Nelli Rokita (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Nelli Arnold; June 26, 1957) is a Polish politician who was elected an MP as a

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...

candidate. Her husband

Jan Rokita Jan Władysław Rokita (, born 18 June 1959, in Kraków) is a Polish liberal politician, a member of the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. He was chairman of the parliamentary club of the Civic Platform party from 2003 to 2005. H ...

was a prominent activist of a

Civic Platform Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk. It w ...

who retreated in September 2007 when Rokita started her political career. She was born in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in an ethnic German family, lived in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where she obtained a university degree in

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

. Rokita first visited Poland in the 1980s on a scholarship to the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

to study the language of political propaganda in the

People's Republic of Poland 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 ...

. There she met Jan Rokita, whom she married on July 26, 1994. He is her second husband. Before their wedding, Rokita converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and her future husband became her godfather. She also has a daughter, Kasia, from her previous marriage. During her time in Poland, Rokita edited the official party newspaper of the

Conservative People's Party (Poland) The Conservative People's Party (SKL, pl, Stronnictwo Konserwatywno-Ludowe) was a political party in Poland, between 1997–2003 and 2007–2014. In 2014 party was incorporated into Poland Together. Leaders * Artur Balazs - party chairman * I ...

. She became a member of the Civic Platform, but withdrew from the party in January 2007, claiming that her husband was marginalized in his own party by

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic Pla ...

, and that the

liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

party was becoming increasingly left-wing. Rokita briefly served as an advisor to Poland's president

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he prev ...

on women's issues. From 2007 to 2011, Nelli Rokita was a member of 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 ...

. She lost the 2011 election to the

Polish Senate The Senate ( pl, Senat) is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the Sejm. The history of the Polish Senate stretches back over 500 years; it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rokita, Nelly 1957 births Living people Jagiellonian University alumni Politicians from Chelyabinsk Members of the Polish Sejm 2007–2011 Civic Platform politicians Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism Polish Roman Catholics Polish people of German descent Polish people of Russian descent Russian people of German descent Naturalized citizens of Poland Russian emigrants to Poland