Danuta Wałęsa Explained

Mirosława Danuta Wałęsa
Image Name:File:Danuta Walesa.jpg
Office:First Lady of Poland
Term Label:In role
Term Start:22 December 1990
Term End:22 December 1995
President:Lech Wałęsa
Predecessor:Karolina Kaczorowska - in Exile
Barbara Jaruzelska
Successor:Jolanta Kwaśniewska
Birth Date:25 February 1949
Birth Place:Węgrów, Poland
Birthname:Mirosława Danuta Gołoś
Nationality:Polish
Children:8, including Jarosław

Mirosława Danuta Wałęsa (née Gołoś; born 25 February 1949[1]), is married to the former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa.[2] In 1983 she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on behalf of her husband,[2] [3] who feared, at a time of great political upheaval in the country, that the Polish government might not allow him to return if he travelled to Oslo himself. Lech and Danuta have been married since 8 November 1969[4] and have eight children.

Danuta grew up the second of nine children in Krypy village near Węgrów (Krypy, Gmina Liw[1]). She was working in a flower shop near the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk when she met Lech Wałęsa, then an electrician. After they married, she began using her middle name more than her first name, per Lech's request.[5] She was more resolutely anti-Communist than her husband. During her husband's frequent interrogations by the SB in the 1980s, she was known to openly taunt officers who came to pick him up.[6]

Released in 2011, Danuta Wałęsa's autobiography Marzenia i tajemnice ("Dreams and Secrets", coauthored with Piotr Adamowicz) has sold over 400,000 copies.[7]

In 2022, she was awarded the title of an Honorary Citizen of Gdańsk.[8]

References

Notes and References

  1. Book: Wałęsa, Danuta . Piotr Adamowicz (oprac.) . Danuta Wałęsa. Marzenia i tajemnice . Wydawnictwo Literackie . Cracow . 2011 . 11 . 978-83-08-04741-5 .
  2. Web site: "Pokojowa Nagroda Nobla Lecha Wałęsy" (Lech Wałęsa's Peace Prize) . 2010-01-29 . 2009-09-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090916185703/http://www.personalizm.pl/polrocznik/numer-9/pokojowa-nagroda-nobla-lecha-walesy/ . dead .
  3. R. W. APPLE JR., "AWARD IS ACCEPTED BY DANUTA WALESA", The New York Times, December 11, 1983, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/11/world/award-is-accepted-by-danuta-walesa.html
  4. Book: Wałęsa, Danuta . Piotr Adamowicz (oprac.) . Danuta Wałęsa. Marzenia i tajemnice . Wydawnictwo Literackie . Kraków . 2011 . 11 . 978-83-08-04741-5 .
  5. Book: Wagman-Geller, Marlene. Behind every great man : the forgotten women behind the world's famous and infamous. Sourcebooks. 2015. 9781492603054. Naperville, Illinois. 900665411.
  6. Book: Sebetsyen, Victor. Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire. Pantheon Books. New York City. 2009. 978-0-375-42532-5. registration.
  7. News: pl . Pierwsza rodzina . Agnieszka . Sowa . . 31 January 2017 . 5 February 2017.
  8. Web site: UCHWAŁA NR LIII/1313/22 RADY MIASTA GDAŃSKA . pl . baw.bip.gdansk.pl . 30 November 2023.