Agnieszka Kotlarska-Świątek (15 August 1972 – 27 August 1996) was a Polish fashion model and beauty queen.

Career

While studying at

Wrocław University of Science and Technology Wrocław University of Science and Technology ( pl, Politechnika Wrocławska, founded as german: link=no, Technische Hochschule Breslau) is a technological university in Wrocław, Poland. With buildings and infrastructures dispersed throughout t ...

, Agnieszka won the

Miss Polski Miss Polski is a national beauty pageant in Poland to select the official ambassador of Poland at the Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Supranational pageants. This pageant is one of famous Polish national pageant after Miss Polonia ...

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

held at the

Forest Opera The Forest Opera ( pl, Opera Leśna, german: Waldoper) is an open-air amphitheatre located in Sopot, Poland, with a capacity of 5047 seats, the orchestra pit can contain up to 110 musicians. History Built in 1909 (when the location was part of G ...

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest city ...

on 19 July 1991. On 13 October 1991, she became the first Polish winner of the

Miss International Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest pageant i ...

beauty pageant held in Tokyo, Japan. She went on to pursue a modelling career in the United States, represented by

Ford Models Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford. Company Ford Models was started in 1946 by Eileen ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

for the likes of

Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren, ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for the Ralph Lauren Corporation, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He has become well known for his co ...

and

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...

. Around 1992, while working in New York, she married Jarosław Świątek, one of the organisers of the 1991 edition of Miss Polski. The couple later returned to their native Poland at the end of 1993 to settle in her hometown

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

Death

Kotlarska narrowly escaped death when at the last minute, she backed out of flying on

TWA Flight 800 Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31pm. Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. K ...

, which crashed with no survivors off Long Island, New York on 17 July 1996. Rico Puhlmann, who was Kotlarska's chief photographer, was among the victims. She was stabbed to death by a

stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

on 27 August 1996. The attack also injured her husband, Jarosław Świątek. Her two-year-old daughter was a witness to the attack. She was laid to rest at Grabiszyński Cemetery ( pl:Cmentarz Grabiszyński) on 30 August 1996. The assailant, computer programmer Jerzy Lisiewski, was subsequently sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, finishing his sentence in 2012. Lisiewski was later arrested for stabbing a Romanian man during an attempted burglary in the district of

Psie Pole Psie Pole () (polish: ''Dog Field'') is one of the five administrative districts of Wrocław, Poland. Before 1928, it was an independent city. Its functions were largely taken over on 8 March 1990 by the Municipal Office of the newly established ...

in 2014.

References

External links

Official Miss Polski website - Agnieszka Kotlarska Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotlarska, Agnieszka 1972 births 1996 deaths Miss International winners Polish beauty pageant winners Polish murder victims Deaths by stabbing in Poland Miss International 1991 delegates