Recent from talks
Jerzy Urban
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Jerzy Urban
Jerzy Urban (born Jerzy Urbach, 3 August 1933 – 3 October 2022) was a Polish journalist, commentator, writer and politician, best known as the founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine Nie. From 1981 to 1989 he was the Press Secretary of the Polish government under the People's Republic of Poland, and the Head of the Polish Radio and Television Committee in 1989.
An anticlerical and socialist throughout his life, he frequently was the centre of numerous controversies due to his comments and political views resulting in support of Polish government; on the other hand, he was an intelligent and uncompromising satirist, writer and journalist, which results in a complex legacy of his life.
Urban was born into an assimilated Jewish family in Łódź. His father, Jan Urbach, was an activist of Polish Socialist Party and the General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland. In 1939, they relocated to the city of Lwów (Lemberg, now Lviv). Following the outbreak of the Second World War and the German–Soviet occupation of Poland, a Soviet official mistook the last two letters of the family surname and incorrectly transcribed it as "Urban". His parents later refrained from returning to the original spelling.
Urban reportedly attended 17 different primary and high schools. He completed his senior high school exams as an external student. He studied in two faculties of the University of Warsaw and was expelled from both. He started his journalistic career with the journal Nowa Wieś.
From 1955 to 1957, he was a journalist - reporter and commentator - for the weekly Po prostu, which started during the rehabilitation of Władysław Gomułka, who became leader of Polish United Workers' Party. However, the newspaper was closed by the personal initiative of Gomułka, which symbolised the end of the thaw which started under Gomułka. Urban was officially banned from publishing under his own name. From 1961, he worked for the weekly Polityka, continuing his opinion pieces under pseudonyms. He was eventually totally forbidden from carrying out any journalistic activities. This ban continued until Gomułka lost power as party leader.
Despite his critical attitude towards Edward Gierek's rule, he was an opponent of the Solidarity movement in 1980 and often criticized its leaders (including Lech Wałęsa). From 1981 to 1989, he was the Press Secretary and spokesman for the Council of Ministers and the Polish government. He created the tradition of weekly press conferences, transmitted by Polish television and attended by both Polish and foreign journalists. In September 1984, during the month before the death of the priest Jerzy Popiełuszko, he wrote a column criticizing the priest as an anti-socialist troublemaker.
In 1986 Urban published a media story on how the United States had betrayed the Solidarity movement. He met with a Washington Post reporter and told him that a Polish spy for the CIA, who was later identified as Ryszard Kukliński, was aware of the plan to install martial law in 1981 and had passed that information on to the United States government. "The US administration could have publicly revealed these plans to the world and warned Solidarity," Urban said, "Had it done so, the implementation of martial law would have been impossible." At press conference Urban alleged that "Washington ... did not warn its allies. It did not boast of its agent as it customarily does." According to Urban, the Reagan administration had "lied to its own people and to its friends in Poland," when it denied having prior knowledge of martial law.
Urban ran for office as an independent during the semi-free elections in 1989 (he was never a member of the Polish United Workers' Party PZPR). He suffered a landslide defeat and since then gave up attempts to actively participate in politics.
Hub AI
Jerzy Urban AI simulator
(@Jerzy Urban_simulator)
Jerzy Urban
Jerzy Urban (born Jerzy Urbach, 3 August 1933 – 3 October 2022) was a Polish journalist, commentator, writer and politician, best known as the founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine Nie. From 1981 to 1989 he was the Press Secretary of the Polish government under the People's Republic of Poland, and the Head of the Polish Radio and Television Committee in 1989.
An anticlerical and socialist throughout his life, he frequently was the centre of numerous controversies due to his comments and political views resulting in support of Polish government; on the other hand, he was an intelligent and uncompromising satirist, writer and journalist, which results in a complex legacy of his life.
Urban was born into an assimilated Jewish family in Łódź. His father, Jan Urbach, was an activist of Polish Socialist Party and the General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland. In 1939, they relocated to the city of Lwów (Lemberg, now Lviv). Following the outbreak of the Second World War and the German–Soviet occupation of Poland, a Soviet official mistook the last two letters of the family surname and incorrectly transcribed it as "Urban". His parents later refrained from returning to the original spelling.
Urban reportedly attended 17 different primary and high schools. He completed his senior high school exams as an external student. He studied in two faculties of the University of Warsaw and was expelled from both. He started his journalistic career with the journal Nowa Wieś.
From 1955 to 1957, he was a journalist - reporter and commentator - for the weekly Po prostu, which started during the rehabilitation of Władysław Gomułka, who became leader of Polish United Workers' Party. However, the newspaper was closed by the personal initiative of Gomułka, which symbolised the end of the thaw which started under Gomułka. Urban was officially banned from publishing under his own name. From 1961, he worked for the weekly Polityka, continuing his opinion pieces under pseudonyms. He was eventually totally forbidden from carrying out any journalistic activities. This ban continued until Gomułka lost power as party leader.
Despite his critical attitude towards Edward Gierek's rule, he was an opponent of the Solidarity movement in 1980 and often criticized its leaders (including Lech Wałęsa). From 1981 to 1989, he was the Press Secretary and spokesman for the Council of Ministers and the Polish government. He created the tradition of weekly press conferences, transmitted by Polish television and attended by both Polish and foreign journalists. In September 1984, during the month before the death of the priest Jerzy Popiełuszko, he wrote a column criticizing the priest as an anti-socialist troublemaker.
In 1986 Urban published a media story on how the United States had betrayed the Solidarity movement. He met with a Washington Post reporter and told him that a Polish spy for the CIA, who was later identified as Ryszard Kukliński, was aware of the plan to install martial law in 1981 and had passed that information on to the United States government. "The US administration could have publicly revealed these plans to the world and warned Solidarity," Urban said, "Had it done so, the implementation of martial law would have been impossible." At press conference Urban alleged that "Washington ... did not warn its allies. It did not boast of its agent as it customarily does." According to Urban, the Reagan administration had "lied to its own people and to its friends in Poland," when it denied having prior knowledge of martial law.
Urban ran for office as an independent during the semi-free elections in 1989 (he was never a member of the Polish United Workers' Party PZPR). He suffered a landslide defeat and since then gave up attempts to actively participate in politics.
Recent media