Kazimiera Szczuka


Kazimiera Szczuka is a Polish literary historian, literary critic, feminist and television personality, known from the Polish edition of The Weakest Link.

Life and career

She was born on 22 June 1966 to father Stanisław Szczuka, a lawyer and a political dissident in the times of PRL, and mother Janina, a doctor from an assimilated Polish-Jewish family. She is a great-great-granddaughter of chess player Szymon Winawer. She is a graduate of the University of Warsaw where she obtained her MA degree under supervision of Maria Janion.
Szczuka is a member of the Greens 2004 party, advocate of LGBT rights and supporter of pro-choice rights for women. She is a member of the Programme Council of the green political foundation the Green Institute.
In March 2006, Szczuka satirized on a TV programme a young woman who frequently recites prayers on Radio Maryja, claiming to not know that the woman "suffered from a crippling disease and used a wheelchair." Despite Szczuka's public apology, she was found guilty of "insulting a disabled person and mocking her religion" by the Polish National Broadcasting Council, and the station on which she had appeared was fined 500,000 PLN.
Szczuka complained later, "They hate me because I'm a feminist, I'm Jewish – mostly because I'm a feminist" in an interview for The New York Times and International Herald Tribune.
She works for TVN24 in Wydanie drugie poprawione. She has worked since 2003 for TVN in Najsłabsze Ogniwo and in Dwururka. She has also appeared as a juror on Top Model TV show and as an expert on Milionerzy game show.

Selected publications