Mirosław Chojecki
Miroslaw Chojecki (born September 1, 1949 in Warsaw) is a Polish publisher and film producer. He was an activist in the democratic anti-communist opposition during the period of the People's Republic of Poland.
Biography
During the March 1968 events he participated in a student strike at the Warsaw Polytechnic, and was subsequently expelled from the university. Between 1967 and 1972 he belonged to the Polish Students' Association (ZSP).[1] In 1974 he graduated from the Department of Chemistry of the University of Warsaw and then worked at the Institute for Nuclear Research (IBJ).
In June of 1976 Chojecki was one of the participants in the campaign to help the repressed workers of Ursus and Radom. In the same year he was among the organizers of the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). He initiated independent publishing activity and was responsible for the reproduction of the KOR Communications and Information Bulletin of the KOR underground newspapers. In September 1977 he created the Independent Publishing House "NOWA" which constituted the largest publishing house operating outside official communist censorship.
In March 1980 he was detained, and then went on a hunger strike. In May of that year, an oppositionist group based around St. Christopher's Church in Podkowa Leśna joined his protest. After a trial Chojecki was sentenced to one and a half years imprisonment with a conditional suspension.[2]
In August 1980 he organized the printing of publications of the "second circuit" (as underground press was known in Poland at the time). He was re-arrested but was released after the signing of the Gdańsk Agreement between the communist government and striking workers of Gdańsk, which led to the creation of the Solidarity Trade Union. Chojecki was restored to his job at the Institute for Nuclear Research as well. In the same year he became a member of "Solidarity".
In October 1981 he went abroad and was in France when the imposition of martial law in Poland, by the government of General Wojciech Jaruzelski occurred. He remained in exile in Paris and published a monthly "Kontakt", produced films on modern Polish history, and organized support for the underground in Poland, including the provision of media equipment and other hardware. He collaborated with the famous publicist Jerzy Giedroyc. Chojecki returned to Poland in 1990. He co-founded the first commercial television station NTV, started a film group "Kontakt" and served as adviser to the minister of culture.
He is the initiator and the honorary president of the Association for Free Speech (Stowarzyszenie Wolnego Słowa).[3] In 2005 he was an honorary committee member for Donald Tusk during the presidential campaign. August 31, 2006 Chojecki was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by President Lech Kaczynski.
References
- ^ "Mirosław Chojecki" (in Polish). Encyklopedia Solidarnosci. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- ^ "Kalendarium 1980" (in Polish). Kor.org. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- ^ "STOWARZYSZENIE WOLNEGO SŁOWA" (in Polish). Archiwum.sws. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
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