Biography
Roman Giertych comes from a prominent family of Polish politicians, being a son of Maciej Giertych and a grandson of Jędrzej Giertych.
He excelled in history throughout his school years while his grades in other subjects remained average. His teacher of biology recalls him questioning the validity of the theory of evolution; a stance that he carried away from his family home, especially his father Maciej Giertych (a Ph.D. in forest genetics), a notable creationist.
He graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań with master's degrees in both law and history. In 1989, he reactivated the far-right All-Polish Youth organization, becoming its chairman; he remains honorary chairman to this day. For several years he was a member of the National-Democratic Party and the National Party, which merged with several other organizations to form the League of Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin, LPR) in 2001.
Giertych and the LPR have a strong national and anti-EU profile. Prior to the 2003 Polish referendum on EU membership, the LPR campaigned against it, denouncing it as a "centralised, socialist superstate". Officially, the LPR declares that it favours a "Europe of nations". Under Giertych's leadership, the LPR was successful in the European Parliament elections in June 2004, temporarily becoming the second-strongest Polish party with 14% of the votes. His father Maciej Giertych was elected MEP. In the 2005 parliamentary elections LPR gained 8% of the votes.
In July 2004 Roman Giertych was elected a member and vice-chairman of PKN Orlen investigation commission, which is credited, among other things, with destroying the presidential aspirations of Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz.
On May 5, 2006, Giertych was appointed as Minister of Education and vice-premier, while the LPR joined a governmental coalition with PiS. Due to his nationalist views, this decision was considered controversial by some. The following day, about 100 people protested in front of the Ministry of Education against this appointment. A couple of weeks later almost 140 000 people signed a petition to remove him from the post.
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