Magdalena Agnieszka Ogórek (; born 23 February 1979) is a Polish TV presenter and politician. In 2015 she was a presidential candidate of

Democratic Left Alliance The Democratic Left Alliance () was a social-democratic political party in Poland. It was formed in 9 July 1991 as an electoral alliance of centre-left parties, and became a single party on 15 April 1999. It was the major coalition party in Po ...

Early life and education

Ogórek was born in

Rybnik Rybnik (Polish pronunciation: ; szl, Rybńik) is a city in southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, around 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Katowice, the region's capital, and around 19 km (11 miles) from the Czech border. It is on ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. In 2002, she completed a master's degree in history at the

University of Opole The University of Opole ( pl, Uniwersytet Opolski) is a public university in the city of Opole. It was founded in 1994 from a merger of two parallel educational institutions. The university has 17,500 students completing 32 academic majors and 53 ...

, and in 2003 completed postgraduate studies in European integration at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

, and thematic studies in 2005 at the European Institute of Public Administration in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

. In 2009, at the University of Opole, Ogórek received her PhD. She has lectured at the School of Customs and Logistics in Warsaw under the auspices of Malopolska College in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Professional and political activity

Ogórek had internships and apprenticeships in the Office for European Integration in 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 ...

and the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

's Office. In 2004, she was employed as a clerk in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, where she worked for two years. For three years she was an associate of the President of the Democratic Left Alliance

Grzegorz Napieralski Grzegorz Bernard Napieralski (pronounced ; born March 18, 1974) is a Polish left-wing politician. He is an MP (member of the Sejm) and was chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) from 2008 to 2011. Education and political career Napierals ...

, and in 2010 was a member of the presidential election staff. In the parliamentary elections in 2011, she unsuccessfully stood as a parliamentary candidate of the

. On 9 January 2015, Ogórek announced that she was standing in the 2015 presidential election as the candidate of the Democratic Left Alliance. She criticised

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n actions in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, but argued Poland cannot afford to be seen by Russian media as an enemy. She highlighted the Jewish ancestry of a senator,

Marek Borowski Marek Stefan Borowski (; born 4 January 1946 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish left-wing politician. He led the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) for a time and was Speaker of the Sejm (the lower, more powerful, house of Poland's parliament) from 200 ...

, when criticizing his politics on TVP which sparked a wave of critical comments. The head of TVP demanded an explanation from Ogórek. From 2015, she has been actively involved in recovery of precious Polish art work and artifacts stolen in large quantities by German and Austrian Nazis during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. One of her successes was the recovery in February 2017 of the painting of Potocki Palace by 19th-century Polish countess Julia Potocka, the 18th Century map of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the engraving presenting view on

. It was possible due to 2-year long negotiations with Horst von Wächter, a son of Austrian Nazi governor Otto von Wächter, who stole those paintings from occupied Kraków during World War II.

Media career

Ogórek has had cameo roles in television and film productions, including ''Los Chlopakos'' (2003), ''Czego się boją faceci, czyli seks w mniejszym mieście'' (2003) and ''Lokatorzy'' (2002). Since 2002, she played a nurse in several episodes on ''

Na dobre i na złe ''Na dobre i na złe'' (, ''For better and for worse'') is a Polish television medical drama Television program, series, broadcast on TVP2 since 7 November 1999. It is the longest-running weekly primetime drama on Polish television and one of the ...

''. In 2014, she hosted the international newscast ''World Atlas'' on

TVN24 BiS TVN24 BiS (formerly TVN24 Biznes i Świat) is a Polish 24-hour hybrid business and world news channel, sister station to TVN24. It was launched on 1 January 2014, replacing TVN CNBC. TVN24 BiS belongs to the TVN Group which in turn is controlled ...

. In 2019 during a talk show her statements were judged to be

defamatory Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

, but her convinction was overtuned by presidential pardon in 2023.

References

External links

Magdalena Ogórek's blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ogorek, Magdalena 1979 births Candidates in the 2015 Polish presidential election Democratic Left Alliance politicians Living people People from Silesia People from Rybnik Polish actresses University of Warsaw alumni Polish women academics 21st-century Polish historians Polish women historians Recipients of Polish pardons