Nelli Rokita

Nelli Rokita-Arnold (2007)

Nelli Rokita-Arnold , b. Arnold (born June 26, 1957 in Chelyabinsk , Russian SFSR , Soviet Union ) is a Polish politician , former Sejm member for the conservative Law and Justice party (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) and wife of the former politician Jan Rokita .

Private career

Rokita-Arnold comes from a German family who settled in Russian-ruled Georgia in the 19th century . Her father was arrested under Stalin and exiled to Chelyabinsk on the Urals in Siberia , where he was interned in a labor camp for several years. Released in 1948, he became director of the local transportation repair shop.

When Rokita-Arnold was nine years old, her family moved to Frunze in what is now Kyrgyzstan . In 1976 the family finally moved to Germany . Her parents and brother settled in Hanover , but she began studying history , German and Slavic studies at the University of Hamburg . She speaks six languages, including fluent Polish .

During a summer school in Kraków , in which she was participating as a language scholar, she heard the activist Jan Rokita , who was a member of the opposition and anti-communist Solidarność , at an illegal gathering . She married him on July 26, 1994 in Krakow. Before the wedding, she entered the Catholic Church and her future husband was her godfather . Both raise the daughter from their first marriage together.

Political life

Before 2001 Rokita-Arnold was a member of the Conservative People's Party (Polish Stronnictwo Konserwatywno-Ludowe , SKL), whose monthly information sheet she published. In 2002 she sat on the party executive committee, but after a short time switched to the liberal-conservative citizens' platform (Polish Platforma Obywatelska , PO). In 2003 she became chairwoman of the European Women's Union , in 2005 chairwoman of the Polish section of this organization and represented the Polish section on the board of the European assembly of this organization. In January 2007 she left the PO for personal and programmatic reasons and became a member of the Law and Justice party (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS).

On September 14, 2007, Rokita-Arnold was appointed adviser to President Lech Kaczyński in women's affairs. On the same day, her husband announced his retirement from politics a few hours later and justified his decision with "love for my wife". In the parliamentary elections in Poland in 2007 , Rokita-Arnold received 6,367 votes in the Warsaw constituency and became a member of the Sejm . As a result, she gave up her work as a consultant to Kaczyńskis.

After the parliamentary elections in Poland in 2011 , in which she suffered a defeat and lost her mandate, Rokita announced her withdrawal from politics.

Web links

• Portrait of Nelli Rokita-Arnold (Polish)
• Nelli Rokita-Arnold's Membership Page for the 6th electoral term (Polish)