Katarzyna Janina Łaniewska-Błaszczak (20 June 1933 – 7 December 2020) was a Polish theatre and film actress, opposition activist in the Polish People's Republic, and a political activist since 1989.

Biography

Both of Katarzyna Łaniewska's parents came from Łódź. Her father was an activist of the co-operative and a legionnaire during World War II, who was murdered because he was considered a "dangerous element" by the Nazis at Auschwitz. This was, however, denounced by a colleague of Belarusian origin. Along with her mother and siblings, she survived the Warsaw Uprising, but was sent to the transit camp in Pruszków. Łaniewska and her family returned to Warsaw on 17 January 1945.

After the war, she joined the harcerstwo. In 1955, she graduated from the Theatre Academy in Warsaw, and made her debut in the same year. She was the president of the Warsaw branch of the Association of Polish Artists from 1992 to 2006. She served on the Skolimowska Commission of the Main Board of the Polish Actors Association.

By September 2013, she was a columnist of the weekly "W Sieci".

During her studies, she belonged to the socialist Union of Polish Youth, but as she said, "it is not true, as some are trying to insinuate that I managed the ZMP. It was not like [that].". She then belonged to the Polish United Workers' Party.

By the end of the seventies, she became involved with the anti-communist opposition. In 1980, she co-founded a branch of Solidarity within the Ateneum Theatre. She participated in organizing patriotic concerts and the distribution of underground publications. She worked with Jerzy Popiełuszko during this period.

In the Polish parliamentary elections in 2011, Łaniewska was the nonpartisan candidate to the Senate on behalf of the Law and Justice party in Warsaw. She received nearly 100 thousand votes (nearly 31%) and lost to the Civic Platform party's Barbarą Borys-Damięcką [pl] with almost 197 thousand. She regularly engages in activities supporting the Law and Justice Party, and was one of the main speakers on behalf of the organizers of the "March of Freedom and Justice" on 13 December 2015.

After her third year of studies, she married Ignacy Gogolewski, with whom they had a daughter, Agnieszka. The marriage broke up after ten years. Her second husband was Andrzej Błaszczak.

Awards

• 1966 – Cross of Merit (Poland)
• 1966 – Nagroda CRZZ
• 1967 – Badge of the 1000th anniversary of the Polish State
• 1970 – Badge for her services for Warsaw
• 1970 – Order of Polonia Restituta
• 1975 – Medal of Merit for National Defence
• 1975 – Badge of Merit by the FJN
• 1998 – Order of Polonia Restituta
• 1999 – Cultural Activist of Merit for publishing the second circulation during the period of martial law* 2006 – Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis
• 2007 – Order of Polonia Restituta (for "outstanding achievements in business for democratic transformation in Poland, for her involvement in the struggle for freedom of expression and free media, for achievements undertaken for the benefit of the country and social work").

Theatres

• Polish Theatre in Warsaw – 1955–59 and 1983–95
• Drama Theatre in Warsaw – 1959–62 and 1966–77
• National Theatre, Warsaw in Warszawie – 1962–66
• Ateneum Theatre – 1977–83