Barbara Tuge-Erecinska

Background

Her father and grandfather were members of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) during the German and Soviet occupations of Poland in World World War World War II

Education

University of Gdańsk.

Career

She was succeeded by Witold Sobków in 2012. After graduating in 1980 from the University of Gdańsk at the onset of the anti-communist Solidarity movement, Barbara Tuge-Erecińska joined the Union and set up the Solidarity International Department. "In a way, this was my first diplomatic post," she says.

They were arrested by the Soviets and sent to Siberia.

Both survived the gulags thanks to lifesaving determination of her father. Tuge-Erecinska worked closely with Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa during the 1980s.

When martial law was declared in Poland on December 13, 1981, she joined the protest in the shipyard. She was the one to smuggle out the official statement by the striking workers that the resistance would continue in spite of military coup d"état.

She assisted families of political prisoners and set up a commission with the Polish Church to help them.

Active in the underground during the martial law in Poland, she was harassed by the communist party. "lieutenant wasn"t a big deal compared to what happened to some," she remembers. After Wałęsa’s election victory in 1990, she was appointed Ambassador to Sweden (1991-1997).

In 1999 Barbara Tuge-Erecińska became Poland"s first woman Deputy Foreign Minister, the position held until 2001, and again in 2005.

During her inaugural speech as Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Tuge-Erecińska said: "I feel privileged to be posted to this special place, which supported us during the darkest days.." Her work as the highest ranking diplomat revolves around the Polish participation in the European Union with its complex political life and economy. Her son studied in Denmark and now works in United Kingdom.

Achievements

• Gold Cross of Merit – 1997.

Membership

"At 35, not only was I the only female at our embassy, I was also the youngest member of staff," she told British Diplomat magazine.