Adam Michnik

Adam Michnik
Michnik in 2018
Born	(1946-10-17) 17 October 1946 (age 78) Warsaw, Poland
Nationality	Polish
Alma mater	Adam Mickiewicz University (M.A. in History, 1975)
Occupations	Journalist historian essayist former dissident
Children	1 (son)
Awards	Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award 1986 Erasmus Prize 2001 Legion of Honour 2003 Dan David Prize 2006 Order of the White Eagle 2010 Goethe Medal 2011 Princess of Asturias Award 2022
Signature

Adam Michnik (Polish pronunciation: [ˈadam ˈmixɲik]; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former dissident, public intellectual, as well as co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza.

Reared in a family of committed communists, Michnik became an opponent of Poland's communist regime at the time of the party's anti-Jewish purges. He was imprisoned after the 1968 March Events and again after the imposition of martial law in 1981. He has been called "one of Poland's most famous political prisoners".^[1]

Michnik played a crucial role during the Polish Round Table Talks, as a result of which the communists agreed to call elections in 1989, which were won by Solidarity. Though he has withdrawn from active politics, he has "maintained an influential voice through journalism".^[2] He has received many awards and honors, including the Legion of Honour and European of the Year. He is also one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by Reporters Without Borders.^[3] In 2022, he received the Princess of Asturias Award in the category "Communication and Humanities".^[4]