Stanisław Gebhardt | |
|---|---|
| Born | Stanisław Mieczysław Gebhardt (1928-07-13)13 July 1928 |
| Died | 27 February 2025(2025-02-27) (aged 96) Wrocław, Poland |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Occupation(s) | Economist, political thinker, and activist |
| Known for | International activism in theChristian democratic movement and institutions |
| Notable work | 'Democratici democristian e riflessioni' 'The Christian Democratic Union of Central Europe' |
| Parent(s) | Henryka Welfe, Stanisław Gebhardt |
Stanisław Mieczysław Gebhardt (13 July 1928 – 27 February 2025) was a Polishresistance fighter, economist, émigré political activist, international social entrepreneur and veteran member of theChristian democratic movement. After his return to Poland after theFall of the Berlin Wall, he was associated withcentre-right politics and regarded as a political historian.[1] Gebhardt received theOrder of Bernardo O' Higgins.
Gebhardt was born inPoznań, the second child of a Polish Christian army medical officer, also Stanisław Gebhardt, and his wife Henryka, née Welfe. His father died in 1930 as a result of wounds sustained duringWorld War I and the family moved toKraków, where he attended school. After the outbreak ofWorld War II, he became ascout and joined theSzare Szeregi. From 1943, aged 15, he became a partisan member of theHome Army. In 1944 he was arrested by theGestapo and was imprisoned first inMontelupich Prison, followed by incarceration inGroß-Rosen andMauthausen concentration camps. Upon liberation he returned to his home city to resume schooling.[2] In 1946 he escaped through the old Polish-Romanian border and travelled south to Italy to join the ranks of theII Corps (Poland) with whom he reached the United Kingdom. ThePolish Resettlement Corps enabled him to complete his school leaving certificate atRiddlesworth, Norfolk in 1948.[2]
In 1951 he became a member of the European Youth Parliament and became active in the International Union of Young Christian Democrats. Two years laterhe was awarded a bachelor's degree in economics by thePolish University Abroad and later attended further courses atCity University London. In 1950 he met the young broadcaster journalist,Édouard Bobrowski [fr], born in Turkey of Polish parents, who became General Secretary of the Paris-based Youth Section of the Central European Union of Christian Democrats.[1] He moved to Paris to further his social and political studies atSciences Po and continue his activism.[3] While in Paris one of his projects was to help re-organise the money supply in the Vietnamese economy. He also tried his hand at broadcast journalism with the Polish section ofVoice of America. In 1956 from his European base, he began his career as an economic adviser working mainly in Latin America and in Ghana.
From 1954 to 1985 he remained on the committees of the exiledStronnictwo Pracy (Labour Party). Between 1962 and 1976 he was engaged in the centre Esperienze Internazionali to study the functioning of democratic systems and international repercussions in Rome. From 1963 to 1972 he was also a director of the International Solidarity Foundation based in Rome.[2] It gave him the opportunity to collaborate with the émigré Polish statesman and leading Christian democrat,Karol Popiel.
In 1964 when his friendJerzy Kulczycki, founded the émigré publishing house,Odnowa, in London he invited Gebhardt to become a director of the company with the brief to finance and distribute in Poland titles banned under state censorship. The operation proved a success exporting to the then communist country forbidden authors, includingGeorge Orwell,[4]Józef Garliński, Karol Popiel andJan Nowak-Jeziorański.[5]
As Polish representative of political organisations Gebhardt entered the international arena of Christian Democrat activism and in his youth worked alongside statesmen such asRobert Schuman.[6]
In 1990 inBratislava he was appointed vice president of the Christian Democratic Union of Central Europe, a position he held for four years.[7] In 1991 at the Brussels convention he was appointed vice president of theChristian Democrats International.[1]
On his return to Poland in 1990 he was involved in the reactivated "Stronnictwo Pracy 1989", whose vice president he became. In 1995 he was made vice president ofRuch Odbudowy Polski. In 1994 he became president of theIgnacy Paderewski Foundation to Rebuild Democracy and Head of the Silesian Development Corporation.
In June 2020 the Polish Culture minister,Piotr Gliński appointed him chair of the Programmes Committee of theInstitute for Legacy of Polish National Thought.[8]
Gebhardt was married three times. The first two marriages produced a son each, and the last, two sons. Gebhardt died on 27 February 2025, at the age of 96.[9]
Other decorations:
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