Grzegorz Kopaczewski

(b. 1977) – a prose writer, by education a political scientist, specialising in political philosophy.

He serves as director general of Wikimedia Poland.

Grzegorz Kopaczewski made his debut with the novel ‘Global nation. Obrazki z czasów popkultury’ (Global Nation: Pictures From Pop-Culture Times), in which he was the first Polish prose writer to document the experience of Polish labour emigrants in the early twenty-first century. The action of Global Nation is set in London, in a community of young people from around the world, who end up in England in search of work, money and excitement. In this book, Kopaczewski depicts cosmopolites contesting various norms and customs, moving freely about the globe. They’re looking for money, interesting friends, they want to get away from the suffocating atmosphere of their homeland. He also speaks of globalised culture and a world where differences are blurring – though without them, the act of learning about reality becomes boring and pointless.

In his next novel, ‘Huta’ (The Steelworks), Kopaczewski discarded dramatic prose to create a utopian grotesque. History, the present and the bleak future of the titular steelworks are seen from the point of view of a young PhD student meant to write his Doctorate on the place’s revitalisation. In the post-industrial grounds once belonging to Katowice’s Baildon Steelworks, a self-sufficient colony of artists and businesspeople is created, inspired by sociologists, meant to be a test for a future society. Its inhabitants, free of violence, unemployment or the necessity of hard physical labour, can carry out their dreams, give themselves to their passions and fully develop.

Finally, in 1989 the author joins recollections with a historical essay. Kopaczewski faithfully reflects a child’s sensitivity and characteristic emotions. The main protagonists grapple with the difficulties and absurdities of Polish life in the 1980s, a passion for sport helps them find sense in their often brutal reality. This is a tale of devotion, local patriotism, dreams, and an attempt to cope with everyday life. This publication was rated the best historical work of 2019  in the ‘Collected History’ poll organised by Histmag.org and granice.pl.