Adam Michnik

Adam Michnik
Adam Michnik, 2011
Born	17 October 1946 Warsaw, Poland
Occupation	Journalist, essayist, former dissident

Adam Michnik (Polish pronunciation: [ˈadam ˈmixɲik]; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former dissident, public intellectual, and the editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. Brought up in a family of committed communists, Michnik became an opponent of the communist regime at the time of the anti-Jewish purges in the party. He was imprisoned after the 1968 March Events and again after the imposition of the Martial Law in 1981. Michnik also played a crucial role during the Polish Round Table Talks, as a result of which the communists conceded to call elections, which were subsequently won by Solidarity. Even though he has withdrawn from active politics he has "maintained an influential voice through journalism". He is a laureate of many awards and honors, including a Knight of the Legion of Honour and European of the Year.

Adam Michnik was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family of Jewish communists. His father Ozjasz Szechter was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine, and his mother Helena Michnik was a historian, communist activist, and children's-book author. His step-brother on his mother's side, Stefan Michnik, was a communist judge in the 1950s, during the Stalinist period, and passed death sentences on Polish resistance-movement soldiers. His step-brother on his father's side, Jerzy Michnik (born 1929), settled in Israel after 1957 and then moved to New York.

While attending primary school, he was an active member of the Polish Scouting Association (ZHP), in a troop which was led by Jacek Kuroń. During secondary school, this particular Scouting troop was banned, and Adam began to participate in meetings of the Klub Krzywego Koła (Club of the Crooked Circle). After its closing in 1962, with the encouragement from Jan Józef Lipski and under Adam Schaff's protection, he founded a discussion group, "Contradiction Hunters Club" (Klub Poszukiwaczy Sprzeczności) and became associated with the left wing student opposition group, the Komandosi.