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Wiesław Lewicki

Of himself he says that he has always had a social conscience. A professional career alone would not have made him happy so he applied his expertise as a manager to help the Polonia [Translator’s note: Polonia is a collective term for Poland and for people who come from Poland and live in the diaspora throughout the world], initially in Aachen and the surrounding area, then in North Rhine-Westphalia, until he eventually became the representative of around two million Poles in Germany through his work in the Convention of Polish Organisations in Germany (Konwent Organizacji Polskich w Niemczech). As the Chair of the Convention, he headed the delegation of the German Polonia at the “Round Table” which initiated the Joint Declaration of the Federal Government, the Republic of Poland and the minorities of speakers of different languages in both countries, and in so doing he made an important contribution to solving the problems of the German minority in Poland and the Polish minority in Germany. The Declaration was ratified in Warsaw on 12 June 2011 and one of its signatories was Lewicki. Projects that he gets off the ground are always innovative. In this spirit, he founded the Institute Polonicus and the Verein Polregio (Polregio Association) which publishes the magazine of the same name. He currently runs the bilingual Internet portal Polonia-Viva, heads up the social project Info-Point-Polregio to support migrants from Poland in the Rhineland and he coordinates civil society projects of the European Union. The common denominator in all the activities is the concept of integration - Polish-German integration, the integration of the German Polonia and European integration.

Wiesław Lewicki with his wife Aleksandra

Stefan Dybowski

With the aim of bringing together social and cultural activities, Wiesław Lewicki also started the non-profit European Institute for Culture and Media Polonicus VoG (Europejski Instytut Kultury i Mediów Polonicus VoG) which has its head office in Belgium and its subsidiary in Germany. Each year the Polregionale festival is held on behalf of the Institute. It also initiates public debates which take place during the meetings of the Convention and of the Congresses of Polish Organisations in Berlin but also in the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia and in Brussels.

Wiesław Lewicki was awarded the “Bene Merito”, the Polish medal of honour, for his multifaceted commitment to the promotion of Polish culture in Germany. The Polish President Bronisław Komorowski awarded him the Officer’s Cross in recognition of his services relating to the respect for Poland in Europe.

Wiesław Lewicki has a daughter Marta and a son Michał. He is married to Aleksandra Lewicki, who actively supports him in his work for the Polonia and whose own work focuses on helping people who find themselves in difficult situations in life.

Agata Lewandowski. August 2020

Online Sources:

https://www.konwent.de/index.php/8-artykul/wydarzenia/105-zmmiana-prezy…

https://poloniaviva.eu/index.php/de/9-portrety/artyku4/264-bene-merito

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiesław_Lewicki

Literature:

Twórcy Wizerunku Polonii, Stanisław Kowalski, Fundacja Sedeka, Warsaw 2018 (ISBN 978-83-948675-1-5).

Konwent Organizacji Polskich w Niemczech. Przeszłość - Teraźniejszość - Przyszłość / Konvent der polnischen Organisationen in Deutschland. Vergangenheit – Gegenwart – Zukunft, Konwent EWIV (Publ.), Chronicle, Aachen 2014.

Publications:

10-lecie Instytutu Polonicus (10 years of the Polonicus Institute).

Kronika z okazji 15-lecia Polregio (Chronicle on the occasion of the 15-year anniversary of the Polregio e.v.).

Other:

Joint Declaration of the Round Table of 12 June 2011, Warsaw, 2011.