sadieann: Thanks, Pawian. Excellent. Not all Westerners are illiterate in historical Communism and the effects it had on Poland.
Specially for you, the next part of Polish anti-communist defiance.
On 13 December 1981 General Jaruzelski, backed by the communist regular police, secret police, the army and party leaders and members, introduced the martial law in order to suppress Solidarity and crush the nation`s aspirations for more soveignty and independence in the communist block.
The martial law had been prepared for months. The date of 13 December wasn`t chosen by pure accident. Firstly, the regime was ready to strike. Secondly, on 15 December, a lot of drafted soldiers were to go home after a 2 year service in the army. The leave of experienced soldiers would substantially diminish the army`s capacity to introduce the martial law. Thirdly, desperate Solidarity planned mass demonstrations and strikes on 17 December. Solidarity leaders had been getting impatient with the regime`s reluctance to reach a serious compromise, that`s why some of them became radical hawks and openly called for showdown with the regime. The regime seemed weak in comparison with powerful Solidarity which boasted of having 10 million members, while the party had 2 million, continually abandoning the ship. Solidarity leaders and common people thought it was enough to press harder and the regime would collapse. Events soon proved how wrong they were.
The regime managed to keep their plans secret. There were a few leaks from befriended policemen but nobody knew anything for sure at lower levels of the forces, that is why their vague warnings were ignored. Some people reported the discreet movement of troops in the country, but that was ignored too.
The regime attacked on many fronts on the night of 13 December. The most important actions and regulations:
1. They cut off phone lines in the whole country to reduce the possibility of Solidarity members warning each other. Phones didn`t wirk for about two months (?). Nobody estimated how many seriously ill people died because the ambulance service didn`t get to them on time.
2. All radio and TV programmmes stopped. At 6 am there was a speech by General Jaruzelski, repeated for many hours, intertwined with classical music and war marches. Of course, there was the news in the evening, the speakers were wearing military uniforms without ranks.
3. About 3 thousand people were arrested and sent to detention centers. It was called the internment. They were dragged out of their beds by police teams, often after breaking the door. Altogether about 10 thousand people were interned during the martial law. Not only Solidarity leaders, also celebrity people who where suspected of being in opposition to the regime, e.g., artists and writers. Most of the latter ones were soon released but interning them was a very bad publicity for the regime anyway.
4. Heavy armoured vehicles appeared on the streets of major cities. Tanks, personnel carriers and trucks, next to them armed soldiers and militiamen. They blocked the roads, checked people`s papers, ransacked cars.
5. Military commissars i.e. army officers, were appointed as directors or managers to factories, ministries, offices, organizations etc.
6. All independent trade unions, both worker and peasant, were made illegal. Some organizations, e.g. The Union of Polish Journalists (it had gotten too independent before) and PenClub were dissolved. Only two government papers were allowed for publication.
7. Factories had to adopt the military style of work - heavy punishments awaited those who committed the slightest offence. Going on strike and showing disobedience to martial law regulations was a major offence.
8. Travels to other cities or countries were halted, all those waiting at Okêcie Airport were turned back. To travel to another city you had to have a pass.
9. Schools broke up for two months.
10. The censorship was imposed on mail. Envelopes were opened and letters were looked through.
The declaration of martial law:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG4SbX26G60
Broadcast of Wojciech Jaruzelski declaring martial law (December 13, 1981)
Probably the most famous photo of the martial law, full of symbolic messages. The armoured vehicle is standing in front of the "Moscow" cinema. The film on is "Apocalypse Now" by Francis Coppola. The photo was taken by a foreign reporter.
Those men introduced the martial law. WRON - The Military Council of National Rescue.
The TV news presenters wore military uniforms.
General Jaruzelski pays a visit to soldiers on a patrol.
Streets looked like in a sieged city
ofertaforum.onyx.pl/324pm2vx/powiekszenia/11967FF.JPG
ofertaforum.onyx.pl/324pm2vx/powiekszenia/NICH_291106_113.JPG
The raid on one of Solidarity headquarters.
Detention
If you are interested in history, you will see a striking similarity to scenes from Czech and Slovakian cities in 1968 when Warsaw Pact troops, including Polish, invaded Czechoslovakia to stop the peaceful revolution there.
The setting and decorations are the same, the emotions too.
The question "Why are you doing this to us???" resonates both in Prague and Warsaw.
Prague 1968
Poland 1981
Flowers in barrels
Workers decided to barricade themselves in their mines, factories and steel plants. One by one these sites were attacked and taken by the regime forces. The army sent tanks to break through defences, the police beat and arrested workers.
A truck barricading the entrance to a factory.
Pacification tank unit
Blockade
Before the attack
Workers forged primitive weapons.
The greatest tragedy happened in Wujek coal mine in the industrial region od Silesia. Workers got very determined, they decided to defend at all cost. They armed themselves with metal bars, clubs, stones and bricks, slings and metal bolts. After the tanks crushed the gate, a regular battle started. It was a hand-to-hand fight lasting for a few hours, during which miners overpowered a tank and defended themselves very gallantly. Eventually, the special police unit started shooting, 7 defenders were killed on the spot, two died in hospital, about 20 were injured. The defence was stopped. The policemen and soldiers were so brutal they initially didn`t allow ambulances to take the wounded to hospitals.
The massacre at Wujek mine has always been seen as the symbol of workers` sacrifice for freedom and the shocking brutality of the communist regime who fought against its own peoples and was ready to kill in order to defend socialism. Defend socialism against workers.
solidarnosc.org.pl/news/2007/gru/foto/285_07.jpg
Coal wagon as a barricade.
Desperate brick thrower
First wounded
Tear gas attack. Miners are trying to barricade the hole in the fence after it has been crushed by a tank.
A miner is drinking to an overpowered tank.
The tragedy
Today`s monument
Memory
In the film Śmierć jak kromka chleba you can see the strike, battle and the massacre in Wujek mine.
Diorama visualisation of miners overpowering a tank.
Comic story
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