Kononowicz came from a family with roots in the
Kresy Wschodnie. He was born in
Kętrzyn as the son of Bronisław (8 May 1908 or 1918 – 5 October 2004) and Leonarda (née Bykowicz; 6 November 1930 – 1 September 2012). He had two brothers: Bogumił (1959 or 1960 – 21 January 2013) and Marian (born and died around 1962). His father was a prisoner in the Gulag between 1949 and 1954. They settled in
Masuria, in the village of
Wilkowo. In 1975, they moved to
Białystok. In Białystok, Kononowicz completed primary school and
vocational school as a driver-mechanic. He then did his compulsory military service, and later took care of his parents' household. but in 2002 he resigned from membership in the union. Previously, he had worked as a driver at Trans Mlecz, cleaned at the Białystok City Office, He also sought to become the head of the police in Białystok. In the
2006 local elections, he ran from the Komitet Wyborczy Wyborców
Podlasie XXI wieku (Electoral Committee of Podlasie of the 21st Century) list for the office of mayor of Białystok. He received 1,676 votes (1.89%) and came 6th among all 7 candidates He became more widely known after the publication of his speech from the TV Jard Election Studio on YouTube. Fragments were also shown by the main news services of the largest television stations, including
Fakty TVN,
Wydarzenia,
Wiadomości, and
Teleexpress. This was also reported by web portals:
Onet.pl,
Interia.pl,
Gazeta.pl. Numerous statements by Kononowicz began to gain popularity, such as: In 2006, he established the Citizen Intervention Office, a social organization operating in Białystok. The daily newspaper "
Rzeczpospolita" revealed that behind the media creation and persuading Kononowicz to run in the elections were Adam Czeczetkowicz, who was his spokesman, and historian Marek Czarniawski. Both were members and activists of the
Polish National Party, and Kononowicz's candidacy was intended to promote the electoral committee they created. On 20 May 2007, he participated in the repeated elections to the
Podlaskie Voivodeship Sejmik, where he ran again from the first place on the list of "KWW Podlasie XXI wieku" in electoral district no. 1. He received 295 votes. During the
2007 parliamentary election, he was a member of the Białystok electoral commission number 101. The KWW Podlasie XXI wieku itself did not collect enough signatures to run in the elections. In 2008, he announced his intention to run for the presidency of the
Polish Football Association. In the spring of 2009, he intended to run in the
European Parliament elections from the list of the
Slavic Union party. The electoral committee ultimately failed to field any lists. At the beginning of 2010, he made an unsuccessful attempt to run for the office of
President of Poland. However, the organizers of his campaign did not decide to submit signatures to the
National Electoral Commission, and the electoral committee was not registered at all. At the end of 2010, due to his poor financial situation, he made an appeal for financial help, which quickly met with a spontaneous reaction from internet users. In a few days 5,859
PLN was collected. It turned out that the collection was carried out illegally. The money was eventually delivered to Kononowicz. From 2015, videos recorded with Kononowicz again began to become popular on YouTube. The videos were characterized by an amateur recording method and absurd, controversial topics. Over time, the collection of videos depicting the life of Kononowicz, roommates, friends, carers, video recorders and editors, began to be referred to as the "Uniwersum Szkolna 17" ["Szkolna 17 Universe"], since Kononowicz's address was "ul. Szkolna 17". At the start of January 2020, Kononowicz's YouTube channel reached over 100,000 subscribers, and the videos were viewed over 26 million times. Kononowicz's videos were given as an example of the phenomenon of
patostream ["pathological stream"], due to the presentation of alcohol drinking sessions or vulgar arguments between Kononowicz and his roommate Wojciech "Major" Suchodolski (died 2023). In April 2020, he was reported in the national media after he publicly stated that the
SARS-CoV-2 virus does not exist, and encouraged breaking the regulations introduced in connection with the
COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. Kononowicz died in
Białystok on 6 March 2025, at the age of 62. == Controversies ==