Grzegorz Michał Braun (born 11 March 1967) is a Polish politician, journalist, academic lecturer, movie director and screenwriter. He is the leader of the monarchist party Confederation of the Polish Crown and one of the leaders of Confederation Liberty and Independence.[1] He was elected to the Sejm (Polish parliament) in 2019.
Biography
Grzegorz Braun was born in Toruń, Poland. His father, Kazimierz Braun, is a movie director. His mother is Zofia, née Reklewska, while his maternal grandfather was Wincenty Sebastian Reklewski. Grzegorz is a nephew of Juliusz Braun (former network director of Telewizja Polska) and a brother of actress Monika Braun.
He graduated from the University of Wrocław in 1987, and completed postgraduate studies at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television at the University of Silesia in Katowice in 1993. From 1987 onward he co-organized activities of the Orange Alternative, for which he was oppressed by the communist government of the Polish People's Republic. In 1988 and 1989, he participated in student protests at the University of Wrocław. He was also active in the Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity.
Later, he also was a journalist for, inter alia, the Option Right[2] and the Polskie RadioWrocław. Until 2007, he taught journalism at the University of Wrocław. As a movie director, he produced and directed over 30 titles, including: Transformation, New Poland, Correction to Biography, Positive Additions and Negative Additions, Comrade General Goes to War, Martin Luther and the Protestant Revolution, Smolensk Assassination. He is a co-founder of the Errata TV series, revealing the biographies of former Polish communist agents.
He was involved with the Polish Monarchists Organization,[3] for which he contributed written works and lectures. He is involved with "Wake-up Call" ("Pobudka") an organisation that he has founded[4] to strengthen the self-sustainability of faith communities and the internet TV channel "Sumienie Narodu."[5]
Braun's political views are based on the assessment of Polish history with special attention to the 1050th anniversary of Poland's acceptance of Christianity. He is opposed to the idea of Poland being a state dependent on and controlled by the European Union. He believes that Poland's continuous prosperity can only be guaranteed by the preservation of traditional family values, the principles of Roman Catholic faith, and faith-based education. His political views are far-right. He is a proponent of revisions to the legacy of former president Lech Wałęsa based on Wałęsa's alleged cooperation with the communist secret service. He is a proponent of revisions to the current Polish government's investigation of the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash (Polish presidential airplane crash) at Smolensk. His economic views can be described as classically liberal[8] as he supports a tax per head and cutting VAT tax.
On 24 January 2015, he announced his candidacy to run for the office of the President of Poland. In February 2015 he started campaigning in the United States among Polish immigrants and Americans of Polish descent. On 5 August 2015, he formed his own campaign committee God Bless You! (Szczęść Boże!) while receiving only 13,113 votes amounting to a 0,09% of the total cast he withdrew from the parliamentary elections in the fall of 2015.
In August 2016, Braun took part in a conference organized by the Center for European Policy Analysis reporting on Russian propaganda in the former Soviet satellite countries. He suggested maintaining a controlled balance between the EU and Russia.[9]National Movement presidential candidate Marian Kowalski criticized Braun for not trusting NATO forces stationing in Poland as a legitimate defence against Russia.[10] Braun calls for Poland to independently maintain and operate nuclear weapons.
Journalist Roman Warszawski and Braun in 2022
In January 2019, Braun announced his candidacy for the mayoral office of Gdańsk. The unexpected early elections were called after the murder of mayor Paweł Adamowicz. Braun's candidacy has been endorsed by Janusz Korwin-Mikke and the National Movement. On 4 March 2019, it was determined that Braun received 11.86% votes and thus conceded to the winner Aleksandra Dulkiewicz who received 82.22% votes.[11][circular reference]
In the 2019 European Parliament election in Poland Braun was the leading candidate for the Confederation in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. Although his list received 5.89% of the vote, the best result for Confederation in the country, the coalition failed to reach the 5% threshold nationwide and so he did not pick up the seat.[12]
In the 2019 Polish parliamentary election Braun was the leading candidate for the Confederation Liberty and Independence in the Rzeszów Constituency, located in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. He built on his success from the last election, and his list received 8.25% of the vote, which was again the best result for the Confederation nationwide. This time Braun picked up the seat, as did 10 other candidates from the Confederation.[13]
In September 2021, Braun, during his speech in the Sejm, threatened the Polish Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, with the words "You will be hanged" (Będziesz wisiał), as a reaction to the government's actions to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Braun also compared children's suicide rates to "war casualties", and compared people responsible for them to "war criminals".[15] This statement has caused Braun to be shunned[clarification needed] from further participation in Sejm's meetings.[16] Braun was charged for his words by Niedzielski himself, along with the Speaker of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek. The charges were dropped, though many problems were recognized by the people pressing charges, in relation to the case itself, including, but not limited to, lack of interrogation of the witnesses, and deeming the words as "not bearing traits of crime".[clarification needed] As alleged by Niedzielski himself, Braun broke into the building of the Health Ministry, which is deemed connected to the words Braun has proclaimed, and his ties to the anti-vaccine movement.[17]
Grzegorz Braun has been increasingly more active after the beginning of Russian invasion of Ukraine, standing on the side of Russia, in both direct and indirect ways. Among[clarification needed] his interview with Sputnik in 2019,[18] he has been regularly cited by Russian media for his Ukrainophobia,[19] and has pushed a narrative that his party is actively fighting against the "banderization" and "ukrainization" of Poland[20], in the context of the influx of Ukrainian refugees to Poland. Braun's Twitter account has been among the most active anti-ukrainian accounts, along with his party colleague, Janusz Korwin-Mikke.[21][22] On 25th June, 2022, Braun took part in a pro-Russian rally, and directed his speech to Volodymyr Zelensky and Joe Biden, proclaiming among other things: "President Joe Biden, if you still trust God, let your private interest and the interest of American corporations, that sell weapons to Ukraine, along with entire America kneel in humility in front of God's almightyness(...)".[23]
In May 2023, Braun attacked the stage, smashing the microphone and speakers, at a lecture by the historian Jan Grabowski at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw. The lecture was called off.[24][25]
On December 12, 2023, during the first session of the 10th term of Sejm he attacked a Hanukkah menorah with a fire extinguisher.[26] He was excluded from the current session and punished by withholding his deputy allowance for six months. Speaker of the Sejm announced that a criminal complaint will be filed with the prosecutor's office.
