An inscription declaring support for the Solidarity movement that helped bring down Poland’s communist regime has been discovered during renovation work on an apartment block in the eastern city of Lublin.
A veteran of the former anti-communist opposition says that the message – which says “Solidarity is alive” (“Solidarność żyje”) and likely dates to the period of martial law in 1981-1983, when Solidarity was outlawed – is the only such find in Lublin and should be preserved for posterity.
The slogan was discovered at 20 Wajdeloty Street late last week during work to replace insulation on the building.
“After removing the sheet metal and the wool, nothing was visible yet. It was only when the walls were washed that the white paint started to come off and the inscription showed,” said Paweł Ciężki, co-owner of a building renovation company, quoted by RMF FM.
According to the regional chapter of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), a state history body, it may have been created in the 1980s, around the time of the imposition of martial law in Poland.
“It was then that such inscriptions were created to indicate that Solidarity was indeed alive,” said Robert Derewendy, director of the IPN’s Lublin branch.
It would have taken a lot of courage on the part of the author to write the message on the wall of the block, as under martial law they would face between one and a half and two and a half years in prison for such an act, added Derewendy, noting that the inscription can now show the younger generation how the communist system was fought.
He also announced the launch of a search for the author of the inscription, suggesting that clues may be found in the IPN’s archives, including documents of the communist-era security services.
“The inscription is the only such find from the time of the struggle for freedom in Lublin and should be preserved for posterity,” said Marian Król, chairman of the Central and Eastern Region of the Solidarity trade union, and who was himself a participant in the strikes of July 1980 and December 1981.
Martial law was introduced on 13 December 1981 by the communist government. Overnight, tanks and armed soldiers appeared on the streets of major Polish towns, a curfew was introduced, and borders were sealed in an attempt to counter political opposition, in particular the Solidarity movement.
Before martial law was lifted around 19 months later, thousands of people had been arrested and dozens killed during the clampdown, including nine demonstrators during a pro-Solidarity miners’ strike at Wujek coal mine in Katowice.
Main photo credit: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej Oddział w Lublinie
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
