# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/wojciech-jaruzelski
# Generated: 2026-08-15T04:19:03.989Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/wojciech-jaruzelski"
name: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
slug: "wojciech-jaruzelski"
description: "The general in dark glasses who imposed martial law to crush Solidarity, then negotiated the deal that ended Communist rule in Poland. He claimed he forestalled a Soviet invasion; his critics saw a collaborator who jailed thousands to preserve party control."
tagline: "Polish military and political official, leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 to 1989"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Gen._Wojciech_Jaruzelski_13_grudnia_1981.JPG"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1923-07-06"
deathDate: "2014-05-25"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           66.7
  momentum:             10.57935711897598
  historical:           25.5948
  currentAttention:     30
  sourceConfidence:     70
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0419018/"
    handle:    "nm0419018"
  - platform:  "WEBSITE"
    url:       "http://www.wojciech-jaruzelski.pl/"
sources:
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    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
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    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Wojciech%20Jaruzelski"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
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    title: "فويتشخ ياروزلسكي"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%AE_%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%83%D9%89"
    title: "فويتشخ ياروزلسكى"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voy%C3%A7ex_Yaruzelski"
    title: "Voyçex Yaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%B9%D1%86%D0%B5%D1%85_%D0%AF%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B7%D1%8D%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%96"
    title: "Войцех Ярузэльскі"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%B9%D1%86%D0%B5%D1%85_%D0%AF%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%96"
    title: "Войцех Ярузельскі"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%B9%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%85_%D0%AF%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "বয়সিয়েছ জারুজেলস্কি"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%92%CF%8C%CE%B9%CF%84%CF%83%CE%B5%CF%87_%CE%93%CE%B9%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%B6%CE%AD%CE%BB%CF%83%CE%BA%CE%B9"
    title: "Βόιτσεχ Γιαρουζέλσκι"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wojciech Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Witold_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%88%DB%8C%DA%86%DB%8C%D8%AE_%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%84%D8%B3%DA%A9%DB%8C"
    title: "وویچیخ یاروزلسکی"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://eo.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://pt.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://www.discogs.com/artist/1665269"
    title: "Discogs"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born to Polish nobility in Kurów, Jaruzelski was deported to Siberia by the NKVD after the invasion of Poland, assigned to forced labour that left him with photokeratitis and lifelong dependence on protective sunglasses. In 1943 he joined the First Polish Army and fought alongside the Soviets through the liberation of Warsaw and the Battle of Berlin, rising to Polish Minister of Defence by 1968. He became First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party in 1981, inheriting an economy shredded by foreign debt, rationing, and strikes — and a Solidarity union the Soviets viewed as a mortal threat to the Warsaw Pact. When Moscow, mired in Afghanistan, refused a joint operation, Jaruzelski imposed martial law on 13 December 1981, crushing opposition through curfew, travel restrictions, and mass imprisonment until 22 July 1983. By 1988, with the party's legitimacy collapsed and Solidarity resurgent, he opened negotiations that led to the Polish Round Table Talks and the semi-free election of 4 June 1989 — a Solidarity landslide that set the dominoes falling across the Eastern Bloc. He retired in 1990 after Lech Wałęsa won the first popularly elected presidency, lea