Janusz Alfred Weiss (31 May 1948 – 10 March 2023) was a Polish journalist, actor, television personality and co-founder of one of the most popular radio stations in Poland,

Radio ZET Radio Zet () is a Polish commercial radio station launched in 1990, as the second privately owned radio in Poland. Since 2023, its majority shareholder has been Agora (company), Agora SA. History Radio Zet was established in Warsaw, and air ...

Biography

Weiss was born on 31 May 1948 as a son of the colonel of the

Internal Security Corps The Internal Security Corps (, KBW) was a special-purpose military formation in Poland under History of Poland (1945–1989)#Stalinist era (1948–1956), communist government, established on 24 May 1945. History The KBW consisted of 10 new ca ...

Oskar Weiss (of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

descent) and Janina Weiss (of

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

descent). Weiss was studying at the

Warsaw University of Technology The Warsaw University of Technology () is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors (including 145 titular professors). The student body ...

. In March 1968 he was expelled from the university for his Jewish heritage and activities during

1968 Polish political crisis A series of major student, intellectual and other protests against the ruling Polish United Workers' Party of the Polish People's Republic took place in Poland in March 1968. The crisis led to the suppression of student strikes by security forces ...

. In 1970 Weiss started

Polish studies Polish studies, Polish philology or Polonistics (, or ''polonistyka'') is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates the Polish language and Polish literature in both historic and present-day forms. The history of Polish ...

at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, but he had never finished them. In the early 1970s he founded a

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

group with

Magda Umer Magda Umer (; born Małgorzata Magda Umer, October 9, 1949) is a Polish singer and performer of sung poetry, journalist, author, film director, screenwriter, actress, and author of recitals. Biography She was born to Edward Umer, the head of the ...

, Krzysztof Knittel and Andrzej Wojciechowski. In the 1980s Janusz Weiss was performing in the Polish television as presenter and conferencier. In 1990 he was one of three founders of the radio station

. In the years 1990–2011, Weiss was presenting an audition "Dzwonię do Pani, Pana w bardzo nietypowej sprawie" (''Dear Madam, dear Sir, I'm calling you on a most unusual matter''), which was one of the most popular

radio programming Radio programming is the process of organising a schedule of radio content for commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting by radio stations. History The original inventors of radio, from Guglielmo Marconi's time on, expected it to be use ...

in Poland. In 2000 he published a book in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, "Jeden może, drugi nie" (''One can, the other can not''). As an actor he was known for polish Television Theater (1953), Kung-fu (1979) and Damned America (1993). From 1993 to 2005, he was a host of a game show called Miliard w rozumie, transmitted under license of

Polish Scientific Publishers PWN Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (''Polish Scientific Publishers PWN''; until 1991 ''Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe'' - ''National Scientific Publishers PWN'', PWN) is a Polish book publisher, founded in 1951, when it split from the Wydawnictwa Szkolne i ...

TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Telewizja Polska 1'', ''Program Pierwszy Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of Telewizja Polska, TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Po ...

. In 2011 he received the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

.M.P. from 2011; no. 107-1077
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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Janusz 1948 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Polish Jews Journalists from Warsaw Polish television presenters Polish radio presenters Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta