Maria Kaczyńska
First Lady of Poland (1942-2010)
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Key Takeaways
- Maria Helena Kaczyńska ( Polish pronunciation: [ˈmarja kaˈt͡ʂɨj̃ska] ; née Mackiewicz [mat͡sˈkʲɛvit͡ʂ] ; 21 August 1942 [a] – 10 April 2010) was the First Lady of Poland from 2005 to 2010 as the wife of President Lech Kaczyński.
- Early and personal life Kaczyńska was born in Machava (near Kabylnik, now Belarus), the daughter of Lidia and Czesław Mackiewicz.
- Władysław Anders at the Battle of Monte Cassino during the Italian Campaign of World War II; another uncle was murdered by the NKVD (Soviet secret police) at Katyń.
- She studied transport economics and foreign trade in Sopot at what is now the University of Gdańsk.
- They married in 1978, and had a daughter.
Maria Helena Kaczyńska (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmarja kaˈt͡ʂɨj̃ska]; née Mackiewicz [mat͡sˈkʲɛvit͡ʂ]; 21 August 1942[a] – 10 April 2010) was the First Lady of Poland from 2005 to 2010 as the wife of President Lech Kaczyński. She and her husband died in a plane crash in the Russian city of Smolensk.
Early and personal life
Kaczyńska was born in Machava (near Kabylnik, now Belarus), the daughter of Lidia and Czesław Mackiewicz. Her father fought in the Vilnius Armia Krajowa (Home Army), while an uncle fought in the Polish II Corps of Gen. Władysław Anders at the Battle of Monte Cassino during the Italian Campaign of World War II; another uncle was murdered by the NKVD (Soviet secret police) at Katyń.
Kaczyńska attended primary and secondary schools in Rabka Zdrój in southern Poland. She studied transport economics and foreign trade in Sopot at what is now the University of Gdańsk. After graduating in 1966, she worked at the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk, where she met Lech Kaczyński in 1976. They married in 1978, and had a daughter. In addition to her native Polish, Maria Kaczyńska spoke four languages such as English, French and some Spanish and Russian.
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