Lech Wałęsa

President of Poland from 1990 to 1995

"Wałęsa" redirects here. For other uses, see Wałęsa (disambiguation).

In this Slavic name, the surname is  Wałęsa, sometimes transliterated as  Walesa.

Lech Wałęsa

Wałęsa in 2019

President of Poland
In office
22 December 1990 – 22 December 1995
Prime Minister| Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki
Jan Olszewski
Waldemar Pawlak
Hanna Suchocka
Waldemar Pawlak
Józef Oleksy
Preceded by| Wojciech Jaruzelski

* * *

Ryszard Kaczorowski

(in exile)
Succeeded by| Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Personal details
Born|  (1943-09-29) 29 September 1943 (age 79)
Popowo, Poland
Other political
affiliations| Solidarity (1980–1988)
Solidarity Citizens' Committee (1988–1993)
Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms (1993–1997)
Solidarity Electoral Action (1997–2001)
Christian Democracy of the 3rd Polish Republic (1997–2001)
Spouse|

Mirosława Danuta Gołoś

(m. 1969)​

Children| 8, including Jarosław
Occupation| Electrician
Awards|

See list

Signature|

Lech Wałęsa's voice

Wałęsa following the signing of the Gdańsk Agreement
Recorded 31 August 1980

Lech Wałęsa (/ˈlɛx vəˈwɛnsə, vɑːˈlɛnsə/;[1][2] Polish: [ˈlɛɣ vaˈwɛ̃sa] (listen);[3] 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 election, Wałęsa became the first democratically elected President of Poland since 1926 and the first-ever Polish president elected by popular vote. A shipyard electrician by trade, Wałęsa became the leader of the Solidarity movement, and led a successful pro-democratic effort, which in 1989 ended Communist rule in Poland and ushered in the end of the Cold War.

While working at the Lenin Shipyard (now Gdańsk Shipyard), Wałęsa, an electrician, became a trade-union activist, for which he was persecuted by the government, placed under surveillance, fired in 1976, and arrested several times. In August 1980, he was instrumental in political negotiations that led to the ground-breaking Gdańsk Agreement between striking workers and the government. He co-founded the Solidarity trade-union, whose membership rose to over ten million.

After martial law in Poland was imposed and Solidarity was outlawed, Wałęsa was again arrested. Released from custody, he continued his activism and was prominent in the establishment of the Round Table Agreement that led to the semi-free 1989 Polish legislative election and a Solidarity-led government. He presided over Poland's transition from Marxist–Leninist state socialism into a free-market capitalist liberal democracy, but his active role in Polish politics diminished after he narrowly lost the 1995 Polish presidential election. In 1995, he established the Lech Wałęsa Institute.

Since 1980, Wałęsa has received hundreds of prizes, honors and awards from multiple countries and organizations worldwide. He was named the Time Person of the Year (1981) and one of Time's 100 most important people of the 20th century (1999). He has received over forty honorary degrees, including from Harvard University and Columbia University, as well as dozens of the highest state orders, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, and the French Grand Cross of Legion of Honour. In 1989, Wałęsa was the first foreign non-head of state to address the Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress. The Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport has borne his name since 2004.[4]

## Early life[edit]

Wałęsa was born in Popowo, Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, Germany (German-occupied Poland).[5] His father, Bolesław Wałęsa (1908–1945), was a carpenter who was rounded up and interned in a forced labour camp at Młyniec (outpost of KL Stutthof) by the German occupying forces before Lech was born.[note 1] Bolesław returned home after the war but died two months later from exhaustion and illness.[6] Lech's mother, Feliksa Wałęsa (née Kamieńska; 1916–1975),[7] has been credited with shaping her son's beliefs and tenacity.[8]

When Lech was nine, Feliksa married her brother-in-law, Stanisław Wałęsa (1916–1981), a farmer.[9] Lech had three elder full siblings; Izabela (1934–2012),[note 2] Edward (born 1937), and Stanisław (born 1939); and three younger half-brothers; Tadeusz (born 1946), Zygmunt (born 1948), and Wojciech (1951–1988).[10] In 1973, Lech's mother and stepfather emigrated to the US for economic reasons.[9] They lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, where Feliksa died in a car accident in 1975, and Stanisław died of a heart attack in 1981.[9] Both of them were buried in Poland.[10]

In 1961, Lech graduated from primary and vocational school in nearby Chalin and Lipno as a qualified electrician. He worked as a car mechanic from 1961 to 1965, and then embarked on his two-year, obligatory military service, attaining the rank of corporal before beginning work on 12 July 1967 as an electrician at Lenin Shipyard (Stocznia Gdańska im. Lenina), now called Gdańsk Shipyard (Stocznia Gdańska) in Gdańsk.[11]

## Solidarity movement[edit]

Main article: Solidarity (Polish trade union)

From early in his career, Wałęsa was interested in workers' concerns; in 1968 he encouraged shipyard colleagues to boycott official rallies that condemned recent student strikes.[12] He was a charismatic leader,[13] who helped organize the illegal 1970 protests at the Gdańsk Shipyard when workers protested the government's decree raising food prices and he was considered for the position of chairman of the strike committee.[5][12] The strikes' outcome, which involved the deaths of over 30 workers, galvanized Wałęsa's views on the need for change.[12] In June 1976, Wałęsa lost his job at the Gdańsk Shipyard because of his continued involvement in illegal unions, strikes, and a campaign to commemorate the victims of the 1970 protests.[5][12][14] Afterwards, he worked as an electrician for several other companies but his activism led to him continually being laid off and he was jobless for long periods.[12] Wałęsa and his family were under constant surveillance by the Polish secret police; his home and workplace were always bugged.[12] Over the next few years, he was arrested several times for participating in dissident activities.[5]

Wałęsa during the strike at the Lenin Shipyard, August 1980

Wałęsa worked closely with the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR), a group that emerged to lend aid to people arrested after the 1976 labor strikes and to their families.[5] In June 1978, he became an activist of the underground Free Trade Unions of the Coast (Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża).[14] On 14 August 1980, another rise in food prices led to a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, of which Wałęsa was one of the instigators. Wałęsa climbed over the shipyard fence and quickly became one of the strike leaders.[5][12] The strike inspired other similar strikes in Gdańsk, which then spread across Poland. Wałęsa headed the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee, coordinating the workers at Gdańsk and at 20 other plants in the region.[5] On 31 August, the government, represented by Mieczysław Jagielski, signed an accord (the Gdańsk Agreement) with the Strike Coordinating Committee.[5] The agreement granted the Lenin Shipyard workers the right to strike and permitted them to form an independent trade union.[15] The Strike Coordinating Committee legalized itself as the National Coordinating Committee of the Solidarność (Solidarity) Free Trade Union, and Wałęsa was chosen as chairman of the committee.[5][14] The Solidarity trade union quickly grew, ultimately claiming over 10 million members—more than a quarter of Poland's population.[16] Wałęsa's role in the strike, in the negotiations, and in the newly formed independent trade union gained him fame on the international stage.[5][12]

Wałęsa signs autographs during the strike in August 1980

On 10 March 1981, through the introduction of his former superior in the army, Wałęsa met Wojciech Jaruzelski for the first time in the office building of the Council of Ministers for three hours. During the meeting, Jaruzelski and Wałęsa agreed that mutual trust was necessary if the problems of Poland were to be solved. Wałęsa said "It's not the case that the name of socialism is bad. Only some people spoiled the name of socialism". He also complained about and criticized the government. Jaruzelski informed Wałęsa of the coming war games of the Warsaw Pact from 16 to 25 March, hoping he could help maintain the social order and avoid anti-Soviet remarks. Jaruzelski also reminded Wałęsa that Solidarity had used foreign funds. Wałęsa joked "We don't have to take only dollars. We can take corn, fertilizer, anything is okay. I told Mr. Kania before that I would take everything from the enemy. The more the better, until the enemy was weakened no more".[17] [18]

