The Pacification of Wujek was a strike-breaking action by the Polish police and army at the Wujek Coal Mine in

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 ...

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 ...

, culminating in the massacre of nine striking

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

s on December 16, 1981. It was part of a large-scale action aimed to break the

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 ...

free

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 ...

after the introduction of

martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...

in 1981. Although the strike was suppressed, in a longer term, it turned out to be a milestone towards the collapse of the

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

system in Poland and, ultimately, to the collapse of the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

. It was a site of numerous protests, including by Solidarity activist

Anna Walentynowicz Anna Walentynowicz (; ; 15 August 1929 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish trade union, trade unionist and co-founder of Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity, the first recognised independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc. Her firing from he ...

who commemorated a plaque to the murdered miners shortly after she left prison at Gołdap.

Strike

Following the declaration of

on the night of 12–13 December, the chairman of Solidarity's factory commision, , was arrested alongside hundreds of other activists.

Milicja Obywatelska Milicja Obywatelska (MO; ), known as the Citizens' Militia in English, was the national police organization of the Polish People's Republic. The MO was established on 7 October 1944 by the Polish Committee of National Liberation under Chief Co ...

officers broke down the door of his apartment and assaulted the miners that attempted to rescue him. On the morning of 14 December, the miners refused to work until three stipulations were met: the release of Ludwiczak, the release of all other Solidarity activists, and the lifting of martial law. They barricaded themselves inside the mine and were given food and support by townspeople, friends, and family.

Massacre

On 15 December, a ZOMO special platoon opened fire on striking miners at the Manifest Lipcowy Coal Mine in

Jastrzębie-Zdrój Jastrzębie-Zdrój (, ) is a city in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland with 86,632 inhabitants (2021). Its name comes from the Polish words ''jastrząb'' ("hawk") and ''zdrój'' ("spa" or "spring"). From 1861 until the 20th century, it w ...

, injuring four and ending the strike. ZOMO had previously attempted to enter the mine twice, but were repelled by the miners. On December 16, three days after the introduction of the martial law in Poland, pro-Solidarity miners striking against the declaration of the

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 ...

by General

Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski ( ; ; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party ...

were dispersed by the troops of the Polish army and police. The forces used in the main thrust against the miners consisted of eight

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

( ZOMO, supported by ORMO (police reservists) and NOMO) with seven

water cannon A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining. ...

s, three companies of military

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

s (each of 10 vehicles) and one company of tanks. The miners repeatedly fought them off with their tools. During the brawl a number of strikers and 41 troops were injured, including 11 severely. A special platoon of ZOMO opened fire at the strikers with machine guns, killing nine of them (Jan Stawisiński, Joachim Gnida, Józef Czekalski, Krzysztof Giza, Ryszard Gzik, Bogusław Kopczak, Andrzej Pełka, Zbigniew Wilk and Zenon Zając) and wounding 23 others. One of the deaths took place after 20 or more days in hospital with severe head-wounds.

Aftermath

The repressions after the pacification included sentencing of three miners to jail terms of three to four years in prison. On June 1, 2007, more than two decades after the incident, 15 former members of the special platoon were sentenced to prison terms for their part in the killings. Most of them were sentenced to the terms of 2.5 to three years in prison, except their former platoon commander, Romuald Cieślak, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The court however failed to establish who sent the special platoon to Wujek (and thus acquitted the former vice-chief of communist police in Katowice, Marian Okrutny). Multiple Communist newspapers, such as ''Morning Star'' and ''l'Unità'', condemned the massacre. The

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

claimed that the Polish government was attempting to establish a "military regime". C.H. Hermansson, the former leader of the Left Party, said that Sweden should cut ties with the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parti ...

in response to their violent strike-breaking actions. As a result of the massacre, US President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

introduced sanctions against the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

. In 2015, the murdered miners were awarded the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity.

Popular culture

*The tragedy was portrayed in the 1994 feature film ''Śmierć jak kromka chleba'' (''Death like daily bread'') by Kazimierz Kutz and the 2006 graphic novel ''1981: Kopalnia Wujek''.

References

External links