Grzegorz Michał Braun (born 11 March 1967) is a Polish far-right politician, journalist, academic lecturer, movie director and screenwriter. He is the leader of the

Confederation of the Polish Crown The Confederation of the Polish Crown ( pl, Konfederacja Korony Polskiej, KKP), often shorted to The Crown ( pl, Korona, links=no, label=none), is a far-right political party in Poland. It is led by Grzegorz Braun. It has been described as nati ...

and one of the leaders of

Confederation Liberty and Independence The Confederation Liberty and Independence ( pl, Konfederacja Wolność i Niepodległość), frequently shortened to just Confederation ( pl, Konfederacja), is a far-right political party in Poland. It was initially founded in 2018 as a polit ...

. He was elected to the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Biography

Grzegorz Braun was born in

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

, Poland. His father, Kazimierz Braun, is a movie director. His mother is Zofia, née Reklewska, while his maternal grandfather was Wincenty Sebastian Reklewski. Grzegorz is a nephew of Juliusz Braun (former network director of

Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska S.A. (; "Polish Television"; TVP), also known in English as the public Polish Television is a Polish state media corporation. It is the largest Polish television network, although viewership has been declining in the 2010s. Sinc ...

) and a brother of actress Monika Braun. He graduated from the

University of Wrocław , ''Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau'' (before 1945) , free_label = Specialty programs , free = , colors = Blue , website uni.wroc.pl The University of Wrocław ( pl, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, U ...

in 1987, and completed postgraduate studies at the

Krzysztof Kieślowski Krzysztof Kieślowski (; 27 June 1941 – 13 March 1996) was a Polish film director and screenwriter. He is known internationally for ''Dekalog'' (1989), ''The Double Life of Veronique'' (1991), and the ''Three Colours'' trilogy (1993 –1994) ...

Faculty of Radio and Television at the

University of Silesia The University of Silesia in Katowice ( pl, Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach, UŚ) is an autonomous state-run university in Silesia Province, Katowice, Poland. The university offers higher education and research facilities. It offers undergradu ...

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

in 1993. From 1987 onward he co-organized activities of the

Orange Alternative The Orange Alternative (Polish language, Polish: ''Pomarańczowa Alternatywa'') is a Polish far-left anti-communist underground movement, started in Wrocław, a city in south-west Poland and led by Waldemar Fydrych (sometimes misspelled as Frydr ...

, for which he was oppressed by the communist government of the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

. In 1988 and 1989, he participated in student protests at the University of Wrocław. He was also active in the Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity. Later, he also was a journalist for, inter alia, the Option Right and the

Polskie Radio Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna (PR S.A.; English: Polish Radio) is Poland's national public-service radio broadcasting organization owned by the State Treasury of Poland. History Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making ...

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 ...

. Until 2007, he taught journalism at the University of Wrocław. As a movie director, he produced and directed over 30 titles, including: Transformation, New Poland, Correction to Biography, Positive Additions and Negative Additions, Comrade General Goes to War,

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

and the Protestant Revolution, Smolensk Assassination. He is a co-founder of the Errata TV series, revealing the biographies of former Polish communist agents. He was involved with the Polish Monarchists Organization, for which he contributed written works and lectures. He is involved with "Wake-up Call" ("Pobudka") an organisation that he has founded to strengthen the self-sustainability of faith communities and the internet TV channel "Sumienie Narodu." Braun is a

Traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, Christian liturgy, liturgical forms, Catholic devotions, devotions, and presentations of Catholic Church, Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church befo ...

. He is fiercely critical of

Protestantism in Poland Protestantism in Poland is the third largest faith in Poland, after the Roman Catholic Church (32,440,722) and the Polish Orthodox Church (503,996). As of 2018 there were 103 registered Protestant denominations in Poland. Most Protestants (mainl ...

and has often debated Protestants in public.

Political activity

Braun's political views are based on the assessment of Polish history with special attention to the 1050th anniversary of Poland's acceptance of Christianity. He is opposed to the idea of Poland being a state dependent on and controlled by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. He believes that Poland's continuous prosperity can only be guaranteed by the preservation of traditional family values, the principles of

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

faith, and faith-based education. His political views are

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

. He is a proponent of revisions to the legacy of former president

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democratica ...

based on Wałęsa's alleged cooperation with the communist secret service. He is a proponent of revisions to the current Polish government's investigation of the

2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, Maria, ...