Wałęsa held his position until 13 December 1981, when General Jaruzelski declared martial law in Poland.[5] Wałęsa and many other Solidarity leaders and activists were arrested; he was incarcerated for 11 months until 14 November 1982 at Chylice, Otwock, and Arłamów; eastern towns near the Soviet border.[12][14] On 8 October 1982, Solidarity was outlawed.[19] In 1983, Wałęsa applied to return to the Gdańsk Shipyard as an electrician.[12] The same year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[5] He was unable to accept it himself, fearing Poland's government would not let him back into the country.[5][12] His wife Danuta accepted the prize on his behalf.[5][12]

Through the mid-1980s, Wałęsa continued underground Solidarity-related activities.[20] Every issue of the leading underground weekly publication Tygodnik Mazowsze bore his motto, "Solidarity will not be divided or destroyed".[21] Following a 1986 amnesty for Solidarity activists,[22] Wałęsa co-founded the Provisional Council of NSZZ Solidarity (Tymczasowa Rada NSZZ Solidarność), the first overt legal Solidarity entity since the declaration of martial law.[20] From 1987 to 1990, he organized and led the semi-illegal Provisional Executive Committee of the Solidarity Trade Union. In mid-1988, he instigated work-stoppage strikes at the Gdańsk Shipyard.[20] He was frequently hauled in for interrogations by the Polish secret police, the Security Service, during the 1980s. On many of these occasions, Danuta—who was even more anti-Communist than her husband—was known to openly taunt Security Service agents when they picked Lech up.[23]

After months of strikes and political deliberations, at the conclusion of the 10th plenary session of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR, the Polish communist party), the government agreed to enter into Round Table Negotiations that lasted from February to April 1989.[5] Wałęsa was an informal leader of the non-governmental side in the negotiations.[14] During the talks, he traveled throughout Poland giving speeches in support of the negotiations.[5] At the end of the talks, the government signed an agreement to re-establish the Solidarity Trade Union and to organize semi-free elections to the Polish parliament; in accordance with the Round Table Agreement, only members of the Communist Party and its allies could stand for 65 percent of the seats in the lower house, the Sejm.[5][16][24][25]

In December 1988, Wałęsa co-founded the Solidarity Citizens' Committee;[14] this was ostensibly an advisory body but in practice a political party that won the parliamentary elections in June 1989. Solidarity took all the seats in the Sejm that were subject to free elections, and all but one seat in the newly re-established Senate.[26] Wałęsa was one of Solidarity's most public figures; he was an active campaigner, appearing on many campaign posters, but did not run for parliament himself.[5] Solidarity winners in the Sejm elections were referred to as "Wałęsa's team" or "Lech's team" because they had all appeared on their election posters with Wałęsa.[27][28]

While ostensibly only chairman of Solidarity, Wałęsa played a key role in practical politics. In August 1989, he persuaded leaders of parties formerly allied with the Communist Party to form a non-communist coalition government—the first non-Communist government in the Soviet Bloc. The parliament elected Tadeusz Mazowiecki as the first non-communist Prime Minister of Poland in over forty years.[16]

## Presidency[edit]

President Bush meets privately with Wałęsa, November 1989

Following the June 1989 parliamentary elections, Wałęsa was disappointed that some of his former fellow campaigners were satisfied to govern alongside former Communists.[16] He decided to run for the newly re-established office of president, using the slogan, "I don't want to, but I have to" ("Nie chcę, ale muszę.").[5][16] On 9 December 1990, Wałęsa won the presidential election, defeating Prime Minister Mazowiecki and other candidates to become Poland's first freely elected head of state in 63 years, and the first non-Communist head of state in 45 years.[12] In 1993, he founded his own political party, the Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms (BBWR); the grouping's Polish-language acronym echoed that of Józef Piłsudski's "Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government," of 1928–35, likewise an ostensibly non-political organization.[29]

During his presidency, Wałęsa saw Poland through privatization and transition to a free-market economy (the Balcerowicz Plan), Poland's 1991 first completely free parliamentary elections, and a period of redefinition of the country's foreign relations.[5][13] He successfully negotiated the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Poland and won a substantial reduction in foreign debts.[12]

Wałęsa supported Poland's entry into NATO and the European Union, both of which occurred after his presidency, in 1999 and 2004, respectively.[12] In the early 1990s, he proposed the creation of a sub-regional security system called NATO bis. The concept was supported by right-wing and populist movements in Poland but garnered little support abroad; Poland's neighbors, some of which (e.g. Lithuania), had recently regained independence and tended to see the proposal as Polish neo-imperialism.[16][30]

Wałęsa has been criticized for a confrontational style and for instigating "war at the top", whereby former Solidarity allies clashed with one another, causing annual changes of government.[13][16][21][31][32] This increasingly isolated Wałęsa on the political scene.[33] As he lost political allies, he came to be surrounded by people who were viewed by the public as incompetent and disreputable.[21][33] Mudslinging during election campaigns tarnished his reputation.[5][34] Some thought Wałęsa, an ex-electrician with no higher education, was too plain-spoken and too undignified for the post of president.[13][16][35] Others thought him too erratic in his views[16][32][36] or complained he was too authoritarian and that he sought to strengthen his own power at the expense of the Sejm.[16][32][33][35] Wałęsa's national security advisor Jacek Merkel credited the shortcomings of Wałęsa's presidency to his inability to comprehend the office of the president as an institution. He was an effective union leader capable of articulating what the workers felt but as president he had difficulty delegating power or navigating bureaucracy.[37][clarification needed] Wałęsa's problems were compounded by the difficult transition to a market economy; in the long run it was seen as highly successful but it lost Wałęsa's government much popular support.[32][33][38]

Wałęsa's BBWR performed poorly in the 1993 parliamentary elections; at times his popular support dwindled to 10 percent and he narrowly lost the 1995 presidential election, winning 33.11 percent of the vote in the first round and 48.28 percent in the run-off against Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who represented the resurgent Polish post-Communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).[5][16][33] Wałęsa's fate was sealed by his poor handling of the media; in televised debates he appeared incoherent and rude; in response to Kwaśniewski's extended hand at the end of the first of the two debates, he replied that the post-Communist leader could "shake his leg".[33] After the election, Wałęsa said he was going into "political retirement" and his role in politics became increasingly marginal.[31][39][40]

## Post-presidency[edit]

After losing the 1995 election, Wałęsa announced he would return to work as an electrician at the Gdańsk Shipyard.[41] Soon afterwards, he changed his mind and chose to travel around the world on a lecture circuit.[42] Wałęsa developed a portfolio of three lectures ("The Impact of an Expanded NATO on Global Security", "Democracy: The Never-Ending Battle" and "Solidarity: The New Millennium"), and reads them at universities and public events with an appearance fee of around £50,000 ($70,000).[43][44][45]

In 1995, he founded the Lech Wałęsa Institute[46], a think tank with a mission "to popularize the achievements of Polish Solidarity, educate young generations, promote democracy, and build civil society in Poland and around the world".[46][47] In 1997, he founded a new party, Christian Democracy of the 3rd Polish Republic, hoping it would help him to successfully run in future elections.[48]

Wałęsa's contention for the 2000 presidential election ended with a crushing defeat when he polled 1.01 percent of the vote.[49][50] His humiliation was increased because Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who was re-elected in the first round with 54 percent of the vote, is a former Communist apparatchik.[49] Wałęsa polled in seventh place,[49] after which he announced his withdrawal from Polish politics.[51]

In 2006, Wałęsa quit Solidarity in protest of the union's support of the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, and Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński—twin brothers who had been prominent in Solidarity and were now serving as the country's president and prime minister, respectively.[52] The main point of disagreement was the Kaczyńskis' focus on rooting out those who had been involved in communist rule and their party's attempt to make public all the files of the former communist secret police.[52] Until then only members of the government and parliament had to declare any connection with the former security services.[53] Wałęsa and his supporters argued the so-called transparency legislation advocated by the government might turn into a witch hunt and the more than 500,000 Poles who had possibly collaborated with the communist secret police could face exposure.[53]

Wałęsa speaks at a tourism trade fair in Berlin, 2011

In 2011, Wałęsa rejected Lithuania's Order of Vytautas the Great as a result of constant discrimination on the part of the Lithuanian government towards its Polish minority.[54]

