Paweł Bogdan Adamowicz ([ˈpavɛw ˈbɔɡdan adaˈmɔvʲit͡ʂ]; 2 November 1965 – 14 January 2019) was a Polish politician and lawyer who served as the city mayor of Gdańsk from 1998 until his assassination in 2019.

[5] He was known as a liberal, progressive figure, speaking in support of LGBT rights, immigration, and of minority ethnic groups such as Kashubians.

"Like many Poles of our generation, [my] brother and I have thus been shaped against the obligatory official history; since childhood we have known not only the sinister wording of the Gestapo abbreviation, but also the NKVD; we perfectly understood what is behind the names of distant places: Kazakhstan, Siberia, Katyn.

[13] In November 2018, Adamowicz ran as an independent candidate for the office of Mayor of Gdańsk and was re-elected for a sixth term, being endorsed by the Civic Platform in the second round and remaining a vocal critic of the current ruling party in Poland, Law and Justice.

[20] After stabbing the mayor, he seized the microphone and claimed false imprisonment and torture at the hands of the previous centrist Civic Platform (PO) government.

Interior Minister Joachim Brudziński described the attack as "an act of inexplicable barbarism" and, on Twitter, EU Council President Donald Tusk said, "Paweł Adamowicz, Mayor of Gdańsk, a man of Solidarity and freedom, a European, my good friend, has been murdered.

[26] The European Parliament held a minute of silence to honour Adamowicz, with President Antonio Tajani speaking of the mayor's "closeness to the people" and "ability to listen".

[27] Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, described the attack as "Devastating violence ... for all of us who value public service and open, accessible democracy".

[28] Anton Alikhanov, the governor of the neighbouring Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia, expressed his condolences, calling Adamowicz "our great friend" and proclaiming a minute of silence in memory of his death.

[31][32] The mayor of Bremen Carsten Sieling, which Gdańsk is a twin city with, said "we are shocked by the terrifying and cruel death of Paweł Adamowicz".

[37][38][39] On 18 January 2019, Adamowicz's coffin was decorated with white flowers and draped with the flag of Gdańsk,[40] before being driven in a hearse from the European Solidarity Centre in the city, past schools, monuments and other places significant to the dead mayor's life.