Pawel Adamowicz
Mayor of Gdansk, Poland
Awarded eighth place in World Mayor 2016

14 February 2017: Pawel Adamowicz has been Mayor of Gdansk (population 462,000) since 1998. While studying law at the University of Gdansk, Poland was still under Communist rule, Pawel Adamowicz became civic rights activist and a vocal government opponent. In 1988, he led the students’ strike committee. Two yeas later, he entered local politics by being elected to the Gdansk City Council. He is a member of the country’s pro-European Civic Platform party, which opposes the current right-wing government formed by the Law and Justice party.

Mayor Adamowicz, a native citizen of Gdansk, is immensely proud of his city. In an essay written for World Mayor, he says that Gdansk was the city were the Solidarity movement was born and where the Lech Walesa - the historical leader, who led the peaceful Solidarity movement against the communist regime, still lives. “Being a mayor of a city with such a heritage is an obligation. An obligation to share our experience and to remain true to our heritage of freedom, cooperation and democracy.”

Freedom, cooperation and democracy have been the main building blocks of Pawel Adamowicz’s politics since he became mayor. At a time when the Polish government resorts to anti-immigrant rhetoric, the Gdansk Mayor believes the city has a Christian duty to welcome everyone in need who knocks at its gate.

There are currently some 20,000 immigrants in Gdansk and the Mayor’s priority is to build a relationship with them based on tolerance and mutual trust. To make the city more immigrant-friendly, Mayor Adamowicz’s administration set up the Council of Immigrants, whose 12 members will advise the mayor and the city administration on integration and explain the special needs of various immigrant groups. The council members came to Gdansk from countries as far afield as Colombia, Tunisia and Syria but also from neighbouring countries like Germany, the Ukraine and Russia. Despite opposition from anti-immigrant groups, the Mayor believes the Council of Immigrants will be a success and sees himself as a pioneer. “Other cities in Poland and, indeed, Europe will want to learn from our experience.”

To all those in Poland who are hostile to immigration, Mayor Adamowicz points out that some 830,000 Polish people moved to the UK after Poland joined the European Union. Now, as Britain has decided to leave the EU, we rightly demand that the British treat the Polish immigrants with respect. “It would be pure hypocrisy if we did not offer the same treatment to immigrants in our own country.”

The Mayor is also mindful of Gdank’s special history. “Before 1945, everyone here spoke German. Gdansk was then Danzig, a Protestant outpost. After World War II those people were moved and replaced by others. My own family came from Lithuania.”

Extract from Mayor Adamowicz’s essay:
Gdansk is the first city in Poland - and one of the first in Central and Eastern Europe - which prepared its own local program for the integration of immigrants. The Gdansk Immigrants Integration Model that we set up aims at supporting them and making them feel at safe, making them feel at home. The Council of Immigrants composed of 12 immigrants living in Gdansk is an important part of our support structures for Immigrants. They come from very different countries, like Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Syria and even Colombia. All of them selected Gdansk as their place for living. MORE

Typical tribute:
I would like to vote for Mr. Adamowicz for his courage and perseverance to uphold the human values of tolerance and solidarity by accepting refugees and making integration policy in a time and region where showing pro-migrant and pro-refugee attitude can not only cost one their public position, but also their physical integrity. His behaviour should be encouraged and set as an example and the World Mayor Contest would be a great channel for passing this strong message. MORE

Further reading:
TRIBUTES | ESSAY

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