Wałęsa was well known for his conservative stance on LGBT rights. In 2013, he said on Polish television that "he doesn't wish for this minority, which he tolerates and understands, to impose itself on the majority".[55] Referring to Robert Biedroń, he argued that, considering that as they represent less than one percent of the Polish society, proportionally speaking, homosexual MPs should sit "in the last row of the parliament, or even behind its walls". After sharp international criticism, including City authorities of San Francisco's decision to rename Walesa Street as a result of those remarks, Wałęsa apologized for his comments, stressing that "being a man of old date, in his view one's sexual orientation should lie in one's intimate sphere".[56][57] He said that "his intentions were distorted by the media" and "homosexuality should be respected".[58] Over the following years, Wałęsa's views shifted, and he has voiced his support for the introduction of same-sex marriage in Poland and has repeatedly met with Biedroń, whom he called "a talent" and "a future President of Poland".[59][60][61]

In 2013, Wałęsa suggested the creation of a political union between Poland and Germany.[62]

Wałęsa speaks on VIII European Economic Forum, 2015

In 2014, in a widely publicized interview, Wałęsa expressed his disappointment in another Nobel laureate, US president Barack Obama: he told CNN, "When he was elected there was great hope in the world. We were hoping that Obama would reclaim moral leadership for America, but that failed ... in terms of politics and morality America no longer leads the world".[63] Wałęsa also accused Obama of not deserving his Nobel Peace Prize;[64] during the 2012 US presidential campaign he endorsed Obama's opponent Mitt Romney.[65] In September 2015, Wałęsa again hit the headlines after sharing his thoughts on the migrant crisis in Europe with media, saying, "watching the refugees on television, I noticed that ... they are well fed, well dressed and maybe even are richer than we are ... If Europe opens its gates, soon millions will come through and while living among us will start exercising their own customs, including beheading".[64]

In August 2017, ten Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Wałęsa, urged Saudi Arabia to stop the executions of 14 young people for participating in the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests.[66]

## Wałęsa and secret police[edit]

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Despite the 2000 ruling of a special lustration court affirming his innocence, for many years there have been allegations that Wałęsa was an informant of Security Service, the communist security services, in his twenties.[67] While vehemently denying being a regular Security Service informer, Wałęsa admitted to "signing something under interrogation in the 1970s."[68] In 2017, a handwriting study ordered by the government-controlled Institute of National Remembrance (INR), stated that signatures on several documents from the 1970s belonged to Wałęsa.[69] The exact nature of Wałęsa's relationship with Security Service to this day remains a contentious question among historians.[70][71]

The controversy resurfaced in 2008 with the publication of a book that purported to show that Wałęsa, codenamed Bolek, had been an operative for the security services from 1970 to 1976.[52]

The question resurfaced again in February 2016, when the Institute of National Remembrance seized materials from the widow of Chief of secret police gen. Czesław Kiszczak, that were said to document Wałęsa's role as a spy for the security services.[52]

### Court ruling[edit]

On 12 August 2000, Wałęsa, who was running a presidential campaign at the time, was cleared by the special Lustration Court of charges that he collaborated with the Communist-era secret services and reported on the activities of his fellow shipyard workers, due to the lack of evidence.[72] Anti-communists Piotr Naimski, one of the first members of the Workers' Defense Committee that led to the Solidarity trade union, and Antoni Macierewicz, Wałęsa's former Interior Minister, testified against him in the closed vetting trial. Naimski, who said he testified with a "heavy heart", expressed his disappointment that Wałęsa "made a mistake by not going openly to the public, and he has missed an important chance".[72] According to Naimski, the court cleared Wałęsa on "technical grounds" because it did not find certain original documents—many of which had been destroyed since 1989—that offered sufficient proof that Wałęsa was lying.[72]

In 1992, Naimski, as a head of the State Protection Office, started the process of screening people suspected of being Communist collaborators in Poland.[72] In June that year, he helped Antoni Macierewicz prepare a list of 64 members of the government and parliament who were named as spies in the police records; these included Wałęsa, then the Polish president.[72] Wałęsa's name was included on the list after a wrenching internal debate about the virtues of honesty versus political discretion.[72] In response to the publication of this list, President Wałęsa immediately engineered the fall of prime minister Jan Olszewski and the dismissal of Interior Minister Macierewicz.[73] A parliamentary committee later concluded Wałęsa had not signed an agreement with the secret police.[72]

A 1997 Polish law made vetting a requirement for those seeking high public office. According to the law, it is not a crime to have collaborated, but those who deny it and are found to have lied are banned from political life for ten years. The 2000 presidential election was the first use of this law.[72]

Despite helping Wałęsa in 2005 to receive the official status of a "victim of communist regime" from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN),[74] this court ruling did not convince many Poles.[72] In November 2009, Wałęsa sued the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, over his repeated collaboration allegations.[75] Five months later, Kaczyński failed to invite Wałęsa to the commemoration service at Katyn, which almost certainly saved Wałęsa's life because the presidential plane crashed, killing all on board.[76] In August 2010, Wałęsa lost a libel case against Krzysztof Wyszkowski, his former fellow activist, who also publicly accused Wałęsa of being a communist agent in 1970s.[77][78]

### 2008 book[edit]

The most comprehensive analysis of Wałęsa's possible collaboration with secret police was provided in a 2008 book SB a Lech Wałęsa [pl] (The Security Service and Lech Wałęsa).[79] The book was written by two historians from the Institute of National Remembrance, Sławomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk, and included documents from the archives of the secret police that were inherited by the institute.[80] Among the documents were registration cards, memos, notes from the secret police, and reports from the informant.[81][82]

The book's authors said Wałęsa, working under the code name Bolek,[note 3] was a secret police informant from 1970 (after he was released from arrest) until 1976 (before he was fired from the shipyard).[83] According to them, "he wrote reports and informed on more than 20 people and some of them were persecuted by the communist police. He identified people and eavesdropped on his colleagues at work while they were listening to Radio Free Europe for example".[84] The book describes the fate of the seven of his alleged victims; information regarding others was destroyed or stolen from the files.[80] According to them, Wałęsa received over 13,000 zlotys as remuneration for his services from the Security Service, while the monthly salary at the time was about 3,500 zlotys.[note 4][85][86] The authors said oppositionist activity in Poland in the first half of 1970s was minimal and Wałęsa's role in it was quite marginal.[82] However, according to the book, despite formally renouncing his ties with Security Service in 1976, Wałęsa went on to have contacts with communist officials.[87]

The book also said that during his 1990–1995 presidency, Wałęsa used his office to destroy the evidence of his collaboration with the secret police by removing incriminating documents from the archives.[82] According to the book, historians discovered that with the help of the state intelligence agency, Wałęsa, Interior Minister Andrzej Milczanowski, and other members of Wałęsa's administration had borrowed from the archives the secret police files that had connections to Wałęsa, and returned them with key pages removed.[80][85] When it was discovered at the turn of 1995/96, the following prosecutorial inquiry was discontinued for political reasons despite the case attracting much public attention.[77][85]

Sławomir Cenckiewicz also said that in 1983, when Wałęsa was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the secret police tried to embarrass him and leaked information about Wałęsa's previous collaboration with the government. By this time though, Wałęsa was already so popular that most Poles did not believe the official media and dismissed the allegations as a manipulation by the Communist authorities.[80] The book's first print run sold out in Poland within hours.[88][89] The book received substantial coverage in the media, provoked nationwide debate, and was noted by the international press.[90][91][92] Wałęsa vowed to sue the authors but never did.[89]

### Kiszczak archives[edit]

On 18 February 2016, the government-affiliated INR in Warsaw announced it had seized a package of original documents that allegedly proved Wałęsa was a paid Security Service informant.[93][69] The documents dated from the period 1970–1976; they were seized from the home of a recently deceased former interior minister, General Czesław Kiszczak.[94] The documents' authenticity was confirmed by an archival expert,[94][95] but the prosecutors demanded a handwriting examination.[96] Eventually, the requested examination concluded that the documents were authentic, which suggest he was a paid informant.[69] Wałęsa previously said that he had signed a commitment to inform document, but that he had never acted on it.[69]

Signature Lech Wałęsa-Bolek on the collaboration agreement with Security Service from the Kiszczak archives

The dossier consists of two folders. The first is a "personal file" containing 90 pages of documents, including a handwritten commitment to cooperate with Polish Security Service dated 21 December 1970,[97] and signed Lech Wałęsa – Bolek with a pledge he would never admit his collaboration with secret police "not even to family";[98] the file also contains the confirmations of having received funds.[93][94] The second is a "work file" which contains 279 pages of documents, including numerous reports by Bolek on his co-workers at Gdańsk Shipyard, and notes by Security Service officers from meetings with him.[93][94] According to one note, Wałęsa agreed to collaborate out of fear of persecution after the workers' protest in 1970.[97] The documents also show that at first Bolek eagerly provided information on the opinions and actions of his co-workers and took money for the information, but his enthusiasm diminished and the quality of his information decreased until he was deemed no longer valuable and collaboration with him was terminated in 1976.[97]

The sealed dossier also contained a letter, hand-written by Kiszczak in April 1996, in which he informs the Director of the Polish Central Archives of Modern Records (Archiwum Akt Nowych) about the accompanying files documenting the collaboration of Wałęsa with the Polish Security Service and asks him not to publish this information until five years after Wałęsa's death.[98] In his letter, Kiszczak said he kept the documents out of reach: before the 1989 revolution, trying to protect Wałęsa's reputation; and afterwards to make sure they did not disappear or were used for political reasons.[98] This letter and the accompanying documents had never been sent.[94]

On 16 February 2016, about three months after Kiszczak's death, his widow Maria approached the Institute of National Remembrance and offered to sell the documents to the archives for 90,000 zlotys ($23,000).[99] However, according to Polish law, all documents of the political police must be handed in to the state.[99] The administration of the institute notified the prosecutor's office, which conducted a police search of the Kiszczaks' house and seized all the historic documents.[99] Maria Kiszczak later said she had not read her husband's letter and had "made a mistake".[100]

### Wałęsa's response[edit]

For years, Wałęsa vehemently denied collaborating with the Polish Security Service and dismissed the incriminating files as forgeries created by the Security Service to compromise him.[101] Wałęsa also denies that during his presidency he removed documents incriminating him from the archives.[85] Until 2008, he denied having ever seen his Security Service file.[85] After the publication of the book SB a Lech Wałęsa in 2008, he said that while he was president "I did borrow the file, but didn't remove anything from it. I saw there were some documents there about me and that they were clearly forgeries. I told my secretaries to tape up and seal the file. I wrote 'don't open' on it. But someone didn't obey, removed the papers, now casting suspicion on me."[85][86] Wałęsa's interior minister Andrzej Milczanowski denied the cover-up and said he "had full legal rights to make those documents available to President Wałęsa" and that "no original documents were removed from the file", which contained only photocopies.[85]

Wałęsa has offered conflicting statements regarding the authenticity of the documents.[98] Initially he appeared to come close to an admission, saying in 1992, "in December 1970, I signed three or four documents"[77][102] to escape from the secret police.[98] In his 1987 autobiography A Way of Hope,[103] Wałęsa said, "It is also the truth that I had not left that clash completely pure. They gave me a condition: sign! And then I signed."[77] He denied he acted upon the collaboration agreement.[104] However, in his later years Wałęsa said all the documents are forgeries and told the BBC in 2008, "you will not find any signature of mine agreeing to collaborate anywhere".[84][93]

In 2009, after the publication of another biography connecting him with the secret police (Lech Wałęsa: Idea and History by Pawel Zyzak),[105] Wałęsa threatened to leave Poland if historians continue to question his past.[106][107] He said that before revealing such information "a historian must decide whether this serves Poland".[106] After the accusations against him resurfaced with the discovery of the Kiszczak dossier on 16 February 2016, Wałęsa called the files "lies, slander and forgeries",[108] and said he "never took money and never made any spoken or written report on anyone".[109] He said of the Polish public, which was about to believe in the allegations, "you have betrayed me, not me you"[100] and "it was I who safely led Poland to a complete victory over communism".[108] On 20 February 2016, Wałęsa wrote in his blog that a secret police officer had begged him to sign the financial documents in the 1970s because the officer had lost money entrusted to him to purchase a vehicle. Wałęsa appealed to the officer to step forward and clear him of the accusations.[110][111]

## Personal life[edit]

On 8 November 1969, Wałęsa married Mirosława Danuta Gołoś, who worked at a flower shop near the Lenin Shipyard where Wałęsa worked. Soon after they married, she began using her middle name more often than her first name, per Lech's request.[112] The couple had eight children; Bogdan (born 1970), Sławomir (born 1972), Przemysław[113] (1974–2017), Jarosław (born 1976), Magdalena (born 1979), Anna (born 1980), Maria-Wiktoria (born 1982), and Brygida (born 1985).[12][14] As of 2016[update], Anna is running her father's office in Gdańsk[64] and Jarosław is a European MP.[114]

In 2008, Wałęsa underwent a coronary artery stent placement and the implantation of a cardiac pacemaker at the Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas.[115] He underwent a heart operation in 2021.[116] In January 2022, Wałęsa tested positive for COVID-19. He said he had received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.[116]

## Honors[edit]

Main article: List of awards and honors received by Lech Wałęsa

Wałęsa receiving the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, 2011

In 1983, Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[117] Since then, he has received more than 30 state decorations and more than 50 awards from 30 countries, including Order of the Bath (UK), Order of Merit (Germany), Legion of Honour (France) and European Human Rights Prize (EU 1989).[14] In 2011, he declined to accept the Lithuanian highest order, citing his displeasure at Lithuania's policy towards the Polish diaspora.[118] In 2008, he established the Lech Wałęsa Award. [pl][47]

Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport

In 2004, Gdańsk International Airport was officially renamed Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport and Wałęsa's signature was incorporated into the airport's logo.[119][120] A college hall in Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago),[121] six streets, and five schools in Canada, France, Sweden and Poland also were named after Lech Wałęsa

Wałęsa was named Man of the Year by Time magazine (1981),[122] Financial Times (1980), Saudi Gazette (1989) and 12 other newspapers and magazines.[14] He was awarded with over 45 honorary doctorates by universities around the world,[47] including Harvard University and Sorbonne.[117] He was named an honorary karate black belt by International Traditional Karate Federation.[123] Wałęsa is also an honorary citizen of more than 30 cities, including London, Buffalo and Turin.[47]

In the United States, Wałęsa was the first recipient of the Liberty Medal, in 1989.[124] That year, he also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom[125] and became the first non-head-of-state to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress.[126] In 2000, Wałęsa received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[127] Wałęsa symbolically represented Europe by carrying the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics.[128] In 2004, he represented ten newly acceded EU countries during the official accession ceremony in Strasbourg.[47] In 1993, the heraldic authority of the Kingdom of Sweden assigned Wałęsa a personal coat of arms on the occasion of his admittance into the Royal Order of the Seraphim.[citation needed]

## Cultural references[edit]

Lech Wałęsa has been portrayed, as himself or a character based on him, in a number of feature and television films. The two most notable of them are:

* Walesa. Man of Hope (2013) is a biographical drama by Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrzej Wajda about the lives of Wałęsa (Robert Więckiewicz) and his wife Danuta (Agnieszka Grochowska) from 1970 to 1989. It shows Wałęsa's change from a shipyard worker into a charismatic labor leader. The film was shot in the historical locations of the depicted events, including the former Lenin Shipyard. It won three awards, including Silver Hugo for Robert Więckiewicz at Chicago International Film Festival and a Pasinetti Award for Maria Rosaria Omaggio at Venice Film Festival, and was nominated for five more awards.[129]

Shooting of Walesa. Man of Hope on the Solidarity Square in Gdańsk

* Man of Iron (1981) is another Andrzej Wajda film about the Solidarity movement. The main character, a young worker Maciej Tomczyk (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz) is involved in the anti-Communist labor movement. Tomczyk is clearly portrayed as a parallel to Wałęsa, who appears as himself in the movie. The film was made during the brief relaxation of censorship in Poland between the formation of Solidarity in August 1980 and its suppression in December 1981. Waida was awarded both the Palme d'Or and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival for the film. In 1982, it was nominated for Oscar as the Best Foreign Language Film and gained seven other awards and nominations.[130]

