Igor Janke, Poland: The New Economic Tiger and Security Partner for America

The Knights Cross of Poland

Igor Janke (2022)

Igor Janke, journalist and President, Warsaw Freedom Institute

 Moderator: Maj. Gen. Walter Givhan, (Ret.), ALWAC President.

231 Montgomery St, Montgomery, AL.

Reception at 5:30 pm CT, briefing at 6:15 pm, and question time till 7:30 pm.

Webinar via Zoom: login and social time, from 5:45 pm CT. 

Igor Janke is an intellectual entrepreneur, journalist, and the President of the Warsaw Freedom Institute, the first independent Polish action tank in the United States. A prominent figure in Polish media and leadership development, he founded the Leadership School of Freedom Institute to cultivate future leaders and currently hosts the in-depth socio-political podcast, "Układ Otwarty" (Open System).

With an extensive background in political reporting, Janke has served as the Chief Editor of the Polish News Agency (PAP), Political Editor of the Rzeczpospolita daily, and an anchor for various political television and radio programs. He also launched Salon24, a pioneering, independent blogging platform where he notably conducted high-profile interviews with figures such as President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. 

He is the author of these books, in 2009 (essays), 2011 (on Victor Orban) and 2014 (on Solidarity).

Janke studied Theatre Knowledge at the State Higher School of Theatre, where he founded and chaired a branch of the anti-communist, Independent Students’ Association (NZS). In 1989, he led strikes and rallies against the Soviet occupation. 

With Poland free of the Soviet Union, in 1991-1995 he became a reporter and then head of the culture department at Życie Warszawy. In 1995-1996 he supervised the promotion of the Świat Książki publishing house and organized the Writers’ Warsaw Festival. In 1996-1997 he headed the journalism section of the monthly Architektura-Murator and wrote for the journal Życie. During 1997-1998 he was deputy editor of Express Wieczorny, then in 1998-2003 became editor-in-chief of the Polish Press Agency. In 2003-2006 he was in charge of the political section of Rzeczpospolita.

In 2006 he founded Salon24.pl, Poland’s first socio-political blog platform; also, Rzeczpospolita published an article titled "The unbearable speed of a blog". Two years later, to his surprise, this text was included in the Polish Matura exam as a subject of analysis. 

In 2009 his first book was published – POPiSowa kronika upadku. A collection of texts from different years about politics. During 2003-2013, he hosted programmes on TVP, TV Puls, Polsat News 2 and Radio TOK FM. He commented, wrote analyses and reports and published interviews.

In 2010, less than a month before the Smolensk air catastrophe that decapitated the governmental and military elite,* he received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta from President Lech Kaczyński for his youthful activities in the NZS resistance before the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

In 2011 his notable activities included the Polish launch of his book Forward!: The Story of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The book was translated into Hungarian, German, English and Slovenian. He also interviewed US President Barack Obama for Salon24. In 2012 he founded Freedom Institute, an independent think tank. In 2014, while eating dumplings with an American professor, he had the idea to found the Freedom Institute’s Leadership School. 

In 2014 his book Fortress. Solidarity. Fighting. Underground Army (on the Solidarity anti-communist movement) was published, winning the Historical Book of the Year award. Translations were published in Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

In 2021, after some years in business,** he launched the Open system podcast, while remaining at the Freedom Institute and the Leadership School.

*On the way to a memorial service for those Polish officers massacred in the Katyn forest, a Polish Air Force Tu-154 crashed in dense fog near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. That included President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, military chiefs, and numerous other government officials. -- JRTL

** His business years were summarized in Polish, which I can't read. Apologies. -- JRTL