Jerzy Urban, spokesman for Polish communist govt, dies at 89

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A spokesman for Poland’s communist-era government in the 1980s who masterminded state propaganda and censorship for a regime in the final years before its collapse has died. He was 89 years old. Jerzy Urban’s death was announced on Monday by a satirical weekly magazine which he founded and led in the post-1989 era. Urban earned a reputation for his sarcasm and acid tongue in the early 1980s when he served as the spokesman for the government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Jaruzelski’s government imposed martial law in an attempt to crush the Solidarity freedom movement of Lech Walesa. Urban became a successful and wealthy businessman after the fall of communism.