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Head of the Office

 Lech Parell

 

Lech Parell

Head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression

 

 

The Head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression reports to the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy. His main tasks consist of:

 

  • defining the main directions of activity of the Office aimed at securing to war veterans and victims of oppression the required assistance and care provided by state authorities and also the respect and remembrance due to such persons, 
  • awarding the rights of War Veteran, Victim of Oppression, and person deported to perform forced labor,
  • awarding the Office's honorary decorations,
  • appointing and dismissing members of the Council for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression,
  • cooperating with foreign governments' institutions for War Veterans and Victims of Oppresion an with veteran's organisations.

Lech Parell is a native of Gdańsk, a community activist, journalist, and former opposition member during the Polish People's Republic era. As a student at High School No. 1 in Gdańsk, he became a member of a clandestine school organisation centred around the publication “Jedynka”. In the latter half of the 1980s, he became associated with the “Freedom and Peace” Movement. He participated in campaigns advocating for the right to conscientious objection: the right to refuse military service and protested against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Żarnowiec. During the strikes of 1988, he was a member of strike support groups. He faced persecution from the authorities for these activities.

 

In post-communist Poland, he primarily worked as a journalist. He served as the first editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine “30 Dni” and later as deputy editor-in-chief and head of the opinion section for “Dziennik Bałtycki”. From 2011 to 2016, he held the position of CEO and editor-in-chief of the public Radio Gdańsk. In subsequent years, he headed the Gdańsk Multimedia Centre, which publishes the municipal portal gdansk.pl. During this time, he co-organised anniversary commemorations of the outbreak of World War II at Westerplatte and at the Polish Post Office building in Gdańsk, as well as anniversary observances of August 1980, December 1970, and memorial ceremonies for Paweł Adamowicz, the assassinated Mayor of Gdańsk. 

He is actively involved in community work. From 2003 to 2024, he served as the president of the SUM Association, which organises the “Independence Parade” in Gdańsk. This event constitutes a civic celebration of Independence Day on 11 November and annually attracts 20,000-30,000 participants. For these efforts, the Association was awarded the Mściwoj II Medal by the Gdańsk City Council.

 

In 2015, he became a member of the Gdańsk Cultural Council and was honoured with the Artistic Award of the Gdańsk Society of Friends of Art in the field of journalism.

For his opposition activities during the Polish People's Republic era, he was decorated with the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity, and for his contributions to media in Poland, he received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

In his free time, he is an avid sailor.