Jan Stawisiński was born on June 29, 1960, in Sławno, to Alojzy and Janina. In 1961, his family moved to Koszalin, where he completed Primary School No. 8 in 1975. He then attended a vocational school, training as an electrician (1975–1978). In 1979, he began studying at an Electrical and Electronics Technical School but decided to leave and move to Silesia to become a miner. In 1980, he enrolled in a Mining Technical School for Adults in Katowice. During holidays, he worked as a lifeguard with WOPR.
On September 25, 1979, he was employed at KWK Wujek, initially as an unskilled worker, and from August 1, 1981, as a junior miner. Surviving records do not confirm whether he was a member of NSZZ Solidarność. He certainly took part in the protest on December 16, 1981. During the pacification of the strike by militia and military forces, he was shot in the head and transported to a hospital in Katowice-Szopienice.
“His parents listened at night to Radio Free Europe despite jamming. On December 16 [1981], the radio reported that shots had been fired at Wujek and that people had been killed," recalled his sister, Małgorzata Haciska. “A mother’s heart sensed it, and after obtaining permission to travel, she went to Katowice with her daughter Beata. Our late mother searched for him with his colleagues in Katowice hospitals. Jan was found in Szopienice and later transferred to Ochojec. She took a job at the hospital as a cleaner and stayed with her son until the end…"
Jan Stawisiński never regained consciousness and died on January 25, 1982. The direct cause of death was irreversible brain damage and related complications. He was unmarried. Four days later, he was buried in Koszalin; the funeral took place under the supervision of the security service and militia.
“During the funeral mass at the Franciscan parish church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Koszalin, around 100 people were present. No sermon was delivered in the church. At the cemetery, a farewell speech was given by Father Rajmund Marszałkowski, who referred to the events of December 1970 and the unveiling of the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers in Gdańsk. He spoke of the hopes that such tragedies would never happen again, and of the bitter reality that once more people were dying for the same cause."
On August 29, 1990, he was posthumously awarded the Gold Cross of Merit with Swords by the President of the Republic of Poland in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski. On December 7, 1992, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of Poland, Lech Wałęsa. In 2015, he was also posthumously awarded the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity.
He is commemorated, together with the other miners killed on December 16, 1981, by the Monument to the Fallen Miners of “Wujek" (1991).