(Polish presidential airplane crash) at

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest c ...

. His economic views can be described as classically liberal as he supports a

tax per head A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

and cutting VAT tax. On 24 January 2015, he announced his candidacy to run for the office of the

President of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Polan ...

. In February 2015 he started campaigning in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

among Polish immigrants and Americans of Polish descent. On 5 August 2015, he formed his own campaign committee ''God Bless You!'' (''Szczęść Boże!'') while receiving only 13,113 votes amounting to a 0,09% of the total cast he withdrew from the parliamentary elections in the fall of 2015. In August 2016, Braun took part in a conference organized by the Center for European Policy Analysis reporting on Russian propaganda in the former Soviet satellite countries. He suggested maintaining a controlled balance between the EU and Russia.

National Movement Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

presidential candidate Marian Kowalski criticized Braun for not trusting

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

forces stationing in Poland as a legitimate defence against Russia. Braun calls for Poland to independently maintain and operate nuclear weapons. In January 2019, Braun announced his candidacy for the mayoral office of

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

. The unexpected early elections were called after the untimely death of mayor

Paweł Adamowicz Paweł Bogdan Adamowicz (; 2 November 1965 – 14 January 2019) was a Polish politician and lawyer who served as the city mayor of Gdańsk from 1998 until his assassination in 2019. Adamowicz was one of the organizers of the 1988 Polish strik ...

. Braun's candidacy has been endorsed by

Janusz Korwin-Mikke Janusz Ryszard Korwin-Mikke (; born 27 October 1942), also known by his initials JKM or simply as Korwin, is a Polish far-right politician, paleolibertarian and author. He was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 until 2018. He was the ...

and the

. On 4 March 2019, it was determined that Braun received 11.86% votes and thus conceded to the winner

Aleksandra Dulkiewicz Aleksandra Maria Dulkiewicz (; born 10 July 1979) is a Polish lawyer and the city mayor of Gdańsk since 11 March 2019. Biography In 1994, she graduated froThe Primary School No. 50named after Emilia Plater in Gdańsk. In 1999 she graduated fr ...

who received 82.22% votes. In the

2019 European Parliament election in Poland On Sunday 26 May 2019, a vote was held to elect the Polish delegation to the European Parliament. Polish voters elected 52 MEPs, compared to 51 in the 2014 election. The increased number of MEPs is a result of the 2018 reapportionment of seats ...

Braun was the leading candidate for the

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. Although his list received 5.89% of the vote, the best result for Confederation in the country, the coalition failed to reach the 5% threshold nationwide and so he did not pick up the seat. In the

2019 Polish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 13 October 2019. All 460 members of the Sejm and 100 senators of the Senate were elected. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) retained its majority in the Sejm, but lost its majority in the Senate to the ...

Braun was the leading candidate for the

in the Rzeszów Constituency, located in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. He built on his success from the last election, and his list received 8.25% of the vote, which was again the best result for the Confederation nationwide. This time Braun picked up the seat, as did 10 other candidates from the Confederation. He was a candidate in the 2020 Confederation presidential primary. He made it into the final round of voting where he lost to

Krzysztof Bosak Krzysztof Bosak (, born 13 June 1982) is a far-right Polish politician. He was a member of the Sejm for the League of Polish Families from 2005 to 2007 and has been a member of the Sejm again since 2019 for the Confederation. Bosak was the chairm ...

. He immediately endorsed Bosak and said he would campaign for him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Grzegorz 1967 births Polish anti-abortion activists Anti-Masonry Anti-Zionism in Poland Candidates in the 2015 Polish presidential election Confederation Liberty and Independence politicians Conservatism in Poland Far-right politics in Poland Gun rights advocates Living people Anti-Islam sentiment in Poland Opposition to sex education People from Toruń Polish biographers Polish documentary film directors 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Polish monarchists Polish opinion journalists Polish screenwriters Polish traditionalist Catholics Political historians Traditionalist Catholic conspiracy theorists University of Silesia in Katowice alumni University of Wrocław alumni University of Wrocław faculty Members of the Polish Sejm 2019–2023 Polish conspiracy theorists