The
Pacification of Wujek
was a
strike-breaking
action by the Polish police and army at the
Wujek Coal Mine
in
Katowice
,
Poland
, culminating in the massacre of nine striking
miners
on December 16, 1981.
It was part of a large-scale action aimed to break the
Solidarity
free
trade union
after the introduction of
martial law in Poland
in 1981. Although the strike was suppressed, in a longer term, it turned out to be a milestone towards the collapse of the
authoritarian
system in Poland and, ultimately, to the collapse of the
Eastern Bloc
. It was a site of numerous protests, including by Solidarity activist
Anna Walentynowicz
who commemorated a plaque to the murdered miners shortly after she left prison at
Gołdap
.
The massacre
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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
by General
Wojciech Jaruzelski
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
of
riot police
(
ZOMO
, supported by ORMO (police reservists) and NOMO) with seven
water cannons
, three companies of military
infantry fighting vehicles
(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.
In the apex of the events, a commando-type special platoon of ZOMO opened the "shoot to kill" fire at the strikers, killing nine of them (Jan Stawisi?ski, Joachim Gnida, Jozef Czekalski, Krzysztof Giza, Ryszard Gzik, Bogusław Kopczak, Andrzej Pełka, Zbigniew Wilk and Zenon Zaj?c) and wounding 21 others. One of the deaths took place after 20 or more days in hospital with severe head-wounds.
Aftermath
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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.
[1]
[2]
Most of them were sentenced to the terms of 2.5 to three years in prison, except their former platoon commander, Romuald Cie?lak, 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).
[3]
Popular culture
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- The tragedy was portrayed in the 1994 feature film
?mier? jak kromka chleba
(
Death like daily bread
) by
Kazimierz Kutz
and the 2006 graphic novel
1981: Kopalnia Wujek
.
See also
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References
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External links
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]