Waldemar Milewicz (August 20, 1956,
Dobre Miasto
Dobre Miasto (; german: Guttstadt ; literally Good City) is a town in Poland, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship with 9,857 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the northwestern part of the Masurian Lake District in the heart of th ...
, Poland – May 7, 2004,
Latifiya
Latifiya ( ar, اللطيفية), named after Latifiya river, is an Iraqi town south of Baghdad, between Mahmoudiyah and Iskandariya, inhabited originally by 97,043 people. It has a mix of Sunni and Shia Muslim population, and surrounded by in th ...
, Iraq) was a Polish journalist and
war correspondent.
Life and career
Milewicz obtained a degree in
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
. In 1981, he began working at the public
Polish Television
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 ...
(TVP) and in 1991, he began working for the news division. Producing television reports and documentaries, he travelled around the world to many areas of armed conflict,
["Polish TV crew attacked in Iraq"](_blank)
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
News (May 7, 2004). Retrieved February 8, 2011. including
Abkhazia
Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...
,
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
, Cambodia,
Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
, Ethiopia,
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
, Somalia and
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
. In particular, his documentary series ''Dziwny jest ten świat'' ("This is a Strange World") made Milewicz one of the best-known reporters in Poland.
In 2003, he covered the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, staying at the Polish military base. Because of poor health, Milewicz had been planning to end his career as a
war correspondent after the mission to Iraq. He was killed in a
drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...
in Iraq by members of extremist group
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad ( en, Group of Monotheism and Jihad), which may be abbreviated as JTJ or Jama'at, was a Islamic extremist Salafi jihadist terrorist group. It was founded in Jordan in 1999 and was led by Jordanian national Abu Musab al ...
.
Death
The Polish TV crew's car was returning to the Polish base camp at
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
from an interview with
insurgents
An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irreg ...
in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
on May 7, 2004. Travelling in a clearly marked press vehicle, they were followed by a group of armed men in another car. About south of Baghdad, the attackers caught up with them and opened fire from behind, riddling the journalists' car with bullets. Milewicz was hit first and died instantly. Another member of the crew, Mounir Bouamrane, an
Algerian
Algerian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Algeria
* Algerian people
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Algeria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, econo ...
-Polish editor and translator who had been working for TVP for about 15 years, was killed in a second volley of gunfire when he left the vehicle.
The crew's cameraman, Jerzy Ernst, was wounded in the arm by the second volley of gunfire while in the car, trying to remove Milewicz's body. Their Iraqi driver and guide Assir Kamel al Kazzaz escaped the attack unharmed.
Arrests
In 2006,
Polish military intelligence detained three men, following a tip from a rival
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
militia in the Baghdad area. The alleged killers of the Polish journalists were Kifah Hamid Asman, Alim Hussein, and their cell's leader Salah Khabbas, a former
Baath Party
The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...
member who was later associated with
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI; ar, القاعدة في العراق, al-Qā'idah fī al-ʿIrāq) or Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia ( ar, القاعدة في بلاد الرافدين, al-Qā'idah fī Bilād ar-Rāfidayn), officially known as ''Tanzim Qaidat a ...
. During his arrest, Khabbas offered a $100,000 bribe in exchange for his release. A suspect said that
Iraqi Police
The Iraqi Police (IP) is the uniformed police force responsible for the enforcement of civil law in Iraq. Its organisation, structure and recruitment were guided by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and it is ...
officers, who had inspected the victims' car as they were leaving Baghdad, informed them of "important people" heading their direction.
["Journalists' Killer Detained"](_blank)
Warsaw Voice (December 6, 2006). Retrieved February 8, 2011. The detainees also confessed to several other attacks, including roadside bombings and kidnappings for ransom.
They however later "vanished" after they were handed-over to the American and Iraqi forces.
Mistaken identity
On January 11, 2012, the newspaper "
Rzeczpospolita
() is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin ''rés pública'' ( "thing" + "public, common"), i.e. ''republic'', in Engli ...
" proposed a theory based on
WSI archives discovered during verification. The theory stated that Waldemar Milewicz was killed because he shared a name with another Waldemar Milewicz, who was a member of along with Romuald Szeremietiew and
Bronislaw Komorowski, and then a board member of Cenzin, an arms trading company. His presence likely became known when he showed his passport upon arriving at the airport. The film crew members accompanying him were thought to be camouflage, and his murderers most likely had no photo with which to verify his identity. Waldemar Milewicz often traveled to dangerous regions to report, wearing no protection while performing his job in order to facilitate communication while interviewing.
Honours
Milewicz received many awards and prizes for his work, among them the SAIS-Ciba Prize for Excellence in Journalism by
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
in 1995 (for his work in Chechnya), the Polish Grand Press Journalist of the Year Award in 2001, as well as several state awards, including two
Order of Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...
medals (Knight's Cross in 2002 and Officer's Cross
posthumously
Posthumous may refer to:
* Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death
* Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death
* ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987
* ''Posthumous'' (E ...
).
The urn with his ashes was rested in the Military Cemetery in Warsaw.
He was a fan of an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
band
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting).
Depeche ...
. According to his last will, their song ''
I Feel You
"I Feel You" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 15 February 1993 as their 27th UK single and the first single from their eighth studio album, ''Songs of Faith and Devotion'' (1993). The song peaked at number ei ...
'' was played during his memorial service.
References
External links
Memorial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milewicz, Waldemar
1956 births
2004 deaths
People from Dobre Miasto
Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery
Assassinated Polish journalists
Journalists killed while covering the Iraq War
Polish television journalists
Polish war correspondents
Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta