Nelli Rokita (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Nelli Arnold; 26 June 1957) is a Polish politician who was elected an MP as a

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

candidate. Her husband Jan Rokita was a prominent activist of a

Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...

who retreated in September 2007 when Rokita started her political career. She was born in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in an ethnic German family, lived in Germany, where she obtained a university degree in

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...

. Rokita first visited Poland in the 1980s on a scholarship to the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

to study the language of political propaganda in the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

. There she met Jan Rokita, whom she married on 26 July 1994. He is her second husband. Before their wedding, Rokita converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and her future husband became her godfather. She also has a daughter, Kasia, from her previous marriage. During her time in Poland, Rokita edited the official party newspaper of the Conservative People's Party (Poland). She became a member of the Civic Platform, but withdrew from the party in January 2007, claiming that her husband was marginalized in his own party by

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...

, and that the

liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

party was becoming increasingly left-wing. Rokita briefly served as an advisor to Poland's president

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

on women's issues. From 2007 to 2011, Nelli Rokita was a member of the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

. She lost the 2011 election to the Polish Senate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rokita, Nelly 1957 births Living people Jagiellonian University alumni Politicians from Chelyabinsk Members of the Polish Sejm 2007–2011 Civic Platform politicians Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism Polish Roman Catholics Polish people of German descent Polish people of Russian descent Russian people of German descent Naturalized citizens of Poland Russian emigrants to Poland