Premiere of Walesa. Man of Hope in Warsaw, 2013

Both of these films were produced in Poland. In December 1989, Warner Bros. intended to produce a "major" movie about Wałęsa, to be made in 1990 and released in 1991.[131] The company paid Wałęsa a $1 million fee for the rights to produce a biopic.[132] Although the movie was never made, this payment sparked controversy in Poland when five years later it emerged that Wałęsa concealed this income to avoid paying taxes on it.[133] The Gdańsk tax office initiated a tax fraud case against Wałęsa but it was later dismissed because the five-year statute of limitations had already run out.[134]

* Polish actor Jacek Lenartowicz played Walesa in the 2005 television miniseries Pope John Paul II.[135]

In 1982, Bono was inspired by Wałęsa to write U2's first hit single, "New Year's Day".[136] Coincidentally, the Polish authorities lifted martial law on 1 January 1983, the same day this single was released. Wałęsa also became a hero of a number of Polish pop songs, including a satirical 1991 hit titled Nie wierzcie elektrykom (Don't Trust the Electricians) from the second studio album by the punk rock band Big Cyc which featured a caricature of Wałęsa on its cover.[137]

Patrick Dailly's chamber opera Solidarity, starring Kristen Brown as Wałęsa, was premiered by the San Francisco Cabaret Opera in Berkeley, California, in September 2009.[138]

Sid Meier's Civilization V video game lists Lech Wałęsa amongst its world leader rankings. Wałęsa is ranked 11th on a scale of 1 to 21, with Augustus Caesar ranked as the best world leader of all time and Dan Quayle as the worst. Wałęsa is immediately outranked by Simon Bolivar and is ranked just above Ivan the Terrible. Lech Wałęsa ranks 9th out of 21 in Sid Meier's Civilization VI, immediately outranked by Marcus Aurelius and ranked just above Hatshepsut.[citation needed]

## Publications[edit]

* Wałęsa, Lech (1987). A Way of Hope. New-York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805006680. LCCN 87021194. OL 2391768M.
* Wałęsa, Lech (1991). Droga do wolności [Road to Freedom] (in Polish). Warsaw: Editions Spotkania. ISBN 8385195033. LCCN 92155586. OL 1293474M.
* Wałęsa, Lech (1992). The Struggle and the Triumph: An Autobiography. Translated by Philip, Franklin. New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1559701498. LCCN 91035875. OL 1555547M.
* Wałęsa, Lech (1995). Wszystko, co robię, robię dla Polski [All That I Do, I Do for Poland] (in Polish). Warsaw: Kancelaria Prezydenta RP. ISBN 8390434709. LCCN 96130042. OL 18320510M.

## See also[edit]

* History of Poland
* List of Poles
* List of Polish Nobel laureates

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ The German airfield Danzig-Langfuhr in Wrzeszcz-Gdańsk was located on the site of the former villages Młyniec and Zaspa (now neighborhoods of Gdańsk) and was serviced by prisoners of KL Stutthof forming the Außenkommando KL Stutthof – Danzig-Langfuhr. Source: "Standort Danzig". Lexikon-der-Wehrmacht.de. The airfield was heavily bombed by the Allies in 1945, but remained in use until 1974 (pl).
2. ^ Izabela Młyńska, after marriage
3. ^ Bolek was a main character of the popular children's cartoon series Bolek and Lolek, produced in Poland in 1962–1986. Wałęsa's father's name also was Bolesław (or Bolek in diminutive).
4. ^ In a book published in 2011, Wałęsa's wife Danuta said she believed the source of her husband's extra money during the 1970s was lottery winnings (Source: The Wall Street Journal).

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120. ^ "Polish MP wants referendum over airport named after Wałęsa". Radio Poland. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
121. ^ Simonette, Matt (14 April 2014). "NEIU faculty, students ask for renaming of Walesa building". Windy City Times. Chicago. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
122. ^ "Lech Wałęsa, Man of the Year". Time. 4 January 1982. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
123. ^ "Lech Wałęsa receives honorary ITKF black belt: Media release". International Traditional Karate Federation. 10 October 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
124. ^ "Lech Wałęsa". National Constitution Center. 4 July 1989. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
125. ^ Dowd, Maureen (14 November 1989). "Solidarity's Envoy: Bush Give Walesa Medal of Freedom". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
126. ^ "History: Art & Archives: U.S. House of Representatives: "Fast Facts"". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
127. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org.
128. ^ "Founder: Current Activity". Warsaw: Lech Wałęsa Institute. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
129. ^ Walesa. Czlowiek z nadziei at IMDb
130. ^ Czlowiek z zelaza at IMDb
131. ^ "Warners Plans Major Film on Lech Wałęsa". Los Angeles Times. United Press International. 4 December 1989. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
132. ^ "Million Dollar Story". Orlando Sentinel. 12 January 1990. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
133. ^ "Walesa Didn't Pay Polish Taxes on $1 Million From Warner Bros". Associated Press. 16 November 1995. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
134. ^ Easter, Gerald M. (2012). Capital, Coercion, and Postcommunist States. Cornell University Press. p. 157\. ISBN 9780801465277.
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136. ^ Fields, Gaylord (7 May 2012). "New Year's Day". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
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138. ^ Bullock, Ken (24 September 2009). "SF Cabaret Opera Premieres 'Solidarity'". Berkeley Daily Planet. Retrieved 29 February 2016.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lech Wałęsa.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Lech Wałęsa.

* Official website of Lech Wałęsa Institute
* Official profile on Facebook
* Lech Wałęsa Biography and Interview with American Academy of Achievement
* Polish Solidarity union leader Lech Walesa addresses joint meeting of the U.S. Congress
* Lech Wałęsa on Nobelprize.org
* Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices

Preceded by

Wojciech Jaruzelski

|  President of Poland
1990–1995  | Succeeded by

Aleksander Kwaśniewski

Lech Wałęsa navboxes

Portals:

* Biography
* Organized labour
* Poland
* Politics

* v
* t
* e

Leaders of Solidarity

* Lech Wałęsa
* Marian Krzaklewski
* Janusz Śniadek
* Piotr Duda

* v
* t
* e

Revolutions of 1989

Internal
background|

* Era of Stagnation
* Communism
* Anti-communism
* Criticism of communist party rule
* Eastern Bloc
* Eastern Bloc politics
* Eastern Bloc media and propaganda
* Emigration from the Eastern Bloc
* KGB
* Nomenklatura
* Shortage economy
* Totalitarianism
* Anti-communist insurgencies in Central and Eastern Europe

International
background|

* Active measures
* Cold War
* List of socialist states
* People Power Revolution
* Predictions of the collapse of the Soviet Union
* Reagan Doctrine
* Soviet Empire
* Terrorism and the Soviet Union
* Vatican Opposition
* Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

Reforms|

* Uskoreniye
* Perestroika
* Demokratizatsiya
* Khozraschyot
* 500 Days
* New political thinking
* Sinatra Doctrine
* Glasnost
* Chinese economic reform
* Socialism with Chinese characteristics
* Đổi Mới

Government
leaders|

* Ramiz Alia
* Nicolae Ceaușescu
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Károly Grósz
* Erich Honecker
* Miloš Jakeš
* Egon Krenz
* Wojciech Jaruzelski
* Slobodan Milošević
* Mathieu Kérékou
* Mengistu Haile Mariam
* Ne Win
* Denis Sassou Nguesso
* Heng Samrin
* Deng Xiaoping
* Todor Zhivkov
* Siad Barre

Opposition
methods|

* Civil resistance
* Human chains
* Magnitizdat
* Polish underground press
* Political demonstration
* Protests
* Samizdat
* Strike action

Opposition
leaders|

* Lech Wałęsa
* Václav Havel
* Alexander Dubček
* Ion Iliescu
* Liu Gang
* Wu'erkaixi
* Chai Ling
* Wang Dan
* Feng Congde
* Tank Man
* Joachim Gauck
* Sali Berisha
* Sanjaasürengiin Zorig
* Vladimir Bukovsky
* Boris Yeltsin
* Viacheslav Chornovil
* Vytautas Landsbergis
* Zianon Pazniak
* Zhelyu Zhelev
* Aung San Suu Kyi
* Meles Zenawi
* Isaias Afwerki
* Ronald Reagan
* George H. W. Bush
* Pope John Paul II

