Dec.13 marked 25 years since martial law was declared in Poland. The anniversary commemorations exposed divisions on the Polish political scene.

During the commemorations in Wrocław Dec. 13, President Lech Kaczyński said he was convinced that those responsible for declaring martial law, most notably General Wojciech Jaruzelski, should be held responsible for their actions. "I believe the individuals who contributed to martial law should not enjoy any honors," the president said.

He added that those responsible for declaring martial law could only be brought to justice if they were accused of genocide, or if it were found that the political situation under the previous postcommunist governments had made it impossible to prosecute them. Should that be the case, no statute of limitations would apply, Kaczyński said. He conceded, however, that due to the age of those concerned, they could only face "symbolic" penalties.

Kaczyński said he was in favor of settling accounts with the past, saying that Poland needed it. Kaczyński did not take part in an anniversary conference whose participants included Lech Wałęsa, the first chairman of the Solidarity trade union. Commentators say his decision to skip the conference exposed the deep divisions within the former Solidarity camp. The Kaczyński brothers used to be close allies of Wałęsa at the beginning of his term as president of Poland in 1990. Then, their political paths diverged, apparently for good.

Warning from Wałęsa
Wałęsa warned against a hasty assessment of the martial law period. "Be careful with those judgments," Wałęsa said at a conference entitled A Look at Martial Law: 25 Years Later held in Warsaw Dec. 13. "There are points in the history of Poland that require deeper consideration, and martial law is one of them."

Wałęsa, who was the honorary patron of the conference, advised caution when judging Jaruzelski and his generation, which in his opinion was a "generation of unhappy times." "Had those people been able to grow up in different times, some of them could have become heroes," Wałęsa said.

Wałęsa added that while he had still been a trade unionist talking with "the movers and shakers of this world" he had asked them whether there was any chance of "escaping the clutches of the Soviets." "Nobody thought there was," Wałęsa said.

Such opinions stemmed from an underestimation of values such as faith in God, Wałęsa said. "But then a Pole became pope," he said. "The pope captivated Poles and other nations. Our victory was that the fall of communism relied on faith."

Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz said that, despite claims to the contrary, martial law "was not an alternative to Russian intervention in Poland." At a conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the declaration of martial law, Borusewicz said documents he was familiar with indicated that Russian intervention would never have happened.

Borusewicz added that the Solidarity movement was a unique "historic phenomenon." "As I remember the events of 25 years ago, I think of the hundreds of thousands of people without whom Solidarity would not have survived, and freedom and democracy would never have prevailed," he said, adding that "the masterminds of martial law are responsible for the deaths of dozens of people."

Recognition overseas
The U.S. Senate commemorated the 25th anniversary of the imposition of martial law by recognizing Dec. 13, 2006, as a day of remembrance for the sacrifice of the Polish nation in the fight against communism. The Senate called on American citizens to remember that the struggle of the Polish nation had made a substantial contribution to the fall of communism and the end of the Cold War.


TIMELINE
Dec. 13, 1981-declaration of martial law in Poland:
• Martial law is instituted by a resolution of the Council of the State. The declaration violated the legal requirement for the resolution to be published in advance.
• Against the constitution, a military junta is established under the name of the Military Council of National Salvation (WRON).
All power in People's Poland goes to the military, headed by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski.
• Most members of the Solidarity National Committee are interned, the authorities create a chain of internment camps and issue over 10,000 internment orders.
• Telephone lines are cut.
• A curfew is imposed.
• Classes are suspended in schools and colleges.
• The publication of periodicals is suspended.


First weeks of martial law:
Dec. 14-In response to the declaration of martial law, Solidarity begins to organize strikes. The first company to start protests in Poland is the Unitra-Unitech electronic component plant in Białogard. The army surrounds the Gdańsk Shipyard.

Dec. 15-Suppression of protests at the Manifest Lipcowy Coal Mine.
Dec. 16-ZOMO (Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia) units storm the Wujek Coal Mine, nine miners are shot and killed and another 21 are injured.
Dec. 17-ZOMO units crush demonstrations in Gdańsk and Cracow. One person dies in Gdańsk and two are injured.
Dec. 20-Strike ends in Gdańsk Port.
Dec. 21-Polish Ambassador to the United States Romuald Pasowski seeks political asylum. A court martial in People's Poland sentences him to death in absentia.
Dec. 23-Suppression of protest at the Katowice Steelworks. The United States imposes economic sanctions on People's Poland.
Dec. 28-Security forces move into the Piast Coal Mine, ending the last sit-in strike. Polish Ambassador to Japan Zdzisław Rurarz seeks political asylum in the United States. A court martial in Poland sentences him to death in absentia.

Martial law was lifted on July 22, 1983. The total number of casualties is estimated at 100.