Anna Walentynowicz (; ; 15 August 1929 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish trade unionist and co-founder of

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

, the first recognised independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc. Her firing from her job at the

Lenin Shipyard Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

in August 1980 was the event that ignited the

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

at the shipyard, set off a wave of strikes across

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, and quickly paralyzed the Baltic coast. The Interfactory Strike Committee (MKS) based in the Gdańsk shipyard eventually transformed itself into Solidarity; by September, more than one million workers were on strike in support of the 21 demands of MKS, making it the largest strike ever. Walentynowicz's arrest became an organizing slogan (Bring Anna Walentynowicz Back to Work!) in the early days of the Gdańsk strike. She is referred to by some as the "mother of independent Poland." She was among the dignitaries killed in the

2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing List of casualties of the Smolensk air disaster, all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president ...

near

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, which also claimed the lives of

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

, the

President of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...

and his wife, and the senior commanders of the

Polish Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (, ; abbreviated SZ RP), also called the Polish Armed Forces and popularly called in Poland (, roughly "the Polish Military"—abbreviated ''WP''), are the national Military, armed forces of the Poland, ...

. In 2006, she was awarded Poland's highest honour, the Order of the White Eagle. In 2020, ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine included her on the list of ''100 Women of the Year'' who influenced the world over the last 100 years.

Early life and career

Walentynowicz was born in 1929 in the village of Sinne, Poland (today Sadove, Ukraine) in

Rivne oblast Rivne Oblast (), also referred to as Rivnenshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Rivne. The surface area of the region is . Its population is: Before its annexation by the ...

, as Anna Lubczyk, to a family of Ukrainian Shtundists. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

at the age of ten she began to work as a maid. Later, after the war, she migrated into Poland. Walentynowicz began working in the

in 1950, first as a

welder A welder is a person or equipment that fuses materials together. The term welder refers to the operator, the machine is referred to as the welding power supply. The materials to be joined can be metals (such as steel, aluminum, brass, stainles ...

, later as a crane operator. Recognized as a "Hero of Socialist Labor" or

Stakhanovite The Stakhanovite movement was a Mass movement (politics), mass cultural movement for Workforce, workers established by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Communist Party in the 1930s Soviet Union. Its promoters encouraged Rationalization (e ...

for her hard work, Walentynowicz became disillusioned with the communist system in Poland, especially after the bloody events in December 1970 on the Baltic Coast. While she was an activist and a member of a socialist youth organization, she was never formally a member of the communist party. Anna was a devout Catholic, who believed in

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

and standing up against oppression, and who became deeply moved in her later years by the teachings of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, with whom she developed a personal relationship. One of the last letters which John Paul II wrote was to Anna Walentynowicz wishing her speedy recovery from a back injury. Anna began her quest for justice by speaking out publicly when one of her supervisors stole money from the workers' bonus fund to play the lottery. Instead of reprimanding the corrupt supervisor, the system turned on her—she was harassed by secret police. The 'exemplary worker' and 'Hero of Socialist Labor' had become a vocal dissident.

Trade union activism

Walentynowicz joined the newly formed WZZ or Free Trade Unions of the Coast in 1978, and in the early 1980s came to symbolize the opposition movement, along with her colleagues from the WZZ,

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

, Andrzej Gwiazda, Bogdan Borusewicz, Alina Pienkowska, Bogdan Lis, the Wyszkowski brothers and Andrzej Kołodziej. As editor of the Polish

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

(''bibuła'') '' Robotnik Wybrzeża'' (''The Coastal Worker''), she distributed an underground newsheet at the shipyard; she often challenged the authorities, it was not uncommon for her to openly challenge her superiors.