Opposition
movements|

* Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation
* Charter 77
* New Forum
* Civic Forum
* Democratic Party of Albania
* Democratic Russia
* Initiative for Peace and Human Rights
* Sąjūdis
* People's Movement of Ukraine
* Solidarity
* Popular Front of Latvia
* Popular Front of Estonia
* Public Against Violence
* Belarusian Popular Front
* Rastokhez
* National League for Democracy
* National Salvation Front
* Union of Democratic Forces
* Inter-regional Deputies Group
* Alliance of Free Democrats
* Hungarian Democratic Forum

Events
by location|

| Central and
Eastern Europe|

* Albania
* Bulgaria
* Czechoslovakia
* East Germany
* Hungary
* Poland
* Romania
* Soviet Union
* Yugoslavia

|

Soviet Union|

* Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Chechnya
* Estonia
* Georgia
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Kazakhstan
* Kyrgyzstan
* Moldova
* Russia
* Tajikistan
* Turkmenistan
* Ukraine
* Uzbekistan

Elsewhere|

* Afghanistan
* Angola
* Benin
* Burma
* Cambodia
* China
* Congo-Brazzaville
* Ethiopia
* Mongolia
* Mozambique
* Somalia
* South Yemen

Individual
events|

* Jeltoqsan
* 1987–1989 Tibetan unrest
* 1988 Polish strikes
* Polish Round Table Agreement
* April 9 tragedy
* Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria
* Hungarian Round Table Talks
* Pan-European Picnic
* Baltic Way
* Monday Demonstrations
* Alexanderplatz demonstration
* Fall of the Berlin Wall
* Fall of the inner German border
* Malta Summit
* Black January
* 1990s post-Soviet aliyah
* Helsinki Summit
* Revolution on Granite
* Reunification of Germany
* January Events in Lithuania
* January Events in Latvia
* Transnistria War
* 1991 protests in Belgrade
* 1991 Belarusian strikes
* Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
* August Coup
* Tajikistani Civil War
* Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Later events|

* Colour revolution
* Decommunization
* Lustration
* Democratization
* Economic liberalization
* Post-Soviet conflicts
* Neo-Sovietism
* Neo-Stalinism
* Post-communism
* Yugoslav Wars
* Pink tide

Related|

* Human rights in the Soviet Union

* v
* t
* e

Cold War

* USA
* USSR
* NATO
* Warsaw Pact
* ANZUS
* SEATO
* METO
* Rio Pact
* Non-Aligned Movement

1940s|

* Morgenthau Plan
* Hukbalahap Rebellion
* Jamaican political conflict
* Dekemvriana
* Soviet stance in the Warsaw Uprising
* Percentages agreement
* Yalta Conference
* Guerrilla war in the Baltic states
* Operation Priboi
* Operation Jungle
* Occupation of the Baltic states
* Cursed soldiers
* Operation Unthinkable
* Operation Downfall
* Potsdam Conference
* Gouzenko Affair
* Division of Korea
* Indonesian National Revolution
* Operation Masterdom
* Operation Beleaguer
* Operation Blacklist Forty
* Iran crisis of 1946
* Greek Civil War
* Baruch Plan
* Corfu Channel incident
* Turkish straits crisis
* Restatement of Policy on Germany
* First Indochina War
* 1947 Polish legislative election
* Truman Doctrine
* Asian Relations Conference
* May 1947 crises
* Partition of India
* Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948
* 1947–1949 Palestine war
* 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine
* 1948 Arab–Israeli War
* 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight
* Marshall Plan
* Comecon
* 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état
* Incapacitation of the Allied Control Council
* Al-Wathbah uprising
* Tito–Stalin split
* Berlin Blockade
* Annexation of Hyderabad
* Madiun Affair
* Western betrayal
* Iron Curtain
* Eastern Bloc
* Western Bloc
* Chinese Civil War
* Chinese Communist Revolution
* Malayan Emergency
* March 1949 Syrian coup d'état
* Operation Valuable

1950s|

* Bamboo Curtain
* McCarthyism
* Korean War
* Arab Cold War (1952–1979)
* Egyptian revolution of 1952
* Iraqi Intifada (1952)
* Mau Mau rebellion
* East German uprising of 1953
* 1953 Iranian coup d'état
* Pact of Madrid
* Bricker Amendment
* 1954 Syrian coup d'état
* Petrov Affair
* Domino theory
* 1954 Geneva Conference
* 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
* Capture of the Tuapse
* First Taiwan Strait Crisis
* Jebel Akhdar War
* Algerian War
* Kashmir Princess
* Bandung Conference
* Geneva Summit (1955)
* Vietnam War
* Cyprus Emergency
* "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences"
* 1956 Poznań protests
* Hungarian Revolution of 1956
* Polish October
* Suez Crisis
* "We will bury you"
* Operation Gladio
* Syrian Crisis of 1957
* Sputnik crisis
* Ifni War
* Iraqi 14 July Revolution
* 1958 Lebanon crisis
* Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
* 1959 Mosul uprising
* 1959 Tibetan uprising
* Laotian Civil War
* Kitchen Debate
* Cuban Revolution
* Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution
* Sino-Soviet split

1960s|

* Congo Crisis
* Simba rebellion
* 1960 U-2 incident
* Bay of Pigs Invasion
* 1960 Turkish coup d'état
* Albanian–Soviet split
* Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
* First Iraqi–Kurdish War
* Berlin Crisis of 1961
* Berlin Wall
* Annexation of Goa
* Papua conflict
* Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
* Sand War
* Portuguese Colonial War
* Angolan War of Independence
* Guinea-Bissau War of Independence
* Mozambican War of Independence
* Cuban Missile Crisis
* El Porteñazo
* Sino-Indian War
* Communist insurgency in Sarawak
* Ramadan Revolution
* Eritrean War of Independence
* North Yemen Civil War
* 1963 Syrian coup d'état
* Assassination of John F. Kennedy
* Aden Emergency
* Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964
* Shifta War
* Mexican Dirty War
* Tlatelolco massacre
* Guatemalan Civil War
* Colombian conflict
* 1964 Brazilian coup d'état
* Dominican Civil War
* Rhodesian Bush War
* Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966
* Transition to the New Order (Indonesia)
* ASEAN Declaration
* 1966 Syrian coup d'état
* Cultural Revolution
* Argentine Revolution
* South African Border War
* Korean DMZ Conflict
* 12-3 incident
* Greek junta
* 1967 Hong Kong riots
* Years of Lead (Italy)
* Six-Day War
* War of Attrition
* Dhofar Rebellion
* Al-Wadiah War
* Nigerian Civil War
* Protests of 1968
* May 68
* Prague Spring
* USS Pueblo incident
* 1968 Polish political crisis
* Communist insurgency in Malaysia
* Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
* 17 July Revolution
* 1968 Peruvian coup d'état
* Revolutionary Government
* 1969 Sudanese coup d'état
* 1969 Libyan coup d'état
* Goulash Communism
* Sino-Soviet border conflict
* Communist rebellion in the Philippines

1970s|

* Détente
* Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
* Black September
* Alcora Exercise
* Corrective Movement (Syria)
* Western Sahara conflict
* Cambodian Civil War
* Communist insurgency in Thailand
* 1970 Polish protests
* Koza riot
* Realpolitik
* Ping-pong diplomacy
* 1971 JVP insurrection
* Corrective Revolution (Egypt)
* 1971 Turkish military memorandum
* 1971 Sudanese coup d'état
* Four Power Agreement on Berlin
* Bangladesh Liberation War
* 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China
* North Yemen-South Yemen Border conflict of 1972
* Yemenite War of 1972
* Munich massacre
* 1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency
* Eritrean Civil Wars
* 1973 Uruguayan coup d'état
* 1973 Afghan coup d'état
* 1973 Chilean coup d'état
* Yom Kippur War
* 1973 oil crisis
* Carnation Revolution
* Spanish transition to democracy
* Metapolitefsi
* Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
* Second Iraqi–Kurdish War
* Turkish invasion of Cyprus
* Angolan Civil War
* Cambodian genocide
* June 1976 protests
* Mozambican Civil War
* Oromo conflict
* Ogaden War
* 1978 Somali coup d'état attempt
* Western Sahara War
* Ethiopian Civil War
* Lebanese Civil War
* Sino-Albanian split
* Third Indochina War
* Cambodian–Vietnamese War
* Operation Condor
* Dirty War (Argentina)
* 1976 Argentine coup d'état
* Egyptian–Libyan War
* German Autumn
* Korean Air Lines Flight 902
* Nicaraguan Revolution
* Uganda–Tanzania War
* NDF Rebellion
* Chadian–Libyan War
* Yemenite War of 1979
* Grand Mosque seizure
* Iranian Revolution
* Saur Revolution
* Sino-Vietnamese War
* New Jewel Movement
* 1979 Herat uprising
* Seven Days to the River Rhine
* Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union

