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Endecja
Sept 5, 2006 6:47:36 GMT -7
Post by pieter on Sept 5, 2006 6:47:36 GMT -7
Endecja
National Democratic Party (Poland)
Endecja (from abbreviaton (ND) of its Polish name, Narodowa Demokracja (National Democrats), also known as National Movement (Ruch Narodowy)) was a Polish right-wing political movement most active from middle of the 19th century to the end of the Second Polish Republic in 1939. Among its most important founders and ideologues was Roman Dmowski. The movement effectively ceased to exist with the end of Second World War. During the times of the Second Polish Republic it was a strong proponent of polonization policies.
Origins
The origins of the endecja can be traced to the failure of the January Uprising in 1864 and the era of the Positivism in Poland. After the uprisng, last in the series of several Polish uprisings in the 19th century, was bloodily crushed by the partitioners of Poland, the new generation of Polish patriots and politicians decided that Polish independece will not be won on the battlefield but through education and culture. In 1886 the secret Liga Polska organization was founded, in 1893 renamed into Liga Narodowa. From 1895 Liga published its own newspaper (Przeglad Wszechpolski), and from 1897 it had an official political party, the Stronnictwo Narodowo-Demokratyczne. Unlike the Polish Socialist Party, endecja advocated peaceful negotiations. During the First World War, while PPS, now under influence of Józef Pilsudski, supported the Central Powers, endecja first allied itself with Russian Empire (supporting the creation of the Legion Pulawski), and later, with the Western Powers (supporting the Blue Army). After the end of the Great War, many endecja politicians had much more influence abroad then in Poland. It forced them to share power with Pilsudski, who had much more support in the military then they had. Still, due to their support abroad, endecja politicians like Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski were able to gain support for some Polish requests at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the Treaty of Versailles.
Second Polish Republic
In the newly independent Second Polish Republic endecja was represented first by the Zwiazek Ludowo-Narodowy party, and from 1928 by Stronnictwo Narodowe. Among the chief characteristics of endecja policies was the stress on polonization: it was endecja politicians like Dmowski and Grabski who contributed the failure of Pilsudski's Miedzymorze federation, the alliance with Symon Petlura, and the alienation of ethnic minorities in Poland. After Pilsudski's May Coup of 1926, endecja found itself in constant opposition to the pro-Pilsudski Sanacja. To fight the Sanacja movement, endecja created the Obóz Wielkiej Polski organization.
Second World War
During WWII became part of a coalition which formed the Polish Government in Exile. Closely linked with the controversial Narodowe Sily Zbrojne (National Armed Forces) an underground organization which became a small part of the Polish resistance movement. Due to endecja anti-minority policies, its armed organizations were engaged in combat not only against the Nazi Germany, but also against the Soviet Union and organizations of various Polish minorities. Due to that, they had little support and many enemies.
After the war
After the end of the war, when Poland found itself under the control of Polish communists and the Soviet Union, remains of endecja either emigrated to the West, or continied the eventualy futile fight against the Soviet occupation.
Modern Poland
After the fall of communism when Poland became a democratic country, several political parties tried to reestabilish some traditions of the endecja movement. Currently the only significant party which declares itself a successor to endecja is the Liga Polskich Rodzin, founded in 2001. Since then, in various elections, the party has gathered from 8% to 16% of votes.
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Endecja
Sept 5, 2006 7:05:35 GMT -7
Post by pieter on Sept 5, 2006 7:05:35 GMT -7
Roman Dmowski Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Roman Dmowski (b. August 9, 1864, Warsaw - d. January 2, 1939, Drozdowo, Poland) was a Polish politician, statesman, and chief ideologue and co-founder of the National Democratic Party (Endecja).
