The honorary citizenship of Poznań (Polish: Honorowe Obywatelstwo Miasta Poznania) is a list of people to whom the Poznan City Council has awarded ‘Honorary Citizenship of the City of Poznań – a special title awarded for exceptional services to Poland and Poznań. The honoured individuals receive a diploma, flowers and a statuette.
Rules for the award Historically, since the first award of 'Honorary Citizenship of the City of Poznań', the Poznań City Council has been responsible for honouring individuals. The first titles of ‘Honorary Citizenship of the City of Poznań’ after the restoration of democratic local government in Poland were awarded exclusively on the basis of Article 18(2)(14) of the Local Government Act. The local rules for granting 'Honorary Citizenship of the City of Poznań' were regulated by Resolution No. XXX/172/91 of the City Council of Poznań of the 1st term of office, dated 4 June 1991.
As stated in the resolution, this title was awarded by the Council by way of a resolution adopted at the request of the city councillors or the Mayor, by an absolute majority of votes and in the presence of at least two-thirds of the statutory composition of the Council. The Poznań City Council could also, by way of resolution, revoke honorary distinctions if it was found that the recipient had lost their honorary rights. These powers were amended by Resolution No. XIX/140/IV/2003 of the Poznań City Council of the 4th term of office, dated 3 June 2003.
Nomination provisions for requiring an absolute majority of votes and revoking the award were removed. The resolution added the power to submit honorary citizenship nominations by the Council committees upon notice to the councillors' clubs of Poznań City. Honorary awards are presented by the Chairman of the Council in the presence of the Mayor, usually at a ceremonial session of the City Council during the feast day of Poznań's patron saints, St. Peter and St. Paul. The City Council Office keeps records of the awards granted. The latest amendments to the rules for awarding distinctions were adopted by the Poznań City Council of the 5th term in Resolution No. LXXII/1000/V/2010 of 15 May 2010, stipulating that the distinction is awarded only to living persons and to no more than one person per year.
List of recipients
Up to 1918 On 11 June 1885, Hugo Ludwig von Below was granted honorary citizenship of the city of Poznań. This title was also held by Robert von Zedlitz-Trützschler, Richard von Seeckt, Richard Witting, Wilhelm von Waldow and Erich Ludendorff. The outbreak of World War I prompted the Poznań City Council, hoping to regain independence thanks to a possible victory of the German Empire, to award the title of "Honorary Citizen of the City of Poznań" to German Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, arguing "he saved Poznań and the provence from Russian invasion and devastation." The title awarded to the commander on 28 October 1914 was, however, revoked in 1919 as a result of actions taken after the Polish victory in the Greater Poland Uprising. The records of all honorary citizens of the city of Poznań appointed before 1 January 1919 were removed on the basis of a resolution passed by the municipal council on 29 June 1920.
Interwar period The first recipient of ‘Honorary Citizen of the City of Poznań’ as Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who was awarded this title by the Poznań City Council by resolution of 21 January 1920.. The second honouree was Wojciech Trąmpczyński, who received his title on the basis of a resolution dated 28 September 1920.. After a fourteen-year hiatus in awarding distinctions, a resolution dated 25 April 1934 honoured the third and last person before World War II – Cyryl Ratajski. +List of laureatesYearlaureate1920Ignacy Jan PaderewskiWojciech Trąmpczyński1934Cyryl Ratajski
Post 1990 In the post-war period, the title was not awarded for several decades. Since 1990, the title has been awarded to 39 individuals. No awards were given in four years: 1994, 1998, 1999 and 2002. In 1992 and 1996, the title was awarded not to one person (as is customary), but to three people, while in 2005, 2006 and 2009, it was awarded to two people. The only honoured persons from outside Poland were Margaret Thatcher and Árpád Göncz. Among those currently honoured are 13 women and 26 men.