Kazimiera Szczuka

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Kazimiera Szczuka (born 22 June 1966) is a well-known Polish literary historian, literary critic and television personality, known from Polish edition of The Weakest Link.

Szczuka was Maria Janion's student and has femminist vievs similar to her professor's ideology. She is highly vocal opponent of the ruling Law and Justice party, Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, and his twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski, chairman of Law and Justice. Ms. Szczuka is a member of the Green Party, advocate of gay rights and supporter of right to abortion. That may be why she is the object of strong dislike among the country's conservative citizens. Szczuka herself says: "They hate me because I'm a feminist, I'm Jewish - mostly because I'm a feminist". Andrzej Jonas, editor of the Polish Voice, states of the ruling party's attitude towards Ms. Szczuka, "They don't like her because she is independent." Political analysts see her as being a symbolic focus of the rejection by older, traditional Polish society of the new, secular, Western European Poland of liberal values which has emerged since the fall of the Soviet Union, to the accompaniement of so much social and economic upheaval.

In March, 2006, Szczuka satirized a young woman who frequently recites prayers on Radio Maryja, claiming to not know that the woman was confined to 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 the equivalent of $125,000; according to the Polish press, the highest fine the Council had ever levied. The sole dissenting member of the Council, Wojiech Z. Dziomdziora, stated that "It is probably right to say" that the political support of the radio station for the ruling party "is the real reason" for the serious punishment of Ms. Szczuka, compared to the free hand given the station's disparaging comments on other's religions. Some other officials think, that political reasons weren't important and Ms Szuka simply didn't respect religious feelings.

As a feminist Kazimiera Szczuka supports equal treating of men and women. When her TV boss kissed her palm in public, she did exactly the same to him.

She has been working for TVN24 in "Wydanie drugie poprawione" and for TVN in "Dwururka", and "Najslabsze Ogniwo".