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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

Wiesław Lewicki was born in 1957 in Gliwice, the hometown of many Poles who are well known in Germany, most prominently the footballer Lukas Podolski who enjoys cult status. Even during his studies of philosophy and environmental and engineering sciences at the Politechnika Śląska in Gliwice (Silesian University of Technology in Gleiwitz), Lewicki was active in student circles. After he left Poland for Germany in 1985, he continued his studies, focussing on management and euromarketing. He then worked in the French company Saint-Gobain and ran his own consultancy firm System Management. When Poland was accepted into the European Union in 2004, he seized the opportunity and founded the bilingual magazine “Polregio” and an association of the same name in which he organised the Polonia in the Euroregion of Meuse-Rhine. He also made the case for a cooperation with the city of Aachen by putting on concerts, exhibitions and festivals which he managed to persuade not just Poles living abroad in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgian as Poles, but also Poles living abroad in Great Britain and Ireland, to attend. On top of this, invitations were sent to Poles from Belarus and Romania. At the same time as founding the magazine “Polregio”, Lewicki set up the website www.polregio.eu and the German-Polish integration platform in the Internet, which benefited from his time as the editor of “Głos Polski”, the newly launched quarterly magazine of the Union of Poles in Germany “Zgoda” (Związek Polaków w Niemczech “Zgoda“). When the Polregio Association was integrated into the structures of the Polish Congress in Germany (Kongres Polonii Niemieckiej) that was founded in 1992, Wiesław Lewicki became its Deputy Chair. After his election as Chair in January 2009, he reformed the association thereby ensuring the medial integration of the German Polonia. Thanks to his initiative, the Internet portal Polonia-Viva was set up for Poles living abroad in Germany which drew upon a cohort of online journalists living here, who were either Polish or came from Poland. As the Chair of the Convention of Polish Organisations in Germany, Lewicki always stressed the pressing need for the German government to invigorate the provisions of the “Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland on Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation” of 17 June 1991. During the “Round Table” consultations on the issues of the German minority in Poland and the Polish minority in Germany, he spearheaded the delegation of the German Polonia and, in this capacity, was one of the signatories of the “Joint Declaration of the Round Table” that was concluded in Warsaw on 12 June 2011.

By virtue of his roles in the Convention of Polish Organisations in Germany, he also took part in the meetings of the European Association of Polish Communities (Europejska Unia Wspólnot Polonijnych, ( EUWP)), an alliance of umbrella organisations in the countries of Europe. For ten years there he was responsible for the association’s Internet presence and was involved in the regulatory work of the EUWP. In 2016, in his capacity as Deputy Chair, he registered the organisation, which was then 30 years old, as a lobby group in Brussels. Whilst still Chair of the Polish Congress in Germany, Wiesław Lewicki launched the renowned Polonicus prize. The prize, which is considered the European Oscar of the Polonia, honours the German-Polish dialogue in Europe and promotes the reputation of Poland in Europe and around the world. Since 2010, the prize has been awarded as part of the programme supporting the international Charlemagne Prize at a gala of the Polonia in the Coronation Hall of Aachen Town Hall. With this accolade, the European Polonia honour personalities whose work and commitment have aided European unity and integration and the positive perception of Poland in a special way. In all, 46 prizewinners have been honoured during the last eleven occasions, including Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, Professor Norman Davies, Professor Karl Dedecius, Professor Gesine Schwan, Archbishop Professor Alfons Nossol, Thorsten Klute, the Polonia representative of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council and the President of the Republic of Poland, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Wałęsa.

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-prezydenta-konwentu-od-1-kwietnia-2012-do-31-grudnia-2012-przewodniczy-wiesaw-lewicki

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.