Biography
Born in the partitioned Poland, as a student he became active in the "Zet" Polish Youth Association (Zwiazek Mlodziezy Polskiej "Zet"), organizing a student street demonstration on the 100th anniversary of the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791. For this he was imprisoned by the Russian Tsarist authorities for six months in the Warsaw Citadel. Later Dmowski headed the National League (Liga Narodowa). In 1895 he settled in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (modern Lviv, Ukraine; known as Lwów to the Poles), and in 1897 co-founded the National-Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Narodowo-Demokratyczne or Endecja). The Endecja was to serve as a political party, a lobbying group and an underground organization that would unite Poles inclined to Dmowski’s views into highly disciplined and committed political group. In 1899, Dmowski founded the Society for National Education as an ancillary group. A brilliant biologist, he won much prestige within the Polish community with his scientific accomplishments. In 1898-1900 he resided in France and Britain. In the face of an ascendant Germany, he argued for tactical Polish cooperation with Tsarist Russia and brought about a pro-Russian reorientation within the National-Democratic Party. In 1901 he returned to Austrian partition of Poland, taking up residence in Kraków. Upon the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Dmowski traveled to Japan in a successful effort to prevent her from providing Jozef Pilsudski with Japanese assistance for a planned insurrection in Poland, an insurrection which Dmowski felt would be doomed to failure. In 1905 Dmowski moved to Warsaw, at the time part of the Russian partition of Poland. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Dmowski favoured co-operation with the Imperial Russian authorities and welcomed Nicholas II's October Manifesto of 1905 as a step in the road towards renewed Polish autonomy. During the revolt in Lódz in June 1905, the Endeks, acting under Dmowski's orders, opposed the uprising led by Pilsudski's Polish Socialist Party. Indeed, over the course of the "June Days," as the Lódz uprising is known, a miniature civil war raged with Endek. Some sources claim that Dmowski was a homosexual. Tsar’s secret police, Ochrana, used that information to blackmail him and force to become an agent. This information were never officially confirmed and is consider slander by some. For the elections of the First Duma — boycotted by the PPS — the Endeks won 34 out of the 55 seats allocated to Poland. Dmowski himself was a deputy to the Second and Third Russian Dumas and president of the Polish club within it. Before 1914, Dmowski was prepared to settle for Polish autonomy within the Russian Empire, as he believed that an independent Poland would swiftly become dominated by Germany, as Germans (in his view) had a better developed state and stronger social organisation. In light of what he regarded as German superiority, Dmowski felt that a strong Russia was Poland's best protection, and best chance for reuniting all Polish territories under one rule. In Dmowski's view the Russian policy of Russification was impossible against Poles, while Germans would be far more successful in their Germanisation. Dmowski's great rival Józef Pilsudski argued that Russia was a greater threat to the Poles than either Germany or Austria-Hungary [e.g. "With the Germans, we lose our land. With the Russians, we lose our soul". Throughout his life, Dmowski deeply disliked Pilsudski and everything he stood for. Dmowski came from an impoverished urban background and had little fondness for Poland's traditional social structure. Instead, Dmowski favored a modernizing program and felt Poles should stop looking back nostalgically at the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which Dmowski held in deep contempt and should instead embrace the "modern world." In particular, Dmowski despised the old Commonwealth for its multi-national structure and religious tolerance. He was especially critical of its failure to create a common identity for various ethnic groups, such as Ukrainians and Belarussians. Dmowski adored science and preferred logic and reason over emotion and passion. Dmowski once told Ignacy Jan Paderewski that music was "mere noise". Dmowski felt very strongly that Poles should abandon what he considered to be foolish romantic nationalism and useless gestures of defiance and should instead work hard at becoming businessmen and scientists. Dmowski was very much influenced by Social Darwinist, then popular in the Western world and saw life as a merciless struggle between "strong" nations who dominated and "weak" nations who were dominated. In his view nations could be classified in four categories : 1 Nations on the lowest scale of being able or desiring to become independent and self-governing for example in Dmowski's view the Belarussians. 