10 Zlotys Grzegorz Ciechowski

Grzegorz Ciechowski, frontman of the Polish new wave band Republika, died in December 2001 at age 41 from cardiac arrest — a loss that hit Polish alternative rock culture with the force of a generational rupture. The NBP has issued a sustained series of collector zlotys honoring Polish musicians, and Ciechowski's inclusion reflects how thoroughly Republika's 1980s output has been reassessed: recorded partly under martial law censorship, their lyrics were oblique enough to pass scrutiny while being understood perfectly by their audience.