Mirosława Danuta Wałęsa
First Lady of Poland
In role
22 December 1990 – 22 December 1995
PresidentLech Wałęsa
Preceded byKarolina Kaczorowska - in Exile
Barbara Jaruzelska
Succeeded byJolanta Kwaśniewska
Personal details
Born
Mirosława Danuta Gołoś

(1949-02-25) 25 February 1949
Węgrów, Poland
Spouse
​
(m. 1969)​
Children8, including Jarosław
AwardsOrder of Polonia Restituta - Commander's Cross with Star

Mirosława Danuta Wałęsa (née Gołoś; born 25 February 1949[1]), is married to the former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa.[2] In 1983 she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on behalf of her husband,[2][3] who feared, at a time of great political upheaval in the country, that the Polish government might not allow him to return if he travelled to Oslo himself. Lech and Danuta have been married since 8 November 1969[4] and have eight children.

Danuta grew up the second of nine children[5] in Krypy village near Węgrów (Krypy, Gmina Liw[1]). She was working in a flower shop near the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk when she met Lech Wałęsa, then an electrician. After they married, she began using her middle name more than her first name, per Lech's request.[5] She was more resolutely anti-Communist than her husband. During her husband's frequent interrogations by the SB in the 1980s, she was known to openly taunt officers who came to pick him up.[6]

Released in 2011, Danuta Wałęsa's autobiography Marzenia i tajemnice ("Dreams and Secrets", coauthored with Piotr Adamowicz) has sold over 400,000 copies.[7]

In 2022, she was awarded the title of an Honorary Citizen of Gdańsk.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Wałęsa, Danuta; Piotr Adamowicz (oprac.) (2011). Danuta Wałęsa. Marzenia i tajemnice. Cracow: Wydawnictwo Literackie. p. 11. ISBN 978-83-08-04741-5.
  2. 1 2 ""Pokojowa Nagroda Nobla Lecha Wałęsy" (Lech Wałęsa's Peace Prize)". Archived from the original on 16 September 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
  3. ↑ R. W. APPLE JR., "AWARD IS ACCEPTED BY DANUTA WALESA", The New York Times, December 11, 1983,
  4. ↑ Wałęsa, Danuta; Piotr Adamowicz (oprac.) (2011). Danuta Wałęsa. Marzenia i tajemnice. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie. p. 11. ISBN 978-83-08-04741-5.
  5. 1 2 Wagman-Geller, Marlene (2015). Behind every great man : the forgotten women behind the world's famous and infamous. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks. ISBN 9781492603054. OCLC 900665411.
  6. ↑ Sebetsyen, Victor (2009). Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire. New York City: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-375-42532-5.
  7. ↑ Sowa, Agnieszka (31 January 2017). "Pierwsza rodzina" (in Polish). Polityka. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  8. ↑ "UCHWAŁA NR LIII/1313/22 RADY MIASTA GDAŃSKA". baw.bip.gdansk.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 30 November 2023.
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