1980s|

* Salvadoran Civil War
* Soviet–Afghan War
* 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts
* Gera Demands
* Peruvian Revolution
* Gdańsk Agreement
* Solidarity
* Eritrean Civil Wars
* 1980 Turkish coup d'état
* Ugandan Bush War
* Gulf of Sidra incident
* Martial law in Poland
* Casamance conflict
* Falklands War
* 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
* Ndogboyosoi War
* United States invasion of Grenada
* Able Archer 83
* Star Wars
* 1985 Geneva Summit
* Iran–Iraq War
* Somali Rebellion
* Reykjavík Summit
* 1986 Black Sea incident
* South Yemen Civil War
* Toyota War
* 1987 Lieyu massacre
* Operation INFEKTION
* 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
* Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
* 1988 Black Sea bumping incident
* 8888 Uprising
* Solidarity (Soviet reaction)
* Contras
* Central American crisis
* Operation RYAN
* Korean Air Lines Flight 007
* People Power Revolution
* Glasnost
* Perestroika
* Bougainville conflict
* First Nagorno-Karabakh War
* Afghan Civil War
* United States invasion of Panama
* 1988 Polish strikes
* Polish Round Table Agreement
* 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
* Revolutions of 1989
* Fall of the Berlin Wall
* Fall of the inner German border
* Velvet Revolution
* Romanian Revolution
* Peaceful Revolution

1990s|

* Mongolian Revolution of 1990
* Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident
* Gulf War
* Min Ping Yu No. 5202
* German reunification
* Yemeni unification
* Fall of communism in Albania
* Breakup of Yugoslavia
* Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* 1991 August Coup

Frozen conflicts|

* Abkhazia
* China-Taiwan
* Korea
* Kosovo
* Nagorno-Karabakh
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria
* Sino-Indian border dispute
* North Borneo dispute

Foreign policy|

* Truman Doctrine
* Containment
* Eisenhower Doctrine
* Domino theory
* Hallstein Doctrine
* Kennedy Doctrine
* Peaceful coexistence
* Ostpolitik
* Johnson Doctrine
* Brezhnev Doctrine
* Nixon Doctrine
* Ulbricht Doctrine
* Carter Doctrine
* Reagan Doctrine
* Rollback
* Kinmen Agreement

Ideologies|

| Capitalism|

* Liberalism
* Chicago school
* Keynesianism
* Libertarianism
* Monetarism
* Neoclassical economics
* Reaganomics
* Supply-side economics
* Democratic capitalism

|

Socialism|

* Communism
* Marxism–Leninism
* Castroism
* Eurocommunism
* Guevarism
* Hoxhaism
* Juche
* Ho Chi Minh Thought
* Maoism
* Trotskyism
* Stalinism
* Titoism

Other|

* Imperialism
* Anti-imperialism
* Nationalism
* Ultranationalism
* Chauvinism
* Ethnic nationalism
* Racism
* Zionism
* Anti-Zionism
* Fascism
* Neo-Nazism
* Islamism
* Totalitarianism
* Authoritarianism
* Autocracy
* Liberal democracy
* Illiberal democracy
* Guided democracy
* Social democracy
* Third-Worldism
* White supremacy
* White nationalism
* White separatism
* Apartheid

Organizations|

* NATO
* SEATO
* METO
* EEC
* Warsaw Pact
* Comecon
* Non-Aligned Movement
* NN States
* ASEAN
* SAARC
* Safari Club

Propaganda|

| Pro-communist|

* Active measures
* Izvestia
* Neues Deutschland
* Pravda
* Rudé právo
* Trybuna Ludu
* TASS
* Soviet Life

|

Pro-Western|

* Amerika
* Crusade for Freedom
* Paix et Liberté
* Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
* Radio Free Asia
* Red Scare
* Voice of America

Technological
competition|

* Arms race
* Nuclear arms race
* Space Race

Historians|

* Gar Alperovitz
* Thomas A. Bailey
* Michael Beschloss
* Archie Brown
* Warren H. Carroll
* Adrian Cioroianu
* John Costello
* Michael Cox
* Nicholas J. Cull
* Norman Davies
* Willem Drees
* Robert D. English
* Herbert Feis
* Robert Hugh Ferrell
* André Fontaine
* Anneli Ute Gabanyi
* John Lewis Gaddis
* Lloyd Gardner
* Timothy Garton Ash
* Gabriel Gorodetsky
* Fred Halliday
* Jussi Hanhimäki
* John Earl Haynes
* Patrick J. Hearden
* Tvrtko Jakovina
* Tony Judt
* Harvey Klehr
* Gabriel Kolko
* Walter LaFeber
* Walter Laqueur
* Melvyn P. Leffler
* Geir Lundestad
* Vojtech Mastny
* Jack F. Matlock Jr.
* Thomas J. McCormick
* Timothy Naftali
* Marius Oprea
* David S. Painter
* William B. Pickett
* Ronald E. Powaski
* Yakov M. Rabkin
* Mary Elise Sarotte
* Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
* Ellen Schrecker
* Giles Scott-Smith
* Shen Zhihua
* Timothy D. Snyder
* Athan Theoharis
* Andrew Thorpe
* Vladimir Tismăneanu
* Patrick Vaughan
* Alex von Tunzelmann
* Odd Arne Westad
* William Appleman Williams
* Jonathan Reed Winkler
* Rudolph Winnacker
* Ken Young

Espionage and
intelligence|

* List of Eastern Bloc agents in the United States
* Soviet espionage in the United States
* Russian espionage in the United States
* American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation
* CIA and the Cultural Cold War
* CIA
* MI5
* MI6
* United States involvement in regime change
* Soviet involvement in regime change
* MVD
* KGB
* Stasi

See also|

* Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
* Soviet Union–United States relations
* Soviet Union–United States summits
* Russia–NATO relations
* War on terror
* Brinkmanship
* Second Cold War
* Russian Revolution

* Category
* List of conflicts
* Timeline

* v
* t
* e

Time Persons of the Year

1927–1950|

* Charles Lindbergh (1927)
* Walter Chrysler (1928)
* Owen D. Young (1929)
* Mohandas Gandhi (1930)
* Pierre Laval (1931)
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932)
* Hugh S. Johnson (1933)
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1934)
* Haile Selassie (1935)
* Wallis Simpson (1936)
* Chiang Kai-shek / Soong Mei-ling (1937)
* Adolf Hitler (1938)
* Joseph Stalin (1939)
* Winston Churchill (1940)
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1941)
* Joseph Stalin (1942)
* George Marshall (1943)
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944)
* Harry S. Truman (1945)
* James F. Byrnes (1946)
* George Marshall (1947)
* Harry S. Truman (1948)
* Winston Churchill (1949)
* The American Fighting-Man (1950)

