Agnieszka Kotlarska-Świątek (15 August 1972 – 27 August 1996) was a Polish fashion model and beauty queen.
Agnieszka Kotlarska | |
|---|---|
 Newspaper photo from 1990 | |
| Born | Agnieszka Kotlarska 15 August 1972 Wrocław, Poland |
| Died | 27 August 1996 (aged 24) Maślice, Wrocław, Poland |
| Alma mater | Wrocław University of Science and Technology[1] |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Spouse | Jarosław Świątek (1992–1996; her death) |
| Children | 1 |
| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Title | Miss Polski 1991 Miss International 1991 |
| Agency | Ford Models |
| Years active | 1987–1996 |
| Hair color | Brown (competition period) Blonde (natural) |
| Eye color | Green |
| Major competition(s) | Miss Polski 1991 (Winner) Miss International 1991 (Winner) |
Career
editWhile studying at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Agnieszka won the Miss Polski beauty pageant held at the Forest Opera in Sopot on 19 July 1991. On 13 October 1991, she became the first Polish winner of the Miss International beauty pageant held in Tokyo, Japan.[2]
She went on to pursue a modelling career in the United States, represented by Ford Models in New York for the likes of Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. Around 1992, while working in New York, she married Jarosław Świątek, one of the organisers of the 1991 edition of Miss Polski.[3] The couple later returned to their native Poland at the end of 1993 to settle in her hometown Wrocław, where they would later have a daughter together.[4]
Death
editKotlarska narrowly escaped death when at the last minute, she backed out of flying on TWA Flight 800, which crashed with no survivors off Long Island, New York on 17 July 1996. Rico Puhlmann, who was Kotlarska's chief photographer, was among the victims.[5]
She was stabbed to death by a stalker outside her home in the Maślice district of Wrocław, on 27 August 1996. The attack also injured her husband, Jarosław Świątek.[6] Her two-year-old daughter was a witness to the attack. She was laid to rest at Grabiszyński Cemetery on 30 August 1996. The assailant, computer programmer Jerzy Lisiewski, was subsequently sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, finishing his sentence in 2012. Lisiewski was later arrested for stabbing a Romanian man during an attempted burglary in the district of Psie Pole in 2014.[7]
In popular culture
editKotlarska was the main subject of the 2013 film Będę Cię kochał aż do śmierci.[8][9]
Kotlarska and the circumstances of her murder were namedropped in Episode 9047 of Coronation Street.[10]
Parts of the 2021 book Wenus umiera by freelance author Aleksander Sowa[11] were, according to readers, based on Kotlarska's life and death. Kotlarska was also the subject of one chapter of the book Kryminalny Wrocław by Iza Michalewicz.
Kotlarska and her family were also featured in a February 2023 report on the TVP1 newsmagazine Alarm![12]
"AGA" Foundation
editThe "AGA" Foundation" is a NGO founded in Kotlarska's hometown of Wrocław and is dedicated to providing assistance to victim of violence and victims of stalking and related psychological and physical violence.
References
edit- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "2232677.JPG (850x1231 pixels)". Archived from the original on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
- ^ "Pisał do niej listy, a potem zamordował. Miss Polski, która zginęła z ręki stalkera". 13 January 2022.
- ^ "A Tragic Obsession". The Warsaw Voice. 8 September 1996. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ Ravo, Nick (19 July 1996). "THE PASSENGERS; Disaster in Air Unites Widely Varied Lives". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- ^ "Zabił ze złej miłości". Gazeta Wyborcza. Poland. 8 June 2005. Archived from the original on 1 June 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ "Odsiedział karę za zabójstwo miss. Teraz zatrzymany za atak nożem".
- ^ "Będę Cię kochał aż do śmierci" (in Polish). 23 February 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023 – via www.filmweb.pl.
- ^ "FilmPolski.pl". FilmPolski (in Polish). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
- ^ Coronation Street, ITV, ep. 9047, transmission date: 2 December 2016.
- ^ "Wenus umiera | Aleksander Sowa". Lubimyczytać.pl. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
- ^ ""Alarm!". Brutalne morderstwo miss Polski. Życie jej bliskich zagrożone?". www.tvp.info (in Polish). 19 February 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