Firing, and birth of Solidarity

For participation in the illegal

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, Walentynowicz was fired by the shipyard on 7 August 1980, 5 months prior to her plan to retire. This management decision enraged the workers, who staged a

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Working class, work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Str ...

on 14 August, defending Anna Walentynowicz, and demanding her return. In early coverage of the Gdańsk strike by Western press (which was permitted into the shipyard), Anna Walentynowicz is mentioned earlier than Lech Wałęsa. She also headed the list of the strike committee of the Gdańsk shipyard typed by Lech Wałęsa. On the third day of the strike, 16 August 1980, management granted Lenin Shipyard workers their working and pay demands. Lech Wałęsa and others announced the end of the strike. The women of the shipyard, Anna Waletynowicz and Alina Pienkowska, are credited in most eyewitness accounts for transforming a strike over bread and butter issues into a solidarity strike in solidarity with other striking establishments. Walentynowicz and Pienkowska managed to close the gates of the shipyard and keep some workers inside, but many workers went home, only to return by the next day. Wałęsa was stopped near the Gate no° 1 as he was leaving, and was persuaded to change his plans and return to the shipyard. The

Gdańsk Agreement The August Agreements () was a set of four accords reached between the government of the Polish People's Republic and the Strike action, striking shipyard workers in Poland. The accord, signed in late August 1980 by government representative Miecz ...

was signed on 31 August 1980, recognizing the right to organize free trade unions independent of the Party for the first time in the Communist bloc. When the

trade union was registered shortly after the Gdańsk Agreement, it had nearly ten million members, the world's largest union to date. Walentynowicz said:

Our aim should not be to secure a somewhat thicker slice of bread today, even if this would make us happy; we must not forget what our real aim is. Our main duty is to consider the needs of others. If we become alive to this duty, there will be no unjustly treated people in our midst, and we, in turn, shall not be treated unjustly. Our day-to-day motto should be: "Your problems are also my problems." We must extend our friendship and strengthen our solidarity.

Anna Walentynowicz was a member of the Presidium of MKS. After the strike, she became a member of the Presidium of Inter-Institute Founding Committee (''MKZ – Międzyzakładowy Komitet Założycielski'') of NSZZ Solidarity in Gdańsk. On 1 April 1981 the Presidium of the Lenin Shipyard Institute Commission (''KZ – Komisja Zakładowa'') of NSZZ Solidarity 'recalled' her from the Presidium of MKZ on trumped up accusations (inciting strike action, collecting signatures for a vote of no-confidence in Wałęsa, misrepresenting her constituents, and acting in a manner detrimental to the union). As a commission of inquiry determined, not only were all of these charges false, but the KZ Presidium had no jurisdictional right to remove Walentynowicz from her MKZ position. However, a number of Solidarity departmental cells in the shipyard promptly issued statements in support of the KZ Presidium's action. It was done in ignorance of the facts of the case, and in contradiction of the union's own statutes. There were no consultations with the rank-and-file as well.

Europe-Asia Studies ''Europe-Asia Studies'' is an academic peer-reviewed journal published 10 times a year by Routledge on behalf of the Institute of Central and East European Studies, University of Glasgow, and continuing (since vol. 45, 1993) the journal ''Soviet S ...

journal noted, "The case stood as an alarming example of how Solidarity's new activists were instantly ready not only to support each other in any dramatic new initiative but also to believe the worst about one of the First Wave strike leaders. That such a situation would arise concerning Walentynowicz, the very person for whose reinstatement at the Lenin Shipyard was the main point on which the strike originally began, goes beyond mere irony. It demonstrates just how much the movement had changed in under a year, and moreover, just how far apart were the new activists from the old strike leaders-and from the union's rank-and-file." The case against Walentynowicz in the KZ disciplinary commission was led by Jerzy Borowczak, a close associate of Wałęsa. PZPR was also involved in lobbying against Walentynowicz in this affair, with Jan Łabędzki, first Secretary of PZPR inside the Lenin Shipyard announcing publicly that Walentynowicz... destroys the unity of NSZZ Solidarity. In October 1981, during a meeting with workers in Radom, two officers of the security police—in collaboration with the secret cooperant (TW) Karol—attempted to poison her. She was acknowledged as the Woman of the Year in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

was declared in December 1981 and Solidarity was fragmented. The clique around Wałęsa assumed power as a Temporary Coordinating Committee. With western support held on, they abandoned the ideals of 1980.

Disagreements with Wałęsa

In September 1986,

created the first public and legal Solidarity structure since the declaration of martial law, the Temporary Council of NSZZ Solidarity (''Tymczasowa Rada NSZZ Solidarność''), with Bogdan Borusewicz,

Zbigniew Bujak Zbigniew Bujak (born 29 November 1954) is a former Polish activist and anti-Communist dissident. Biography Bujak was an electrician and foreman in 1980 at the Ursus Tractor Factory, Ursus tractor factory near Warsaw, Poland. He became engage ...

, Władysław Frasyniuk, Tadeusz Jedynak, Bogdan Lis, Janusz Pałubicki, and Józef Pinior. In October 1987, the Country Executive Committee of NSZZ Solidarity (''Krajowa Komisja Wykonawcza NSZZ Solidarność'') was created by Lech Wałęsa (chairman), Zbigniew Bujak, Jerzy Dłużniewski, Władysław Frasyniuk, Stefan Jurczak, Bogdan Lis, Andrzej Milczanowski, Janusz Pałubicki, Stanisław Węglarz. Walentynowicz was critical about the development of Solidarity:

This distance between Solidarity and the workers is the major reason for my disagreement with Wałęsa. The Temporary Committee of Solidarity is something new. It is structured too much like the PZPR. They have privileges so the ideas of Solidarity have been dropped. During the seven years since martial law there have been no meetings with workers. They meet amongst themselves, on whose behalf? In 1986 it was a surprise that such people as Bujak and Borusewicz instead of calling a National Commission nominated themselves. The opposition surprised even the Government. At this moment they broke the statutes. In the fall of 1987 Solidarity members, including myself, during the pilgrimage to
Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...
sent a petition to Wałęsa to call a National Commission meeting. But Wałęsa wouldn’t accept it. So there have been no meetings, except amongst themselves.

From 14 to 16 December 1981 Walentynowicz was a co-organizer of the strike in the Lenin Shipyard and after its pacification she was detained. On 18 December 1981 she was interned in Bydgoszcz-Fordon and Gołdap and released in July 1982, but was again arrested and held from August 1982 (prisons in Gdańsk, Mokotów and

Grudziądz Grudziądz (, ) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its province. Grudziądz is one of the oldest citie ...

) to March 1983 and from December 1983 to April 1984 (

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, Lubliniec,

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian language, Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital. It is one ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

). In total she spent 19 months in jail. Walentynowicz criticized Wałęsa for taking too much individual credit, and not sufficiently acknowledging that the Solidarity union triumph was a group effort involving millions, saying that his "cult of personality" greatly damaged the movement. It is well documented the Wałęsa-inspired effort to cleanse the informant "Bolek" file during his presidency dealt a serious blow to

lustration Lustration in Central and Eastern Europe is the official public procedure of scrutinizing a public official or a candidate for public office in terms of their history as a witting confidential collaborator (informant) of relevant former commun ...

efforts in Poland. She denounced Wałęsa's conduct in her book ''Cień przyszłości'' (The Shadow of the Future) published in Poland in 1993 (the book was published in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 2012 as ''Solidarność – eine persönliche Geschichte'')."Cień przyszłości" by Anna Walentynowicz "Solidarność – eine persönliche Geschichte" by Anna Walentynowicz and publisher's description

/ref> French journalist Jean-Marcel Bouguereau, who witnessed the events in Poland in 1980 and was expelled twice, wrote one of the first articles critical about Wałęsa in

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

. Bouguereau's article was titled Walentynowicz "The real heroine of Gdańsk". She talked about her expectations in an interview in 1985:

We must not wait passively. A free Poland is our aim, but no one will give us that freedom. Our passivity will result in their murdering more and more of us, in more and more people suffering. We must educate, because even when a free Poland is achieved, the nation will be so exhausted that there will be no one to lead it.

