– I don't remember Robert doing any number that would have been in school history. He was a normal, average boy, like all of us. It cannot be described as either a nerd or a organization boy," says Paweł Makuch, erstwhile president of Pruszkow. A friend of Bąkiewicz from 1 class. And after years of his... a rival in the election for city president.
It was 2018. A year earlier, Bąkiewicz took the lead in the Association of the independency March, only beginning to be known in Poland. Then he decided to become the president of Pruszkow's family.
– We were together from 1 class in 1 election. Friends sometimes utilized to say to me, "No, Makus, you put us in an awkward situation. 2 classmates for 1 occupation and what to do here?" I laughed, "Then divide the voices equally and no 1 will regret it," says Paweł Makuch.
He won: – Robert congratulated me: "No Paul, respect". I say no 1 in my class, including school teachers and teachers, expected that a minute would come that I would become president of the city. And so no 1 thought Robert would become a public figure. Among 1 environment generating controversy and the another approval.
"There are always people who agree with Robert. And there are people who disagree with him."
We are talking moments after Robert Bąkiewicz was pardoned by the president of Poland. erstwhile for weeks it has been heard about his actions on the border with Germany and Bąkiewicz practically does not come down from the media candlestick. Bulbing and outraged half the nation.
– Did anything in the past indicate what way it might take? – I ask.
- No, I don't. Absolutely not – says Paweł Makuch.
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They met erstwhile they were 15. In the first class about the general profession of Tomasz Zan advanced School in Pruszków. Bąkiewicz was not his friend from the bench, but the class was good. They stayed together for 4 years, counted 18s and another parties. And they passed their advanced school. Paul Makuch remembers that they both passed oral from history.
To this day, the class has any kind of contact, they know how they're doing. They were seeing each another at class meetings. erstwhile Makuch was president, and Bąkiewicz was moving errands at the office, he besides came to say hello.
– erstwhile we meet in our company, there's always "Hi, Bumblebee," "Hi, Mac. " There are always people who agree with Robert. And there are people who disagree with him. During joint meetings there is never a problem to express your approval or disapproval for his actions," says Paweł Makuch.
– They're telling him that?
- Yeah. They say, for example, "Robert, it's cool that you're acting," "It's good that you show up and fill the niche you needed." And individual else says, "Bump, I totally disagree with you," "What are you doing?" I have never seen him be angry or take criticism in any way. He usually approaches this in substance, tries to argue – he answers.
"He gets up, he leaves, smokes a cigarette, tries to talk"
Other people who know Robert Bąkiewicz from later years, erstwhile he already acted among nationalists, remember discussions with him somewhat differently.
– He's impulsive, nervous. I guess he just got carried distant for a while. erstwhile he heard things that were charges against his activities, he reacted very impulsively. In a sense, it gives him authenticity in confrontation situations on the street – a national activist recalls meetings with him.
He claims it looked like this: – He wanted to shout the subject and present his perspective, but in a way that did not tolerate opposition and did not tolerate discussion. He gets up, leaves, smokes a cigarette, tries to talk. It's more of a defence of a lying fortress.
Another individual in the national community says that at meetings he did theatre:
– He had a majority on the board of the independency March Association. The decisions were already made, talks focused on little crucial topics that took up quite a few time. And he yet managed the vote and everything went his way. Kind of ignoring an earlier discussion.
Today – as they say in the national environment – Bąkiewicz is burned in their home.
– It's burned in all national organizations that have been operating for a long time. He's a PiS man. His communicative is over for us. There is no friend Bąkiewicz – they say without mercy.
Different faces of Bąkiewicz. Period before and after radicalisation
Old friends are drawing us any of his faces. It is hard to capture this 1 if you have in your head his activities, which have been edifying for years and photos full of aggression from various events.
– Discussions with him were very cultural. He could realize a lot, he could admit right – he claims in contrari to what he had previously, 1 of the inhabitants of Pruszkow. He does not let his name to be used, although it is easy to sense that he likes his activities. He even talks about it, but after 20 minutes of conversation he absolutely does not agree to quote it at all.
Someone else says they resent Bąkiewicz's views. He's got a career review. Others propose self-centered thinking. That he is friends with Sovereign Poland, mainly Dariusz Matecki. Or that he's very active in the family. And a kind neighbor.
Paweł Makuch: – For me he is simply a classmate.
National activist: – I don't truly know where he came from. But I'm certain he learned a lot. He's smart. His designation is not just a coincidence. Moving on. I'd like it to be perfect targets, but I frequently feel that self-promotion is more important.
They agree in 1 – in Bąkiewicz's life there is simply a clear line. divided into 2 periods. Before radicalization and after. Both powerfully spin Pruszków.