2 Nations capable of self-governing themselves with awakened nationalistic aspirations-for example Ukrainians 3 Nations wishing to regain independence with centuries-old cultures and statehoods past (e.g. Poles). 4 Nations on the highest ladder of social development and tradition, possessing a country currently (e.g. Germans). In his 1902 book Mysli nowoczesnego Polaka (Thoughts of a Modern Pole), Dmowski denounced all forms of Polish Romantic nationalism and traditional Polish values. He sharply criticized the idea of Poland as a spiritual concept and as a cultural idea. Instead Dmowski argued that Poland was a merely a physical entity that needed to be brought into existence through pragmatic bargaining and negotiating, not via what Dmowski considered to be pointless revolts doomed to failure before they even began against the partitioning powers. For Dmowski, what the Poles needed was a “healthy national egoism” that would not be guided by what Dmowski regarded as the unrealistic political principles of Christianity. In the same book, Dmowski blamed the fall of the old Commonwealth in its tradition of tolerance. While critical of Christianity, Dmowski viewed some sub-groups of Christianity (other than Catholicism) as beneficial to certain nations. This was particularly true of Anglicanism and German Protestantism. Later in 1927 he revised this earlier views and renounced his criticism of Catholicism, seeing it as an essential part of Polish identity. Dmowski saw all minorities as weakening agents within the nation that needed to be purged. In regards to the Jewish minority, in Mysli nowoczesnego Polaka, Dmowski wrote "...in the character of this race [the Jews], so many different values strange to our moral constitution and harmful to our life have accumulated that assimilation with a larger number of Jews would destroy us, replacing us with decadent elements, rather than with those young creative foundations upon which we are building the future". In 1914 Dmowski praised the Grand Duke Nicholas's Proclamation of August 15, 1914 which vaguely assured the Czar's Polish subjects that there would be greater autonomy for "Congress Poland" after the war, and that the Austrian provinces of East and West Galicia together with Pomerania province of Prussia would be annexed to the Kingdom of Poland when the German Empire and Austria-Hungary were defeated. However, subsequent attempts on the part of Dmowski to have the Russians make firmer commitments along the lines of the Grand Duke Nicholas’s Proclamation were met with elusive answers. In 1915 Dmowski went abroad to campaign on behalf of Poland in the capitals of the western Allies. During his lobbying efforts, his friends included such opinion makers as the British journalist Wickham Steed. In particular, Dmowski was very successful in France, where made a very favourable impression on public opinion. In 1917, in Paris, he created a Polish National Committee aimed at rebuilding a Polish state. In September 1917, the Polish National Committee was recognized by the French as the legitimate government of Poland. The British and the Americans were less enthusiastic about Dmowski's National Committee, but likewise recognized it as Poland's government in 1918. However, the Americans refused to provide backing for what they regarded as Dmowski's excessive territorial claims. The American President Woodrow Wilson reported "I saw M. Dmowski and M. Paderewsi in Washington, and I asked them to define Poland for me, as they understood it, and they presented me with a map in which they claimed a large part of the earth". In part, Wilson's objections stemmed from dislike of Dmowski personally. One British diplomat stated, "he was a clever man, and clever men are distrusted: he was logical in his political theories and we hate logic: and he was persistent with a tenacity which was calculated to drive everybody mad". Another area of objection to Dmowski was to his anti-semitic remarks, as in a speech he delivered at a dinner organized by the writer G. K. Chesterton, that began with the words, "my religion came from Jesus Christ, who was murdered by the Jews". A number of American and British Jewish organizations campaigned during the war against their governments recognizing the National Committee. Another leading critic of Dmowski was the historian Sir Lewis Namier, who served as the British Foreign Office's resident expert on Poland during the war and who claimed to be personally offended by anti-semitic remarks made by Dmowski. Namier fought hard against British recognition of Dmowski and "his chauvinist gang". At the end of World War One, two governments claimed to be the legitimate governments of Poland: Dmowski's in Paris and Pilsudski's in Warsaw. To put an end to the rival claims of Pilsudski and Dmowski, the composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski met with both men and persuaded them to reluctantly join forces. Both men had something that the other needed. Pilsudski was in possession of Poland after the War, but