Marek Plura, a Silesian, social activist, senator, former MP and MEP, is dead. He was 52 years old. He died on Saturday. “His commitment to people with disabilities was extraordinary, his love for Silesia was deep,” wrote Tomasz Grodzki, Marshal of the Senate.
The senator’s death was announced on the Senate website. “He held the mandate of a senator of the 10th term from the Katowice district. He was a member of the Sejm of the 6th and 7th term, a member of the European Parliament of the 8th term. He actively supported people with disabilities, worked with dedication for Silesia” – it was recalled.
According to “Rzeczpospolita”, Plura has been in the hospital for several days.
They remember Senator Plura
“His commitment to people with disabilities was extraordinary, his love for Silesia was deep. He was infectious with optimism, diligence and dedication, he was a model of how to live beautifully despite adversity” – Tomasz Grodzki, Marshal of the Senate, mentioned Plura.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote that Plura’s death “shocked us all”. “A good man, devoted to the affairs of Silesia to the end. May he rest in peace,” he wrote.
Donald Tusk described the late senator as “brave, wise and good”. “He always said that anyone, but Ślonzok and Kaszeba will always get along. Goodbye, Friend” – he wrote.
“Sadness, regret and emptiness,” admitted KO Senator Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, recalling that Plura “moved to the depths of everyone who knew him.” “Marek, with your whole life you proved that you can be a great person, regardless of physical limitations. Your heart did not know these limitations of helping others” – he wrote.
“Marek Plura – an outstanding inhabitant of Racibórz and Silesian, a man of great heart, psychotherapist and friend of people, especially the disabled, has passed away. He made his own disability the strength to act and influence others, the electric wheelchair to which he was chained, a platform for contact with people” – were written by activists of the Silesian Civic Platform.
“Mark, we will miss your accurate comments and observations, your optimism with which you infected everyone, your sense of humor and joy of life, your view of things that others did not see” – added.
Marek Plura – politician, activist, Silesian
Born in Racibórz, Marek Plura was a pedagogue by education. He worked in the Crisis Assistance Center of the Association for the Disabled SPES as a social worker and in the “Akcent” Revalidation Center as a teacher. He founded the Good House Association. He was the president of the Silesian Association of Education and Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities “Akcent”, as well as the head of the program board of the Integration and Bibliotherapeutic Department of the Silesian Library.
In 2006-2007 he was a councilor of the Katowice City Council. He supported efforts to recognize Silesians as an ethnic minority.
He was associated with the Civic Platform. In 2007, he was elected as a deputy to the Sejm from the Katowice constituency. In 2011, he successfully ran for re-election. At Wiejska, he was a rapporteur, among others, on the act on sign language and on equal rights for people with disabilities.
In the elections to the European Parliament in 2014, he was elected MEP of the 8th term. He was honored with the title of MEP Awards 2019 for the best MEP in the category: employment, social and regional policy.
In the current term of the Senate, where he has been sitting since 2019, he was the deputy head of the human rights, rule of law and petitions committee.
He suffered from muscular dystrophy and used a wheelchair. Plura was a laureate of the Man Without Barriers and Icebreakers competitions.
Main photo source: Marcin Obara/PAP