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"I don't know, something happened, something happened, that he was so radicalized"
– He was nothing special. Typical boy from Pruszkow and surrounding areas for those times. Dres, short hair. That's how I remember him. I don't know, something happened, something happened, he got so radical. And I don't think you can figure it out," says Karol Chlebiński, president of the Pruszkow City Council. He besides went with Bąkiewicz to advanced school, but he was 2 classes lower.
Today, as he says, if he met him, he wouldn't shake his hand. It's a scandal to me. This does not fit in any canons – it responds to the pardon of Bąkiewicz.
– All the more reason to know the past of Pruszkow. There was a German Nazi transition camp. Hence, the majority of Warsaw, which survived the Warsaw Uprising, was sent to concentration camps or exported to forced labour. What utmost values he expresses disgusts me," he says.
Bąkiewicz is associated with Gąsin. It is simply a residential and industrial territory in the north of Pruszkow – on the 1 hand, the tracks separate it from the remainder of the city. On the another hand, the River Loss. The center is on the another side of the tracks.
Home, simple school, adult life, business, its associations – everything is related to this place. He besides married a schoolmate. They have 3 daughters.
– Locally, it doesn't work. In the belief of the average citizen of Pruszkow, he functions only due to the fact that he is promoted by the media, in which he is created as a defender of religion and honor of women. I think it's just the neighbors. In the life of the local community, it did not appear at all – says Karol Chlebiński.
We rapidly find out how far he's received here.
"Among the neighbours has affirmative opinions. I haven't heard negative ones."
– A average man, like everyone else – responds Adam Wróblewski, a pruszkowski councillor who lives on 1 street for many years. He won't say a bad word about Bąkiewicz. – It was always, "Good morning, how are you doing," there were talks about the weather. Always kind, asking if you needed anything. Helpful. Among the neighbors he has affirmative opinions. I haven't heard negative ones, he says.
How was he helpful?
– For example, I was doing something in the backyard by the car, asking if I could help. Not everyone reacts like that. And he'll come, talk, and if you request help, that's what he says.
He besides praises the March of Independence, and Bąkiewicz's last actions at the border. If anyone wants to be safe, I'm all for it. I want to feel safe in my country, too, and I want my household to be safe. If there are specified people, in my opinion only praise them for it – he thinks.
This is where Bąkiewicz ran his construction company, which prospered well, but went bankrupt in 2011, and he remained with powerful debts. The media wrote a lot about it. In 2016, the court waived his debts, until then he worked casually. He besides divorced his wife, but Oko.press established in 2022 that "Robert and Sylwia Bąkiewiczów – and their children – formed a close household at the time of the divorce and at the time of the company's bankruptcy. And they inactive make it."
It is the problems of those years that set the limit, after which the extremist face of Bąkiewicz, as we know it today, emerged. It's like a revelation.
"At any point I made a decision that I would start engaging in social life"
– He radicalized or began to pretend to be extremist after certain events in his life. To me, he's a man who's come into a function just to function. Controversy and extremes sale well. I cannot believe that individual can be so utmost selfless – says Karol Chlebiński.
Bąkiewicz spoke about it himself in 2018 erstwhile he ran for president Pruszkow.
As his communicative shows, it was like this.
He ran out of PRL, he started being an entrepreneur, and he just took a shine to the world. For rather a long time, "he fell passionately into the planet of materialism". Chasing happiness that he couldn't keep up. Then he started to see the planet that something in it didn't work the way it should.
He started with sex and kid affairs. The kids were the most crucial thing to me. I was just wondering what I would leave to children after my life," he said. His daughters were then 15, 6 and 4.
In an interview with "Diary Gazeta Prawna", he besides erstwhile said, "I was a trackman. I'm kidding. A average guy. I wasn't in any underculture of track and skin. erstwhile I started having a family, I noticed that unquestionable values are questionable that the household is marginalized."
In 2016, he joined the National Pruszkowa, began to operate in the Masovian ONR.
So if individual thinks that Robert Bąkiewicz has long been on a nationwide candlestick, he is wrong. He showed up rather recently.
National activist: – He spreads specified aura as it has always been.
"Radical national environments have not trusted him since the beginning"
– And it did not appear until 2016. He operated for a while at ONR, and in early 2017, he was already in charge of the independency March. He jumped right into the highest function as fast as he could. He was a completely unknown man to me – he continues.
Another remembers that extremist national environments did not trust him from the beginning: – There is simply a large distrust of fresh people. And then there's a man in his 40s.
Why would they bet on him?
