Janusz Korwin-Mikke facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Janusz Korwin-Mikke
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Korwin-Mikke in 2016
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| Chairman of KORWiN | |
| In office 22 January 2015 – 15 October 2022 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Sławomir Mentzen |
| Member of the Sejm | |
| In office 12 November 2019 – 12 November 2023 |
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| Constituency | Warsaw I |
| In office 25 November 1991 – 31 May 1993 |
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| Constituency | Poznań 18 |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 1 July 2014 – 1 March 2018 |
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| Constituency | Katowice |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Janusz Ryszard Korwin-Mikke
27 October 1942 Warsaw, General Governorate, German Reich (German-occupied Poland) |
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| Spouses |
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| Children | 8 |
| Alma mater | University of Warsaw (MPhil) |
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Janusz Ryszard Korwin-Mikke (Polish: [ˈjanuʂ ˈkɔrvʲin ˈmʲikkɛ]; 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 leader of the Congress of the New Right (KNP), which was formed in 2011 from Liberty and Lawfulness, which he led from its formation in 2009, and the Real Politics Union, which he led from 1990 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2003. He was the chairman of the party KORWiN until his resignation on 15 October 2022, and from 2019 to 2023 a member of the Sejm, elected from the electoral list of Confederation Liberty and Independence.
Contents
Biography
Birth and early life
Janusz Korwin-Mikke was born in German-occupied Warsaw on 27 October 1942. He was the only child of Ryszard Mikke (6 February 1911 - 25 April 1966) and Maria Rosochacka (3 April 1917- 4 August 1944). His father, Ryszard, was the head of the engineering department of the State Aviation Works. Korwin-Mikke's uncle, Tadeusz Mikke, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Polish Cavalry during the Second World War, he died on 12 September 1939 while commanding 15th Poznań Uhlan Regiment at the Battle of the Bzura, at the outset of the September Campaign.
In 1944, his mother, Maria, was killed during the Warsaw Uprising against the occupying German forces. From then he was under the care of his grandmother and later his stepmother. Korwin-Mikke's great-grandfather was Gustaw Izydor Mücke, son of Samuel Beniamin Mücke (who was a brewer in Kielce).
The Korwin-Mikke family, with its origins in the Kingdom of Sweden, migrated through the Electorate of Saxony to Poland, following the Great Famine of 1695–1697, alongside Augustus II the Strong, after he was elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697. The Germanic surname Mücke was polonized to Mikke after the family received the Korwin coat of arms. Before converting to Catholicism, Korwin-Mikke's family adhered to the Augsburg Confession, which is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most significant documents of the Protestant Reformation.
Korwin-Mikke is a distant relative of Hellmuth von Mücke, an officer of the Kaiserliche Marine, the navy of the German Empire, in the early 20th century and World War I. He is also related to Jerzy Mikke, a Polish historian, publicist and writer.
Detainment by communists
Korwin-Mikke studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Faculty of Philosophy of the Warsaw University. For his anti-communist activities, in 1964 he was detained by the communist authorities while studying psychology, law, philosophy and sociology. During the 1968 Polish political crisis, he was again arrested, jailed and expelled from the university for his participation in student protests. Despite his anti-communist activities, Korwin-Mikke was reinstated and allowed to finish his studies with the dean Klemens Szaniawski. He successfully defended his master thesis Metodologiczne aspekty poglądów Stephena Toulmina (eng. Methodological aspects of Stephen Toulmin's views), written under the guide of Henryk Jankowski.
Meeting with Milton Friedman
Korwin-Mikke met with Milton Friedman when Friedman toured Europe advocating free-market policies. Friedman wrote about Janusz Korwin-Mikke in his memoirs:
Janusz Korwin-Mikke, with whom I corresponded, had been active before liberation as an underground publisher, bringing out a translation of Capitalism and Freedom and Hayek's Road to Serfdom, as well as other libertarian literature. Subsequently, he ran for president on a strict libertarian platform. At the time we were in Warsaw, his Union of Real Policy was housed in a former dwelling that was a literal maze of small offices, all occupied by young people actively working on spreading the libertarian gospel. We had very good, lively discussions with them.
