers.