Poland’s leading prelate recalls 40th anniversary of declaration of martial law
December 15, 2021
» Continue to this story on Polish Bishops' Conference
CWN Editor's Note: In December 1981, Poland’s Communist government declared martial law to crack down on protests associated with the Solidarity trade union.
Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan, president of the bishops’ conference, “emphasized that the imposition of martial law resulted in the death of about 100 people and the internment of 11,000 opposition activists, and one million people forced to emigrate,” according to the bishops’ conference.
“The reaction of St. John Paul II was unambiguous,” the statement continued. “The Pope emphasized the world’s solidarity with Poles and ‘inalienable human rights and the rights of the nation’; he also carried out diplomatic activities, demanding the lifting of martial law, respecting human rights and solving difficult issues through the method of dialogue.”
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