President Nawrocki says he likely survived poisoning attempt during campaign rally in Ząbkowice Śląskie
In a forthcoming book, President Karol Nawrocki recounts a sudden collapse and violent illness at a campaign stop, which his co-author Prof. Andrzej Nowak calls an attempted poisoning.
The sudden collapse
Karol Nawrocki was in the middle of his presidential campaign when a routine rally in Ząbkowice Śląskie turned into what he now calls a "real cliffhanger". Speaking to historian Andrzej Nowak for the book "Skąd się wziął Karol Nawrocki", the president detailed the day in mid‑May when his body abruptly shut down. He had eaten lunch in Lower Silesia, then addressed a small crowd outside the town hall for five to seven minutes despite heavy rain. As he finished speaking and moved toward a waiting bus, he felt sudden, overwhelming weakness. "Like someone had switched my body off," he recalled. With help from his three closest aides he reached the coach, drank water and lay down on the back seat. Moments later he lost consciousness.
The bus, the suit, everything was completely splattered with my violent vomit. They said it looked like a scene from The Exorcist — I was kicking my legs, thrashing about, compulsively vomiting. When I woke up I had no idea what had happened during those few minutes.
What happened on the bus
Inside the sealed campaign bus, the scene alarmed the staff. Aides Mikołaj, Jarek and Jakub pulled black curtains shut and waited in shock. Nawrocki said he was told later that the vomiting was "like a fountain" and that his convulsions were uncontrollable. One of them, Jakub, later told him bluntly: "I was convinced you were dead." The president said he himself remembered nothing from the moment he blacked out until he came to and saw his pale-faced team standing over him.
- Nawrocki has lunch in Lower Silesia before the rally; heavy rain disrupts plans.
- Speaks for 5–7 minutes outside the town hall in Ząbkowice Śląskie.
- Feels sudden weakness, asks to be helped to the campaign bus, loses consciousness.
- Wakes to find bus splattered with vomit; aides describe convulsions and fear for his life.
Warnings from security
Throughout the campaign, protection officers had flagged risks. They advised him not to kiss women's hands at rallies, warning that a toxic substance could be transferred that way. Nawrocki acknowledged the warnings but said he continued the practice anyway. He also noted unusual media behaviour that day: journalists from outlets linked to his opponent suddenly appeared and seemed fixated on whether he would board a specific regional train from Ząbkowice to Dzierżoniów.
They kept asking everyone the same thing: is Nawrocki going to make that train, is he definitely travelling by train. It felt as though they were waiting for something.
Prof. Nowak's allegation
Andrzej Nowak, the historian who conducted the interview and chaired the Citizens' Committee backing Nawrocki's candidacy, went further than the president in his own remarks. He stated flatly that the episode was an attempt to poison the candidate and remove him from the race just as it became clear he was heading for victory.
They tried to poison Karol Nawrocki. Simply poison him, eliminate him from this campaign.
Political fallout and parallel smear campaign
In the same interview, Nowak described what he called a "brutal" effort by the rival camp of Rafał Trzaskowski to discredit Nawrocki. He said the Trzaskowski team prepared a false story that Nawrocki had an illegitimate child with a former mistress and planned to raise it during a televised debate. That plot was abandoned, but Nowak's account paints the poisoning claim as part of a dangerous escalation. The book's publisher, Biały Kruk, is releasing the full interview in the coming days.
