Paweł Anweiler elected bishop of the Cieszyn Lutheran diocese in 1991

On 24 November 1991 the synod of the Cieszyn diocese, the governing assembly of clergy and lay delegates, elected Paweł Anweiler as its diocesan bishop. The diocese belongs to the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland, the country's main Lutheran church, and covers the historic Cieszyn Silesia region in the south, where Protestant communities have deep roots.

The election came only two years after the end of communist rule in Poland, at a time when churches were redefining their public role and rebuilding institutions that had operated under state restrictions. Lutherans are a small minority in a country that is overwhelmingly Catholic, and the Cieszyn diocese is the largest and most compact centre of Polish Lutheranism.

Anweiler stayed in office for almost 25 years, making him one of the longest-serving leaders in the church's recent history. His tenure spanned Poland's post-communist transformation, its accession to the European Union and growing ecumenical contacts with other denominations. His death prompted renewed attention to this long period of leadership and to the 1991 vote that began it.