as the Pole who fought with the Austrians for the Central Powers and against the Russians during the war, he was distrusted by the Allies. Pilsudski's newly reborn Polish Army needed arms from the Allies, something that only Dmowski could persuade the Allies to deliver upon. Beyond that, the French were planning to send the Blue Army of General Józef Haller de Hallenburg -- loyal to Dmowski -- back to Poland. The fear was that if Pilsudski and Dmowski did not put aside their differences, a civil war might break out between the partisans of Pilsudski and Dmowski. Paderewski was successful in working a compromise in which Dmowski and himself were to represent Poland at the Paris Peace Conference while Pilsudski was to serve as provisional president of Poland. As a Polish delegate at the Paris Peace Conference and a signer of the Versailles Treaty, Dmowski exerted a substantial influence on the Treaty's favorable decisions regarding Poland. On January 29, 1919, Dmowski met with the Supreme Council of the Allies for the first time. At the meeting, Dmowski stated that he had little interest in laying claim to areas of Ukraine and Lithuania that were formerly part of Poland, but no longer had a Polish majority. At the same time Dmowski strongly pressed for the return of Polish territories with Polish-speaking majorities taken by Prussia from Poland in 1790s. Dmowski himself admitted that from a purely historical point of view, the Polish claims to Silesia were not entirely strong, but he claimed it for Poland on economic grounds, especially the coal fields. Moreover, Dmowski claimed that German statistics had lied about the number of ethnic Poles living in eastern Germany and that, "these Poles were some of the most educated and highly cultured in the nation, with a strong sense of nationality and men of progressive ideas". In addition, Dmowski, with the strong backing of the French, wanted to send the "Blue Army" to Poland via Danzig, Germany (modern Gdañsk, Poland); it was the intention of both Dmowski and the French that the Blue Army create a territorial fait accompli. This proposal created much opposition from the Germans, the British and the Americans, and finally the Blue Army was sent to Poland in April 1919 via land. Pilsudski was opposed to needlessly annoying the Allies, and it has been suggested that he did not care much about the Danzig issue. In regards to Lithuania, Dmowski didn't view Lithuanians as having a strong national identity, and viewed their social organisation as tribal. Those areas of Lithuania that had either Polish majorities or minorities were claimed by Dmowski on the grounds of self-determination. In the areas with Polish minorities, the Poles would act as a civilizing influence; only the northern part of Lithuania, which had a solid Lithuanian majority, was Dmowski willing to concede to the Lithuanians. These claims caused Dmowski to have very acrimonious disputes with the Lithuanian delegation at Paris. With regard to the former Austrian province of East Galicia, Dmowski claimed that the local Ukrainians were quite incapable of ruling themselves and also required the civilizing influence of Polish leadership. In addition, Dmowski wished to acquire the oil-fields of Galica. However, only the French supported Polish claims to Galica wholeheartedly. In the end, it was the actual fighting on the ground in Galica, and not the decisions of the diplomats in Paris, that decided that the region would be part of Poland. The French did not back Dmowski's aspirations in the Teschen area, and instead supported the claims of Czechoslovakia. Dmowski himself was disappointed with the Treaty of Versailles, partly because he was strongly opposed to the Minorities Treaty imposed on Poland and partly because he wanted the German-Polish border to be somewhat farther to the west then what the Versailles had allowed. Both of these disappointments Dmowski blamed on what Dmowski claimed what the "international Jewish conspiracy". Throughout his life, Dmowski maintained that the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George had been bribed by a syndicate of German-Jewish financiers to give Poland what Dmowski considered to be an unfavourable frontier with Germany. Dmowski's relations with Lloyd George were very poor. Dmowski found Lloyd George to be arrogant, unscrupulous and a consistent advocate of ruling against Polish claims to the West and the East. Dmowski was very offended by Lloyd George's ignorance of Polish affairs and in particular was enraged by Lloyd George's lack of knowledge about river traffic on the Vistula. Dmowski called Lloyd George "the agent of the Jews". A political opponent of Józef Pilsudski, Dmowski favored what he called a "national state," a state in which the citizens would speak Polish and be of the Roman Catholic faith. If Pilsudski's vision of Poland was Jagiellon, a multinational federation (Miedzymorze federation), Dmowski's vision was the earlier Piast, ethnically and religiously homogeneous. Pilsudski believed in a wide definition of Polish citizenship in which peoples of different languages, cultures and faiths were to be united by a common loyalty to the reborn Polish state. Dmowski regarded Pilsudski's views as dangerous nonsense, and felt that the presence of large number of ethnic minorities would undermine the security of Polish state. At the Paris Peace Conference, he argued strenuously against the Minority Rights Treaty forced on Poland by the Allies. Dmowski was an anti-Semite and Social Darwinist who saw life as a zero-sum game in which any gain made by one group came at the expense of another. Dmowski often stated his belief in a "international Jewish conspiracy" aimed against Poland. In his essay "Zydzi wobec wojny", which comprises pages 301-308 of his 1926 book Polityka Polska i odbudowanie pañstwa, Dmowski claimed that Zionism was only a cloak to disguise the Jewish ambition to rule the world. Dmowski asserted that once a Jewish state was established in Palestine, this would serve as a nucleus for the Jewish take-over of the world. In the same essay, Dmowski accused the Jews of being Poland's most dangerous enemy and of working hand in hand with the Germans to dismember Poland. Dmowski believe that the 3,000,000 Polish Jews could not be assimilated and that they were far too numerous. In his own words, "a little salt may improve the taste of the soup, but too much will spoil it." For Dmowski, one of Poland's principal problems was that not enough Polish-speaking Catholics were middle-class, while too many ethnic Germans and Jews were. To remedy this perceived problem, he favored a policy of confiscating the wealth of Jews and ethnic Germans and redistributing it to Polish Catholics. Dmowski was never able to have this program passed into law by the Sejm, but the National Democrats did frequently organize "Buy Polish" boycott campaigns against German and Jewish shops. The first of Dmowski's anti-Semitic boycotts had organized in 1912 when he attempted to organize a total boycott of Jewish businesses in Warsaw as "punishment" for the defeat of some Endek candidates in the elections for the Duma, which Dmowski blamed on the Warsaw's Jewish population. Throughout his life, Dmowski associated Jews with Germans as Poland's principle enemies; the origins of this identification steams from Dmowski's deep anger over the forcible "Germanization" policies carried by the German government against its Polish minority during the Imperial period, and over the fact that most Jews living in the disputed German/Polish territories had chosen to assimilate into German culture, not Polish culture. In Dmowski's opinion Jewish community was not attracted to the cause of Polish independence and was likely to ally itself with potential enemies of Polish state if it would benefit their status . Dmowski was a deputy to the 1919 Sejm and minister of foreign affairs from October to December 1923. When it came time to write a Polish constitution in the early 1920s, the National Democrats insisted upon a weak presidency and strong legislative branch. Dmowski was convinced that Pilsudski would become president, and saw a weak executive mandate as the best way of crippling his rival. The constitution of 1921 did indeed outline a government with a weak executive branch, and a disgusted Pilsudski refused to seek the presidency. Instead, Pilsudski persuaded a friend of his, Gabriel Narutowicz to run for President. When Narutowicz was elected President by the Sejm in 1922, Dmowski was outraged. Narutowicz was elected with the support of the parties representing the Jewish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian and German minorities. In Dmowski's view, only those parties representing those of the Roman Catholic faith and of Polish language and culture should have been allowed to elect the President. After Narutowicz's election, the National Democrats started a major campaign of vilification of the “Jewish president” elected by “foreigners”. Subsequently, a National Democrat named Eligiusz Niewiadomski assassinated Narutowicz. In 1926 Dmowski founded the Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielkiej Polski), and in 1928 the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe). In 1934, a section of the youth wing of the Endecja found Dmowski insufficiently anti-Semitic for their taste and broke away to found the more radical National Radical Camp (known by its Polish acronym as the ONR). Dmowski had long advocated emigration of the entire Jewish population of Poland as the solution to what Dmowski regarded as Poland's "Jewish problem", came to argue for increasing harsh measures against the Jewish minority, though Dmowski never advocated killing Jews. Dmowski's last major campaign was a series of attacks on the alleged "Judo-Masonic" associates of President Ignacy Moscicki. Dmowski died January 2, 1939, in Drozdowo, near Lomza, where he had spent the last few years of his life. He never married.
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Endecja
Sept 5, 2006 7:41:58 GMT -7
Post by pieter on Sept 5, 2006 7:41:58 GMT -7
Jedrzej Giertych
(b. January 7, 1903, Sosnowiec, d. October 9, 1992, London) was a Polish politician from the patriotic Giertych family, son of Franciszek Giertych, father of Maciej Giertych and grandfather of Roman Giertych. Active mainly in 20 years between the world wars, Giertych was an ally of Roman Dmowski and a prominent activist of the National Democratic Party (Endecja). Jedrzej Giertych spent his political life aiming to build Poland made of nationalist traditionalist Catholic citizens ready to sacrifice their life for the greater good of Poland. During the communist rule in Poland Giertych lived in London, where he was expelled from an emigration party Stronnictwo Narodowe because of his extremism and antisemitism. He strongly criticised KOR and supported introduction of martial law in Poland in 1981.
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Endecja
Sept 5, 2006 7:47:48 GMT -7
Post by pieter on Sept 5, 2006 7:47:48 GMT -7
Maciej GiertychWikipedia, the free encyclopediaMaciej Marian Giertych (born March 24, 1936 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician with conservative social views and in favor of state intervention in the economy. Member of the Sejm (between 2001 and 2004) and a current Polish member of the European Parliament (since 2004). He was a candidate in the 2005 Polish presidential elections, but withdrew from the race because of low support. BiographyMaciej Giertych was born March 24, 1936 in Warsaw, to a notable politician of the National Democracy movement Jedrzej Giertych. In 1945 his family left Poland for Germany and finally settled in the United Kingdom. In 1954 Giertych passed his final school exams and entered Oxford University. He received the BA and MA in dendrology. Between 1958 and 1962 he studied at the University of Toronto, where he received his PhD for studies on tree physiology. In 1962 Giertych returned to Poland, where he completed his qualifications for an assistant professorship at the Institute of Dendrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) in Kórnik near Poznan. In 1964 he married Antonina née Janik. In 1970 he received his Habilitation degree for his studies on forest genetics at the Agricultural University of Poznan. Since 1976 he has lectured at the Nicolaus Copernicus University of Torun. He has also published more than 200 works and studies, mostly on forest-related topics. The same year he also became a member of the Forest Sciences Committee of the PAN. In 1981 he received the grade of common professor. In 1986, three years after Martial law in Poland ended, he joined the advisory council ( Rada Konsultacyjna) made up of opposition members and party officials set up by the leader of the communist authorities, Wojciech Jaruzelski. The council included several prominent Poles such as Marek Kotanski, Krzystof Skubiszewski and Kazimierz Dejmek. In 1986 Giertych also became the Polish representative to the International Union of Forest Research Organisations. He supported strengthening ties with the Soviet Union in accordance with Roman Dmowski's ideology, while criticizing some dissidents for working too closely with western politicians, which he believed would jeopardize Poland's western borders. After the fall of communist rule in Poland in 1990 he returned to scientific work and between 1993 and 2000 was an advisor to the Ministry of Environmental Affairs. In 1990 he was a member of one of the minor political parties, the National Party of Poland ( Stronnictwo Narodowe), which eventually entered the League of Polish Families ( LPR) coalition. On September 23, 2001, Giertych was elected to the Polish Parliament from a Poznan constituency. On June 16, 2004, he became a Member of the European Parliament for the LPR. Together with the rest of his party he is a member of the Independence and Democracy faction. Giertych comes from a famous Polish nationalist political family: he is the grandson of Franciszek Giertych and son of Jedrzej Giertych, and father of Roman Giertych, who currently leads the LPR. On July 4, 2006, Giertych endorsed the political views of dictators Antonio Salazar and Francisco Franco as " brave fighters against the communist plague", while speaking in the European Parliament. ViewsMaciej Giertych opposes lifting the ban on purchase of land in Poland by foreigners (due to fears of resurgence of German colonialism), homosexualism and moral relativism. He criticized and opposed Poland's entry into the European Union and supports closer ties with Eastern European countries, as well as defending Polish industry against what he regards as unfair practices of western companies. He is also against the proposed European Constitution. Giertych supports a version of creationism that attributes creation of universe, life and its further development to an act of God's will. In the tradition of medieval theology of the Scholastic school, he once calculated Noah's Ark capacity. He is an honorary member of the Daylight Origins Society, a British based creationist organisation. Links: giertych.pl/www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=416
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Endecja
Sept 5, 2006 8:02:47 GMT -7
Post by pieter on Sept 5, 2006 8:02:47 GMT -7
Roman Giertych Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Roman Giertych (born 27 February 1971 in ?rem, Poland) is a Polish politician, Deputy Prime Minister and, since May 5, 2006, Minister of Education. He is also currently a member of Sejm, lower house of the Polish parliament (elected in 2001), and chairman of League of Polish Families party.
Biography
Roman Giertych comes from a prominent family of Polish politicians, being a son of Maciej Giertych and a grandson of Jedrzej Giertych. According to his brother (holding a PhD. himself), he was a young bookworm who devoured dozens of books, especially on history. He excelled in history throughout his school years while his grades in other subjects remained average. His teacher of biology recalls him as militant and questioning the validity of the theory of evolution. He graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan with master's degrees in both law and history. In 1989, he reactivated the "All-Polish Youth" (Mlodziez Wszechpolska) organization, becoming its chairman; he remains honorary chairman to this day. For several years he was a member of the National-Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Narodowo-Demokratyczne) and the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe), which merged with several other organizations to form the League of Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin, LPR) in 2001 . Giertych and the LPR have a strong anti-EU profile. Prior to the 2003 Polish referendum on EU membership, the LPR campaigned vehemently against it, denouncing it as a "centralised, socialist superstate". Officially, the LPR declares to favour a "Europe of nations". Under Giertych's leadership, the LPR was successful in the European Parliament elections in June 2004, temporarily becoming the second-strongest Polish party with 14% of the votes. His father Maciej Giertych was elected MEP. In 2005 elections, though, LPR gained only 8% of the votes. In July 2004 Roman Giertych was elected a member and vicechairman of PKN Orlen investigation commission, which is credited, among other things, with destroying presidential aspirations of Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. On May 5, 2006, Giertych was appointed as Minister of Education and vice-premier, while the LPR joined a governmental coalition with PiS. Due to his nationalist views, this decision was considered highly controversial by a big part of public opinion. The following day, about 100 people, mostly left-wing and anarchist activists, protested in front of the Ministry of Education against this appointment. A couple of weeks later over 140 000 people signed a petition to remove him from the post. Public opposition continues as his decisions and qualifications to lead the Ministry of Education are questioned.
Attitude towards homosexuality
At a march opposed to homosexuality on March 13, 2006 in Warsaw, Roman Giertych said, "Stop pedalowania!". This was a pun, literally meaning "Stop pedalling [as in riding bicycles]!", since the Polish word "pedal" has a second usage, as a colloquial and offensive name for homosexuals, derived from the word pederasty.
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