Let's just mention it briefly. The association founded the Youth of All Poland and ONR. They had an agreement that erstwhile all 3 years the President's election will be held and erstwhile the president will be a individual from the All-Polish Youth and erstwhile from ONR. Bąkiewicz was identified by ONR. He replaced another individual during his word of office. seemingly ONR had mediocre structures on Mazowsze, and he appeared as a good organizer. And he was close to Warsaw.
ONR trusted him. Obviously, a small growth. Robert Bąkiewicz cut out all his erstwhile colleagues from the march who put him on the president – says 1 of the activists.
Today the slogan "Bąkiewicz" works here like a stick stuck in an anthill.
We hear historical stories about how his activities ceased to fit the ONR authorities, how they were disappointed in him and yet parted. Like before, it was about promoting the March than the faces. And erstwhile Bąkiewicz became president, he besides promoted himself and appeared on billboards.
In the national environment, they say they don't remember anything like this before. In addition, Bąkiewicz built side initiatives. erstwhile March Rots and the National Guard, let alone another loud initiatives.
– He created all these organizations, just like the border defender now. But look, who's there too Bąkiewicz? Even I can't tell. He was building his position from the beginning. He is guided by his own individual and building around his individual a patriotic activist who fights for Poland and is the only alternative. His full activity is personified around his own individual – said erstwhile national environmental activist.
But what was he like privately? The question isn't that simple. We hear:
– I didn't keep in contact with him.
– I've seen him erstwhile in my life, flying.
– We only met a fewer times, there was a handshake, nothing more.
– We don't truly know each other, we've seen each another a fewer times. I have nothing to say.
"It's his tactics to leverage the environment or any kind of social action."
But opinions about Bąkiewicz are expressed more willingly. For example, they say that he uses moments erstwhile something happens. They fill us with examples:
– During the Women's Strike he was the initiator of defence of churches throughout Poland. But earlier there were people, besides known, who besides stood under the churches, but did not conduct their promotion due to this. And Bąkiewicz got the most excited and talked about it. All the media was about him.
– He's put everything on 1 card. It's his policy to leverage the environment, or any kind of social action that can be sold media.
– Now he felt blood on the border. After all, others had already been alerting about the situation. Only nobody wore vests and chased the border so everyone could see.
– In the environment, they think he's a career man. To a individual who can make quite a few sound around himself.
His cooperation with the nationalists, the break-up and break-up with ONR and the dispute around the independency March is simply a much broader story. Here we wrote more about these conflicts.
But today, most of all, they can't let him work with the Law and Justice. Let's remind you, it all started in 2018. In 2023, PiS put him on his electoral lists in Radom. The same year the PiS Convention was held in Pruszków. About government grants to organizations associated with it, let's just mention it.
Further part of the article below:
"I don't care what his intentions are, it's apparent that he's very close to the Law and Justice."
– erstwhile he made a deal with the PiS, at 1 point he changed his narrative. He stopped the old rhetoric. I don't think there's a word out of his mouth for accusing PiS of mass migration. The problem is not only illegal immigration, but besides legal immigration, which was served by the Law and Justice Office in record-breaking fashion. They don't want to remember it there, and I don't think Bąkiewicz does either – 1 of the activists points out.
In fact, in 2018, erstwhile he ran for president Pruszkow he said that there are more and more foreigners in the city as well.
– I'm curious in this case all day. I know that right now the gateway to Asia, to Africa in Poland is opened by the Law and Justice. In spite of all the statements of others. Thanks to these declarations, which were different, among others, the PiS won – scored the PiS.
And in 2023 he defended this policy of the Law and Justice. 1 of the cannons is sending us a screen of X. individual wrote, "Let's not forget immigrants brought in by the government of the Law and Solidarity Poland." He responded, "They're not immigrants, they're workers. Don't you know that?"
One of the national activists points out: – He is very focused on self-promotion. He's looking for a variety of topics that could aid him out. With the PiS on his way due to the fact that he needs a platform to get to the Sejm, and the PiS now needs anti-immigrant emotion. Synergy works. Regardless of what his intentions are, it is evident that he has very powerfully bonded with the Law and is promoted by them. He took a small road over the dead.
What's his purpose?
– I think his goal is simply a higher policy and he's gonna want to be on the PiS again. It wouldn't be possible if the president hadn't pardoned him. But in my opinion, he could be an MP as much as possible. There's inactive a ceiling he can't get through. We saw the end of his start in the 2023 election – a erstwhile activist reminds us.
At that time, Bąkiewicz obtained 1.11% of the votes. In turn, 4.4 percent of the population voted for him in the 2018 election for president Pruszkow.
Nationals can't take over Pruszkow. They make up a certain percent of the city's beliefs, but you can't see them. National symbols in Pruszków do not be – says Karol Chlebiński.
