"State of War" 25 years ago...

[Polak]

Today was a big and emotional day for many Poles. It was also a very special day for my familly, since we where very involved in the "conflict" on both sides.

Poland marks communist crackdown

Poles recreated events of the night of 12-13 December 1981

Poland is marking the 25th anniversary of the former communist government's attempt to crush the opposition Solidarity movement. Polish President Lech Kaczynski awarded national honours to former democratic activists who opposed the regime.
Tens of thousands of people were arrested without charge and as many as 100 were killed in the crackdown that began on 13 December 1981.
But martial law failed and marked the start of the end for Polish communism.
President Kaczynski was among those arrested and spent 10 months in jail.
He said that "even considering communist law, what happened the night of 12-13 December was illegal".
"It was the illegal internment of thousands of people."
Mr Kaczynski said that Poland's battle for freedom "lasted a long time... but it ended in a great victory".
Taken by surprise
Religious services were held to mark the anniversary.
Mr Kaczynski's twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, laid a wreath at the grave of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, who was killed by the communist secret police, in a church in Warsaw.
There were also exhibitions and a reconstruction of street fighting between opposition activists and communist militia.
The imposition of martial law took almost everyone by surprise, says the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw.
Martial law did not stem the rapid growth of the Solidarity movement


Many of Solidarity's leaders were arrested in their beds on the first night.
In the morning, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tanks patrolled the streets.
Poland's Communist Party leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, acted after some Solidarity leaders were secretly taped calling for free elections.
And little more than a year after its foundation, Solidarity had grown into a nationwide movement with 10 million members.
The general says he declared martial law to prevent a Soviet invasion like the earlier interventions in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
He is now facing charges in connection with the crackdown.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6175517.stm

[Polak]

Some pictures from that day:
Tanks rolled on Polish streets

TV was runned by the military

Soldiers patroling streets




ZOMO taking over Solidarno¶æ building

[bookworm_020]

My congratulations to Poland, in the way you have delt with how to get your freedom. You have show many how non violent protest determination and courage can overcome gret hurdles. Your country deserves much praise.

I hope your country has the peace it deserves and freedom that it had missed out on for much of the 20th century

[Polak]

I thank you very much for your kind words bookworm_020.
Unfortunaly the way to freedom was not totally peaceful. A lot of people haven't heard about the small uprising in Poznañ in the 50'ies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozna%C5%84_1956_protests

My father who was shipyard worker and involved in the Solidarno¶æ movment has also many violent stories to tell. If anyone is interested I could write about some of them.
Once again I thank you for your words, they moved me alot, it so rare to find a westerner who knows a bit of Polish history.

[joea]

I just want to second Bookworm's comments. I still recall with amazement how brave the Polish people were in the early 80s to challenge the Communist regime after what happened in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Bless you all.

[Camaero]

I have done a lot of reading about the poles and I gotta say, they have really gotten screwed over in the past (right after WWII comes to mind..) but they never quit fighting for their freedom. From the rising in 44 to everything else, I really respect you poles.

And now to poke a little fun, I will attempt to write a sentence in Polish.

Xystehsi Zbdnsefhuwef kjabdsm, afsdkjafe adfkjbsadfkjsfg hfjkdfjadfaf!

Care to translate Polak?

[Abraham]

Originally Posted by joea

I just want to second Bookworm's comments. I still recall with amazement how brave the Polish people were in the early 80s to challenge the Communist regime after what happened in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Bless you all.

I couldn't agree more...

[Polak]

I thank you all for your nice comments.

Originally Posted by Camaero

I have done a lot of reading about the poles and I gotta say, they have really gotten screwed over in the past (right after WWII comes to mind..) but they never quit fighting for their freedom. From the rising in 44 to everything else, I really respect you poles.

And now to poke a little fun, I will attempt to write a sentence in Polish.

Xystehsi Zbdnsefhuwef kjabdsm, afsdkjafe adfkjbsadfkjsfg hfjkdfjadfaf!

Care to translate Polak?

Then you are also familiar with our not to bright pre-war history, Poland did not exist for over 100 years, we enjoyed 19 years of idependece before we lost it again. As I see it we regained our independece in 1989 again, that's 18 years now, I hope it lasts longer this time.
And sorry mate, I did not understand anything of the sentence.

Originally Posted by Abraham

I couldn't agree more...

Abraham, I am glad to see that you are back.







Some more Pictures:

Typical butchers shop from that time(You needed ration cards to buy anything. There was also a big shortage of toiletpaper, people could stand in lines that where over 100 meters long to get some toiletpaper):


An other picture of the communist militia in action:


Well know photo of the "Moscow" cinema, the movie that they where playing was Apocalypse Now:

[Abraham]

Originally Posted by Polak

I thank you all for your nice comments.

Abraham, I am glad to see that you are back.

Thanks, and I really have a deep admiration for the way the brave Poles started the downfal of Communism.
In the end it helped all of Europe to become a better place...

[tycho102]

I went through Poland in spring of 1985. Strangely enough, the color photos seem more foreign to me than the black and white. The third B&W picture is about what I remember -- literally.

I haven't been back since, but I hear more of the country is in color these days. I'm glad.

[bookworm_020]

Originally Posted by Polak

I thank you very much for your kind words bookworm_020.
Unfortunaly the way to freedom was not totally peaceful. A lot of people haven't heard about the small uprising in Poznañ in the 50'ies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozna%C5%84_1956_protests

My father who was shipyard worker and involved in the Solidarno¶æ movment has also many violent stories to tell. If anyone is interested I could write about some of them.
Once again I thank you for your words, they moved me alot, it so rare to find a westerner who knows a bit of Polish history.

I knew there was violence, but the polish people in general used peaceful protest to get the freedom they wanted.

I'm a librarian with a love of history, and I stumbled across some books and references to it, so I did some research. It came about when I read about the bloody encounter between the Soviet Union and Hungry water polo match at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
There was mention of other uprisings over time so I did some study and asked my parents about it (they had traveled through the Soviet Union in the early 70's on the way to England, plus they were school teachers)

[Polak]

Ah, the famous water polo match, I am a former water polo player so I've read my share about the game too.

Some people today in Poland argue that it is a good thing that General Jaruzelski declared martial law or as we call it "state of war" in Poland. They claim that the Soviets would have responded with their military to calm down the protesters, then the demononstrations would have been far from peacful, with a Soviet intervention the demonstrations would most certanly escalate to a second "Hungarian Revolution" or a sequel to the event in the 50'ies in Poznañ.

@tycho102
You should visit Poland again, the country is much more colorful today.