Who is Poland's President-elect Karol Nawrocki? – DW – 06/02/2025

DW

02-06-2025

As recently as last fall, most Poles had never heard of Karol Nawrocki. Just six months later, the historian and euroskeptic is set to be Poland's next president, despite several allegations about his past.
When the right-wing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party announced on November 25 whom it was backing in this year's presidential election, it wasn't just the media that were taken completely by surprise.
Many members of the party itself knew nothing about Karol Nawrocki, president of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).
Nawrocki's first appearances on the campaign trail did not bode well: His demeanor was stiff, he was rhetorically weak, he read his speeches from a sheet of paper and irritated many with artificial smiles.
The liberal-conservative camp backing Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski seemed to have victory in the bag before the campaign had even got properly underway.
The opposition PiS party (pictured here: PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski) presented Nawrocki as an independent, non-partisan 'citizens' candidate' but funded and organized his campaign Image: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP/Getty Images
Indeed, in the early days of the campaign, Trzaskowski was 10 percentage points and more ahead of his rival.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski's choice
But as it turned out, in backing Nawrocki, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski hit the bull's eye.
PiS presented Nawrocki — who himself admitted that he was "Kaczynski's creature" — as an independent, non-partisan "citizens' candidate" whom it was just backing.
It was a way of making Nawrocki more palatable to voters who had not yet forgotten the breaches of the law and the chaos in the tax system during the eight years of PiS rule (2015–2023).
"Rhetorically, Nawrocki came on in leaps and bounds. He learns quickly from his mistakes," says political scientist Antoni Dudek. "That's why he's so dangerous."
Humble background in Gdansk
Forty-two-year-old Nawrocki was born in Gdansk and comes from a humble background. He studied History in his native city and wrote his doctoral thesis on the anti-communist opposition in northeastern Poland.
In 2017, he was tasked with reorganizing the Museum of the Second of World War in Gdansk, which had been set up by experts close to current Prime Minister Donald Tusk, to bring it into line with PiS's national-Catholic history policy.
Nawrocki's victory signals tough times ahead for the government of Donald Tusk (pictured here with his wife) Image: Mateusz Slodkowski/AFP/Getty Images
A staff reorganisation and a "polonization" of the permanent exhibition, which Kaczynski deemed insufficiently patriotic, followed.
In 2021, PiS got its way and Nawrocki was appointed president of the IPN. He continued to run the institute until recently.
The IPN is an influential institute that plays an important role in the debate about who shapes the interpretation of history and was used by Poland's right-wing conservatives as a propaganda tool.
'Poland first, Poles first'
Nawrocki's campaign motto was "Poland first, Poles first."
He portrayed himself as a man "of flesh and blood" who had fought his way to the top on his own steam. "I am one of you; I am your voice," he repeatedly said at campaign events.
Nawrocki is an open fan of US President Donald Trump and even traveled to Washington to have a photo taken with him in the Oval Office.
Just like his mentor Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Nawrocki sees the EU as a threat to Polish sovereignty, although the word "Polexit" never crosses his lips. He regularly rails against the bloc's Green Deal and migration pact.
Karol Nawrocki visited US President Donald Trump in the White House on May 1 Image: White House/ZUMA Press Wire/IMAGO
During the election campaign, he resorted to anti-German rhetoric and accused Tusk of being "Germany's valet."
He is also skeptical about aid for Ukraine.
Media allegations
Nawrocki is an enthusiastic amateur boxer and notched up a number of successes as a heavyweight in his youth.
Polish media have accused him of having had ties to the hooligan scene and the criminal underworld.
Nawrocki himself has admitted taking part in a pre-arranged brawl between the fans of two soccer teams. While others who were involved were sentenced in court, Nawrocki was not at the time recognized.
According to the Internet platform ONET, Nawrocki was involved in escorting prostitutes into the Grand Hotel in Sopot while working for a private security company as a student.
It is also alleged that he acquired a social housing apartment by irregular means.
The president-elect seems unimpressed by these allegations, which he says are defamatory.
Antoni Dudek, who chaired the council of the IPN from 2010 to 2016, had this to say about the president-elect: "Nawrocki neither meets the moral requirements nor has he the specialist expertise to be head of state."
This article was originally published in German.