Jerzy Owsiak
Jerzy "Jurek" Owsiak (born October 6, 1953 in Danzig , Poland ) is a Polish radio journalist . He is co-initiator and president of the charitable foundation of the annual Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid ( Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy , WOŚP), the most popular charity event in Poland.
Life
Owsiak is the son of a former militiaman . He passed his A- levels at a business high school in Warsaw and then learned the profession of vitragist after he had been rejected for studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw .
According to his own statement, Owsiak spent his youth as a hippie , which gave him contact with the Polish music scene and for the first time participated in the organization of concerts. Before the political upheaval in Poland , he became the presenter of an experimental radio station in 1988 and answered worries from young people during his own rock show. In the following years he moderated for Polskie Radio 3 , RMF FM and TVP2, among others .
At Christmas 1992 Owsiak addressed the emergency of a Polish children's heart center in one of his rock shows, which lacked urgently needed equipment for the treatment and care of newborns, and asked what could be done about it. This led to the creation of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid ( Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy , WOŚP), which was officially registered as a foundation in 1993.
With more than 120,000 volunteers, the WOŚP Foundation is the largest non-governmental organization in Poland. Annually, from December to January, it organizes national fundraising. The money will be used to equip public hospitals with modern technology, for example for pediatrics. In addition, the foundation is committed to first aid training and helps with other charitable activities to resolve medical emergencies. As a thank you for the volunteers, Owsiak has been organizing an annual rock festival since 1995, since 2004 in the German-Polish border area near Küstrin , just under 50 kilometers north of Frankfurt an der Oder. The rock festival called Pol'and'Rock (formerly Woodstock stop) is the largest free open-air festival in Europe. German music groups such as Die Toten Hosen have already been won over to the event. The musicians perform for a fee of 25 euros. Owsiak is one of the most popular people in Poland. Because of his liberal views and the motto "do what you want and have fun", he is heavily criticized by conservative politicians and part of the Catholic clergy.
Between 2007 and 2010, Owsiak briefly ran its own television station, O.TV.
On January 14, 2019 Owsiak announced his resignation as President of the WOŚP Foundation. The reason was the murder of Paweł Adamowicz during a WOŚP closing event in Gdansk, and the reason he cited was the hatred of other people, which he himself had experienced for 25 years. Due to numerous requests, including from the deceased's wife, Owsiak withdrew his declaration of resignation five days later.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ When Jurek flatters the soul of the people. In: The world . January 3, 1998, accessed June 16, 2015 .
- ↑ Susanne Amann, Olaf Sundermeyer: Woodstock is next door. In: Berliner Zeitung . August 6, 2005, accessed June 16, 2015 .
- ↑ Gazeta Wyborcza, Jerzy Owsiak: Składam rezygnację z funkcji prezesa WOŚP , January 14, 2019
- ↑ WOŚP, Dwa słowa Jurka Owsiaka do Prezydenta Pawła Adamowicza , January 19, 2019
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Owsiak, Jerzy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Owsiak, Jurek |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Polish radio and TV journalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 6, 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Danzig |