By We deeply mourn the loss of Halina Bortnowska, a distinguished philosopher, theologian, and publicist from Poland.
She co-founded the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and was a former Pax Christi International board member (1990-1996).
Halina Bortnowska was a leading advocate for human rights and a prominent figure in the ecumenical movement.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to her loved ones.
Her legacy will forever inspire us.
May she rest in peace.
Halina Bortnowska – Dabrowska
Halina Bortnowska – Dabrowska was born on 23 September 1931 in the historical city of Torun in the center-north of Poland. She studied at the theological faculties of Warsaw and Lublin in Poland and at the Catholic University in Leuven in Belgium. She became one of the first pastoral workers in the Polish Church.
Halina has been a member of the (underground) Helsinki Committee in the seventies in Poland and became one of the foremost theorists of the Polish Solidarity movement (Polish trade union – a broad anti-authoritarian social movement) from 1980 onwards.
After 1989, following the new political situation in the country, she started with many others the development of the civic society in her country and became co-founder of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. In that same year, she turned out to be spokesperson of the first democratically elected prime minister of Poland, Mr. Tadeusz Mazowiecki.
Halina promoted global standards in journalism by holding journalism workshops for students and young reporters. Since 1992 she has been the animator of the Workshops for Young Journalists ‘Polis’ in Warsaw. In 2000, Halina co-founded the Open Republic – Association against anti-Semitism and Xenophobia and campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty.
Halina has been a long-term fighter for democracy and freedom in Poland and has been very committed against racism and anti-Semitism. She has been highly active in the work for reconciliation between the Polish and German populations also in the context of the churches.
Halina has been Board member of Pax Christi International from 1990 till 1996. She became one of the first Board members of Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 (together with Marketa Kaplanova from Czechoslovakia). She was chair of the East West Commission and participated in different other commissions of Pax Christi International.
In December 1991, the First Special Assembly for Europe of the Synod of Bishops took place at the Vatican. Halina participated in the different side events organised by Pax Christi International on the issue of European integration and reunification as a major challenge for churches, civic societies, and the political authorities. In 1992, Halina was one of the members of the movements’ delegation commemorating the five hundred years of the discovery of the Americas and the Caribbean in the capital city of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
Halina is a theologian, philosopher, an opinion journalist, publicist, and human rights defender.
Cover picture: Sławomir Kamiński / Agencja Wyborcza.pl via gazeta.pl