Wojciech Jaruzelski
✓ Source-basedrisingPolish military and political official, leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 to 1989
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.
Also inDeutsch
Photos 8
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski 13 grudnia 1981.jpeg?width=1200)
00595309(Andropov&Jaruzelski)
1982 Ceausescu la Moscova la 60 de ani de la formarea URSS
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0529-029, Berlin, Tagung Warschauer Pakt, Gruppenfoto
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0529-040, Berlin, Rotes Rathaus, Besuch Staatsführer Warschauer Pakt
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0529-048, Berlin, Rotes Rathaus, Besuch Staatsführer Warschauer Pakt
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0916-030, Hubertusstock, Jaruzelski-Besuch
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1007-024, Berlin, NVA-Parade zum 40. DDR-JahrestagIn their own words 10
Poland is not situated in a territorial vacuum on some uninhabited island. Indeed, the opposite is true. It lies in the most geostrategically sensitive part of Europe.
Speech at Kansas State University (11 March 1996)
The introduction of martial law was the most dramatic decision I had ever taken. And life had treated me harshly. I experienced my country's tragedy in 1939.
Speech at Kansas State University (11 March 1996)
I had to face up to many a dangers, often looking death in the face. Later, in the decades which ensued, I often had to resolve complex dilemmas.
Speech at Kansas State University (11 March 1996)
Awards 40
In their orbit 4
Connected to Wojciech 6
Josip Broz TitoAlso won Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945
Yuri AndropovAlso won Medal "For the strengthening of friendship in arms"
Roman GiertychAlso won Silver Medal of Merit for National Defence
Georgy ZhukovAlso won Medal for Warsaw 1939-1945
Irène Joliot-CurieAlso won Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd class
Mikhail KalashnikovAlso won Jubilee Medal "65 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"About this person
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
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