After the fall of Communism

While remaining active and outspoken after 1989, Walentynowicz distanced herself from various

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

allied with the new Solidarity. She felt the new Solidarity elites abandoned the workers and ordinary people, not living up to the core Solidarity values of social justice. She felt that Solidarity had been co-opted by self-interested individuals who reneged on their promises. Walentynowicz avoided anniversary celebrations organised by the new Solidarity. In 1995, she wrote an open letter to Wałęsa. In 2000, she declined an

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

of the city of

. During the strike at the docks in Gdynia in February 2002 she said:

The 21 demands that we put up in 1980 are still relevant. Nothing was fulfilled. People still have to struggle to be treated with dignity. That's scandalous.

In 2003, she asked for compensation from the government for her 1980s persecution, eventually receiving part of the sum. Walentynowicz mostly donated all which she had to those who needed help. On 15 November 2004, Anna, along with other former strikers of 1980 activists from the first Solidarity and former political prisoners—an open letter prepared by Andrzej Gwiazda to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

about the development of Solidarity. The European Parliament took note of the open letter in a motion for a resolution in 2005, deploring the fact that the new Solidarity, created in 1989, did not pursue the aims of the first Solidarity. Walentynowicz was vocal pointing bad conduct of the

Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...

political party in Poland. On 11 December 2009 she organized in the Polish

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

the conference "Poland after XX years 1989–2009". On 13 December 2005, Walentynowicz accepted the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom in Washington on behalf of the first free trade union Solidarity and was personally honored along with

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

and General Edward Rowny, Chief US Nuclear Arms Control Negotiator with the Soviets. The columnist Georgie Anne Geyer called her the

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...

of Solidarity and in the column, compared her to the likes of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

and

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

. During her visit she met with vice president Linda Chavez Thompson and other leaders of

AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

. ''Wer ist Anna Walentynowicz?'' ("Who is Anna Walentynowicz?", directed by Sylke Rene Meyer, 2002, winner of the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award), ''Musimy się na nowo policzyć'' ("We Have to Count Ourselves Anew", directed by Grzegorz W. Tomczak, 2014), ''Podwójne dno'' ("Double Bottom", directed by Dariusz Małecki, 1994), ''Anna Proletariuszka'' ("Anna Proletarian", directed by Marek Ciecierski and Sławomir Grunberg, 1980/81) and ''Robotnicy '80'' ("Workers '80", 1980) are documentary films in which she is portrayed. Anna Walentynowicz is played by Frances Cox in Leslie Woodhead's

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

''Strike: The Birth of Solidarity'' (1981). She appeared as herself in '' Man of Iron'' (1981), prompting some to call her "woman of iron." She was critical about the Schlöndorff's movie ''

Strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

''.

Death

Walentynowicz died in a plane crash near Smolensk on 10 April 2010, along with President

, First Lady Maria Kaczyńska, and many other prominent Polish leaders, while en route to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

."Anna Walentynowicz, whose sacking led to the rise of Solidarity"
. ''The Guardian''. A plaque on her house in Wrzeszcz, a borough of Gdańsk, has recently been dedicated and the city of Gdynia named an intersection after her. Michael Szporer, Professor of Communications at University of Maryland wrote about her: "Her life was very much like Poland's, never nothing, but if you are not afraid to speak up for yourself and care for others, just look what you can become, ''Pani Ania'', a worthier role model than most, because an honest one. Our caring and protective mother!" Exhumation in 2012 revealed that a different person – Teresa Walewska-Przyjałkowska – was buried in Anna Walentynowicz's grave. Upon the discovery, the bodies were reburied in the correct graves. In 2015, a trial began over attempted poisoning of Anna Walentynowicz in 1981.