—Milton Friedman, Two lucky people: Memoirs by Milton Friedman, Rose. D. Friedman
Far-right politics
From 1962 to 1982 he was a member of the Democratic Party. In August 1980 he supported the political strike of the Szczecin Shipyard workers, and later he was an adviser of NSZZ Rzemieślników Indywidualnych "Solidarność" (Independent Craftsmen's Union). In 1987 he founded a national conservative, economically liberal political party called Ruch Polityki Realnej (Movement of Real Politics), later renamed - Unia Polityki Realnej (UPR, Union of Real Politics).
In 1990, he established a libertarian conservative sociopolitical weekly newspaper Najwyższy Czas! (About Time!).
In 1991, Korwin-Mikke became a member of the Sejm, between 1991 and 1993, during the first parliamentary term after the establishment of the Third Polish Republic. Notably, during his time as deputy, he was the originator of the vetting resolution of 28 May 1992, which obliged the Minister of Internal Affairs to disclose the names of all politicians who had been communist secret police agents. The disclosed list contained numerous prominent politicians of most political factions. This led to the dissolution of the Cabinet of Jan Olszewski during the Night of the Briefcases – a term used in journalism to describe the events of the night from 4 to 5 June 1992, associated with the dismissal of the government of Jan Olszewski.
Korwin-Mikke is a perennial candidate in Polish presidential elections, obtaining 2.4% votes in 1995, 1.43% in 2000, 1,4% in 2005, 2.48% in 2010, 3.3% in 2015.
He is a self-declared monarchist who claims that democracy is "the most stupid form of government ever conceived".
In 2008, his blog was the most popular political blog in Poland.
He frequently refers to figures such as Frédéric Bastiat, Alexis de Tocqueville, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Margaret Thatcher and Nicolás Gómez Dávila, among others.
Member of the European Parliament
In the 2014 European Parliament election, Korwin-Mikke was elected as a Member of the European Parliament, standing as a candidate of the Congress of the New Right. On 28 January 2018, he officially announced his intention to resign from the European Parliament and return to Polish politics. He was replaced by Dobromir Sośnierz.
Return to Polish politics
On 6 December 2018, the decision to jointly participate in the European elections was made by Korwin-Mikke's KORWiN party and the National Movement party. In January 2019, the coalition was joined by Grzegorz Braun, Piotr Liroy-Marzec and Kaja Godek. In February 2019, the coalition began using the name "Koalicja ProPolska" (ProPoland Coalition). However, on 27 February 2019, the official name "Confederation KORWiN Braun Liroy Nationalists" was announced. In March 2019, an application for the registration of a party under this name was submitted. Later on the new political entity would be called Confederation Liberty and Independence.
In 2019, Korwin-Mikke was elected as deputy in the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament (Sejm), effectively returning to Polish politics after 26 years of absence.
On 15 October 2022, Janusz Korwin-Mikke resigned from his position as the chairman of the KORWiN party. Stepping into his role is the former vice president of the party, Sławomir Mentzen. Under new leadership, the party underwent a rebranding and is now known as New Hope (Nowa Nadzieja).
Electoral defeat and suspension
During the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, Korwin-Mikke was defeated by Karina Bosak, the wife of the chairman of National Movement, Krzysztof Bosak. She achieved a surprisingly good result, garnering support from over 21 thousand voters. In doing so, she surpassed the party's number one candidate, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, who received votes from just under 9.5 thousand people and consequently did not secure a seat in the Sejm from the Sejm Constituency no. 20.
On 18 October 2023, the head of Confederation's electoral campaign, Witold Tumanowicz, informed the Polish Press Agency that a decision had been made by the party court to "expel Janusz Korwin-Mikke from the Council of Leaders and suspend him" in the rights of a Confederation member, after Tumanowicz blamed Korwin-Mikke for the electoral defeat of the whole party. Tumanowicz further emphasized that "if he violates the suspension conditions, the party court will consider his removal from Confederation."
On 29 October 2023, Sławomir Mentzen, the chairman of New Hope party, announced on social media that Janusz Korwin-Mikke will not be running on the Confederation's list in the next elections. Mentzen added that he faced a "tragic choice" and stated: "Unfortunately, the responsibility for the political project, for future results, for ensuring that the effort of our candidates and supporters is not wasted, forces me to make this difficult decision."
See also
In Spanish: Janusz Korwin-Mikke para niños
