Jolanta and Aleksander Kwaśniewski are about to celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary. Their marriage is built on love, trust, and respect. They look toward the same future and know they can always rely on each other, no matter the situation.
They’ve faced and overcome many challenges together. But what were the beginnings of their marriage like?
Jolanta and Aleksander Kwaśniewski – The Early Days of Their Marriage
They both vividly remember the day they met. She was in her third year studying law and administration, while he was finishing his studies in international trade. By chance, they both attended a university council meeting. That’s where it all began. The future politician immediately felt that he had found the woman he wanted to spend his life with. He shared his feelings with a friend right away, declaring that he would marry her.
“Olek met with my friends and told them that he was going to marry me,” Jolanta Kwaśniewska shared. Aleksander Kwaśniewski worked hard to win his beloved’s heart. “It’s a beautiful story of love and patience. If you ask who my best friend is, I’ll always answer: my wife, and she would say the same,” he said in an interview with Super Express in 2021.
They promised each other love in November 1979 at the Civil Registry Office in Gdańsk. Years later, they had a church wedding. In 2005, they held a modest ceremony in the Presidential Palace chapel, kept completely secret. The priest who officiated the ceremony was Colonel Jan Damian. According to the former president, who is not a religious person, the church wedding had a one-sided nature. What does that mean? The words “So help me God Almighty in the Holy Trinity, and all the saints” were spoken aloud only by his wife.
The start of Jolanta and Aleksander Kwaśniewski’s marriage wasn’t easy. Right after their civil wedding, they moved to Warsaw, far from their families, and began to build their future. They had each other, and that was all they needed for happiness.
“I remember my first day in Warsaw. Ursynów was still under construction, knee-deep in mud, with a twelve-story building. My husband opened the door to our apartment and carried me over the threshold. It was an empty bachelor’s apartment, thirty square meters, PVC tiles on the floor, some terracotta in the bathroom. And since there were pipes running underneath, it was warm. We sat on those tiles, unpacked sandwiches, and we were probably the happiest couple in the world,” the former first lady recalled in an interview with TVN24. It was their time. They both focused on building their careers, and in 1981, they welcomed their daughter Aleksandra into the world.
Jolanta Kwaśniewska focused on her work, caring for their daughter and the home, while Aleksander Kwaśniewski worked on building his position in the world of politics. He could always count on his wife’s enormous support. “My husband was hardly ever at home. I thought I had to share him for the sake of—however grand that might sound—the good of the country,” Jolanta Kwaśniewska told Newsweek. “Our marriage had different phases. When we moved to Warsaw, I really got caught up in work… then there was the creation of the party, election campaigns in ’91, ’93, and ’95. And then there was a shift. The presidency was a time of closeness,” Aleksander Kwaśniewski added.
Their life underwent a true revolution when it turned out that Aleksander had won the presidential election. This was a challenging moment for his wife, as she had built a successful life, running a thriving real estate agency, employing people. “Our child was starting high school, and then—bam!—the elections were won, and the next day, there were BOR officers standing in front of our house in Wilanów, on a small street. ‘Madam President, Mr. President,’ they said. I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is happening!’,” she recalled in Michał Olszański’s show on Radio 357.
Jolanta Kwaśniewska supported her husband wholeheartedly in his new role. She created the institution of the first lady in Poland, actively engaging in charity work, founding the “Porozumienie bez Barier” foundation. She went out to the people, and they loved her for her openness, her ability to engage in dialogue, and her sensitivity.
Jolanta and Aleksander Kwaśniewski make a unique and harmonious duo. What’s the secret to their relationship? “Marriage is like land that can either be left fallow or cultivated with small gestures. I like to give my wife flowers. I always tell my students that flowers should be given to girls without any occasion, because if you only give them on special occasions, you’ll always forget one, but if you give them without a reason, it won’t seem strange,” said the former president in an interview with Newsweek. He also emphasized that a stable family life is the key to success.
We wish them all the best!