Assassination of Paweł Adamowicz

Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdańsk, Poland, was fatally stabbed on 13 January 2019 while onstage during a local public event marking the 27th finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, a nationwide Polish charity fundraiser, which was taking place in the city's Targ Węglowy square. The attacker, a spectator named Stefan Wilmont, entered the stage without obstruction and, following the stabbing, made a statement into a microphone citing Adamowicz's political affiliation as a motivation for the act. The incident – an open assassination of a sitting public official – was unprecedented in Poland's history since World War II, according to the judge passing the sentence in the attacker's resulting murder case, and it shocked the Polish community. It received significant news coverage from both national and international media.