It is with great sadness that we have learnt about the death of Jan Lityński, an anti-communist opposition activist. Under communist rule in Poland he was under the constant surveillance of the state security organs. He was a participant of the Round Table talks. He was a politician, social activist and an MP in the years 1989–2001. Lityński was an advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland in 2010–2015.

In independent Poland, he was decorated with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2006), the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2008) and the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity (2015).

Jan Lityński was born on 18 January 1946 in Warsaw. In the years 1963–1968 he studied at the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Warsaw. In 1968, he participated in protests after removing Adam Mickiewicz’s Forefathers’ Eve from the repertoire of the National Theater in Warsaw. He was arrested and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for organizing and participating in strikes at the University of Warsaw in March 1968.

He became an associate of the "KOR" Workers’ Defense Committee. He also participated in  meetings with the activists of the Czechoslovak Charter 77 in August and September 1978. He co-authored the Workers' Rights Charter. After the establishment of the "Solidarity" independent trade union, he became its advisor.

Interned during Martial Law, in August 1988, he participated in a strike at the "July Manifesto" coal mine in Jastrzębie-Zdrój.

He wrote for numerous magazines as samizdat in the 1980s. He also authored several books.