Remembrance

In 2011, a commemorative plaque dedicated to Anna Walentynowicz was unveiled in the city of

. It was designed by artist Sławoj Ostrowski. In 2013, the Anna Walentynowicz Square was ceremonially opened in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

in order to commemorate her role in bringing an end to communism in Poland. In 2015, a statue of Walentynowicz was unveiled at the Pantheon of National Heroes of the Cemetery of the Fallen at the Battle of Warsaw in Ossów. In December 2015, the main room (''The Column Room'') in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland was named after Anna Walentynowicz. In 2017, a street in

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

was renamed from General Berling to Anna Walentynowicz. A street bearing her name was also established in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

. In 2018, the

passed a resolution establishing 2019 as the "Year of Anna Walentynowicz". On 12 October 2020, President of Poland

Andrzej Duda Andrzej Sebastian Duda (born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as the sixth president of Poland since 2015. Before becoming president, he served as a Member of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014 and before becoming Member of ...

officially unveiled a monument dedicated to Walentynowicz in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine, and said that she is "a symbol of the Solidarity movement, a woman who, among all the men who were there at that time, was an element contributing to the female way of thinking about Poland and Polish affairs".

Quotes

:From a brochure handed out to workers in Lenin Shipyard on 14 August 1980:

Bibliography

Works currently unavailable in English

* '' The Shadow of the Future'' (''Cień przyszłości'') (1993)

References

External links

''Who is Anna Walentynowicz?''
a documentary film by Sylke Rene Meyer (2002) ** **
''Give Us Back Anna Walentynowicz''
2014

13 May 2014 * ttp://www.logtv.com/films/anna/ ''Anna Proletarian'' short bio
''Don't Wait for Instructions: An Interview with Anna Walentynowicz''
, in the underground publication ''Biuletyn Dolnośląski'', no. 1 (59), January 1985 **
Interview with Anna Walentynowicz on the situation in Poland
August 1988
Interview with Janusz Walentynowicz
Anna Walentynowicz's son, January 25, 2012 **
''Musimy się na nowo policzyć''
a documentary film by Grzegorz W. Tomczak (2014)
Statement of the conference ''Polska po XX latach 1989–2009'' (Poland after XX years 1989–2009) organized by Anna Walentynowicz
December 11, 2009, in the

**
An Open Letter to the European Parliament
about the development of Solidarity, signed by Anna Walentynowicz, 2004
Motion for a resolution (taking note of the open letter)
2005

written by Anna Walentynowicz, September 25, 1995

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, August 21, 1980
''Firing of politically active worker set off Polish crisis''

The Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the ''Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

, August 21, 1980
''Robotnik Wybrzeża'' (The Coastal Worker)
issues of the Free Trade Unions of the Coast underground newspaper of which Walentynowicz was an editor
''Szczera dyskusja nad antrykotem''
Walentynowicz's first article in the underground newspaper ''Robotnik'' (The Worker), 1979, no. 38–39, p. 4
Website dedicated to Anna Walentynowicz
includes text of her book in Polish
''„Anna Solidarność". Anna Walentynowicz (1929–2010)''
article by Sławomir Cenckiewicz, ''Biuletyn IPN'', no. 9–10 (118–119), September–October 2010
Exhibition ''Anna Walentynowicz. Legenda „Solidarności" 1929–2010''
**
Solidarnosc – re-creating a legacy
article has a selection of information related to Anna

an

Anna Walentynowicz accepts Truman–Reagan Medal of Freedom * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walentynowicz, Anna 1929 births 2010 deaths Solidarity (Polish trade union) activists Workers' rights activists Polish trade unionists Crane operators 20th-century Polish journalists 21st-century Polish journalists 21st-century women journalists Polish women journalists Victims of the Smolensk air disaster Polish Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics People from Rivne Oblast People from Wołyń Voivodeship (1921–1939) Polish dissidents Recipients of Cross of Freedom and Solidarity Polish people of Ukrainian descent Converts to Roman Catholicism from Baptist denominations Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) 20th-century Polish women