Death of General Jaruzelski, last president of communist Poland

General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the last president of communist Poland, died today at age 91 as a result of stroke suffered days ago. Jaruzelski was a key figure in the recent history of Poland: for some, defended the communist regime until the last moment and ruthlessly suppressed the Solidarity movement of Lech Walesa; for others, declared martial law in 1981 – his most controversial measure – to prevent a Soviet invasion and helped lay the foundation for future democratization.

Always behind dark glasses, his image became a symbol of communist Poland. He was accused of having ordered firing in 1970 when he was defense minister, against the workers of the shipyard in Gdansk who rebelled against the regime, in a process similar to that lived Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 movement. Repression caused 44 dead and dozens injured. Jaruzelski always denied involvement in these events, by which he was tried in Poland earlier this century. He never convicted.

Attempting to be tried for imposing martial law was stopped by Polish judges who ensured that Parliament exonerated him in 1996. During martial law, which lasted until 1983, dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds of activists, them Walesa himself, were imprisoned.

In an interview with this newspaper in April 2005, Jaruzelski was asked if he regretted having imposed martial law. “It was a very difficult and painful decision, but no regrets,” he said. ” The alternative would have been a great tragedy. And do not know if that decision would have been possible after the rise of [ Mikhail ] Gorbachev in the USSR and the events that unfolded. ‘ll Remember him, quoting from memory, he said Brezhnev on March 1, 1982: “If the Polish Communists had not put a dam at the counter if they had not stopped their opponents had put in great danger the continent’s destiny and Poland.” In other words, Jaruzelski held that martial law prevented a Soviet invasion, such as Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.

As president of Poland in 1989, he accepted the legalization of Solidarity Trade Union and elections, partly free, which ended the Communist monopoly of power and, ultimately, with the regime.

Born in July 1923 in Silesia, its history largely summarizes the tragedy of the twentieth century in Poland, first as an actor and then as a protagonist. He was deported with his family as a result of the Soviet invasion of part of Poland after the non-aggression pact between Hitler and Stalin. His father died in Siberia and he was sentenced to hard labor, but, after the Nazi invasion of the USSR, was part of the Polish units of the Red Army and participated in the Battle of Berlin in 1945.

He held various positions, first in the Army and then in communist nomenclature from the sixties to the end of the regime. He served as defense minister in 1968 and was part of the top leadership of communist Poland, was prime minister from 1981 to 1985, president of the Council of State, 1985 and 1989, and president from 1989 to 1990.

” That could leave behind Poland ‘s martial law was quietly thanks in part to the Pope and his call for restraint,” he said in the same interview, on the occasion of the death of Pope John Paul II. “After played a huge role in the historical transformations since 1990, but to speak of the pope as the person who made ??the fall of communism is a gross simplification His seed fell on fertile land. Was a process that the Pope supported and contributed to advance. “

Jaruzelski remained in hospital in Warsaw from May 11 after the deterioration in his health. It was another president, Aleksander Kwasniewski socialist, who told reporters the death of the veteran, reports EFE.

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Posted by Maleeha Tareen on May 27 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.