1951–1975|

* Mohammed Mosaddeq (1951)
* Elizabeth II  (1952)
* Konrad Adenauer (1953)
* John Foster Dulles (1954)
* Harlow Curtice (1955)
* Hungarian Freedom Fighters (1956)
* Nikita Khrushchev (1957)
* Charles de Gaulle (1958)
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1959)
* U.S. Scientists: George Beadle / Charles Draper / John Enders / Donald A. Glaser / Joshua Lederberg / Willard Libby / Linus Pauling / Edward Purcell / Isidor Rabi / Emilio Segrè / William Shockley / Edward Teller / Charles Townes / James Van Allen / Robert Woodward (1960)
* John F. Kennedy (1961)
* Pope John XXIII (1962)
* Martin Luther King Jr. (1963)
* Lyndon B. Johnson (1964)
* William Westmoreland (1965)
* The Generation Twenty-Five and Under (1966)
* Lyndon B. Johnson (1967)
* The Apollo 8 Astronauts: William Anders / Frank Borman / Jim Lovell (1968)
* The Middle Americans (1969)
* Willy Brandt (1970)
* Richard Nixon (1971)
* Henry Kissinger / Richard Nixon (1972)
* John Sirica (1973)
* King Faisal (1974)
* American Women: Susan Brownmiller / Kathleen Byerly / Alison Cheek / Jill Conway / Betty Ford / Ella Grasso / Carla Hills / Barbara Jordan / Billie Jean King / Susie Sharp / Carol Sutton / Addie Wyatt (1975)

1976–2000|

* Jimmy Carter (1976)
* Anwar Sadat (1977)
* Deng Xiaoping (1978)
* Ayatollah Khomeini (1979)
* Ronald Reagan (1980)
* Lech Wałęsa (1981)
* The Computer (1982)
* Ronald Reagan / Yuri Andropov (1983)
* Peter Ueberroth (1984)
* Deng Xiaoping (1985)
* Corazon Aquino (1986)
* Mikhail Gorbachev (1987)
* The Endangered Earth (1988)
* Mikhail Gorbachev (1989)
* George H. W. Bush (1990)
* Ted Turner (1991)
* Bill Clinton (1992)
* The Peacemakers: Yasser Arafat / F. W. de Klerk / Nelson Mandela / Yitzhak Rabin (1993)
* Pope John Paul II (1994)
* Newt Gingrich (1995)
* David Ho (1996)
* Andrew Grove (1997)
* Bill Clinton / Ken Starr (1998)
* Jeff Bezos (1999)
* George W. Bush (2000)

2001–present|

* Rudolph Giuliani (2001)
* The Whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper / Coleen Rowley / Sherron Watkins (2002)
* The American Soldier (2003)
* George W. Bush (2004)
* The Good Samaritans: Bono / Bill Gates / Melinda Gates (2005)
* You (2006)
* Vladimir Putin (2007)
* Barack Obama (2008)
* Ben Bernanke (2009)
* Mark Zuckerberg (2010)
* The Protester (2011)
* Barack Obama (2012)
* Pope Francis (2013)
* Ebola Fighters: Dr. Jerry Brown / Dr. Kent Brantly / Ella Watson-Stryker / Foday Gollah / Salome Karwah (2014)
* Angela Merkel (2015)
* Donald Trump (2016)
* The Silence Breakers (2017)
* The Guardians: Jamal Khashoggi / Maria Ressa / Wa Lone / Kyaw Soe Oo / Staff of The Capital (2018)
* Greta Thunberg (2019)
* Joe Biden / Kamala Harris (2020)
* Elon Musk (2021)
* Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Spirit of Ukraine (2022)

* v
* t
* e

Laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize

1901–1925|

* 1901: Henry Dunant / Frédéric Passy
* 1902: Élie Ducommun / Charles Gobat
* 1903: Randal Cremer
* 1904: Institut de Droit International
* 1905: Bertha von Suttner
* 1906: Theodore Roosevelt
* 1907: Ernesto Moneta / Louis Renault
* 1908: Klas Arnoldson / Fredrik Bajer
* 1909: A. M. F. Beernaert / Paul Estournelles de Constant
* 1910: International Peace Bureau
* 1911: Tobias Asser / Alfred Fried
* 1912: Elihu Root
* 1913: Henri La Fontaine
* 1914
* 1915
* 1916
* 1917: International Committee of the Red Cross
* 1918
* 1919: Woodrow Wilson
* 1920: Léon Bourgeois
* 1921: Hjalmar Branting / Christian Lange
* 1922: Fridtjof Nansen
* 1923
* 1924
* 1925: Austen Chamberlain / Charles Dawes

1926–1950|

* 1926: Aristide Briand / Gustav Stresemann
* 1927: Ferdinand Buisson / Ludwig Quidde
* 1928
* 1929: Frank B. Kellogg
* 1930: Nathan Söderblom
* 1931: Jane Addams / Nicholas Butler
* 1932
* 1933: Norman Angell
* 1934: Arthur Henderson
* 1935: Carl von Ossietzky
* 1936: Carlos Saavedra Lamas
* 1937: Robert Cecil
* 1938: Nansen International Office for Refugees
* 1939
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943
* 1944: International Committee of the Red Cross
* 1945: Cordell Hull
* 1946: Emily Balch / John Mott
* 1947: Friends Service Council / American Friends Service Committee
* 1948
* 1949: John Boyd Orr
* 1950: Ralph Bunche

1951–1975|

* 1951: Léon Jouhaux
* 1952: Albert Schweitzer
* 1953: George C. Marshall
* 1954: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
* 1955
* 1956
* 1957: Lester B. Pearson
* 1958: Georges Pire
* 1959: Philip Noel-Baker
* 1960: Albert Luthuli
* 1961: Dag Hammarskjöld
* 1962: Linus Pauling
* 1963: International Committee of the Red Cross / League of Red Cross Societies
* 1964: Martin Luther King Jr.
* 1965: UNICEF
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968: René Cassin
* 1969: International Labour Organization
* 1970: Norman Borlaug
* 1971: Willy Brandt
* 1972
* 1973: Lê Đức Thọ (declined award) / Henry Kissinger
* 1974: Seán MacBride / Eisaku Satō
* 1975: Andrei Sakharov

1976–2000|

* 1976: Betty Williams / Mairead Corrigan
* 1977: Amnesty International
* 1978: Anwar Sadat / Menachem Begin
* 1979: Mother Teresa
* 1980: Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
* 1981: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
* 1982: Alva Myrdal / Alfonso García Robles
* 1983: Lech Wałęsa
* 1984: Desmond Tutu
* 1985: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
* 1986: Elie Wiesel
* 1987: Óscar Arias
* 1988: UN Peacekeeping Forces
* 1989: Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)
* 1990: Mikhail Gorbachev
* 1991: Aung San Suu Kyi
* 1992: Rigoberta Menchú
* 1993: Nelson Mandela / F. W. de Klerk
* 1994: Shimon Peres / Yitzhak Rabin / Yasser Arafat
* 1995: Pugwash Conferences / Joseph Rotblat
* 1996: Carlos Belo / José Ramos-Horta
* 1997: International Campaign to Ban Landmines / Jody Williams
* 1998: John Hume / David Trimble
* 1999: Médecins Sans Frontières
* 2000: Kim Dae-jung

2001–present|

* 2001: United Nations / Kofi Annan
* 2002: Jimmy Carter
* 2003: Shirin Ebadi
* 2004: Wangari Maathai
* 2005: International Atomic Energy Agency / Mohamed ElBaradei
* 2006: Grameen Bank / Muhammad Yunus
* 2007: Al Gore / Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
* 2008: Martti Ahtisaari
* 2009: Barack Obama
* 2010: Liu Xiaobo
* 2011: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf / Leymah Gbowee / Tawakkol Karman
* 2012: European Union
* 2013: Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
* 2014: Kailash Satyarthi / Malala Yousafzai
* 2015: Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet
* 2016: Juan Manuel Santos
* 2017: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
* 2018: Denis Mukwege / Nadia Murad
* 2019: Abiy Ahmed
* 2020: World Food Programme
* 2021: Maria Ressa / Dmitry Muratov
* 2022: Ales Bialiatski / Memorial / Center for Civil Liberties
* 2023: to be announced

* v
* t
* e

1983 Nobel Prize laureates

Chemistry|

* Henry Taube (United States)

Literature (1983)|

* William Golding (Great Britain)

Peace|

* Lech Wałęsa (Poland)

Physics|

* Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (India)
* William Alfred Fowler (United States)

Physiology or Medicine|

* Barbara McClintock (United States)

Economic Sciences|

* Gérard Debreu (United States)

Nobel Prize recipients
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988

* v
* t
* e

Candidates in the 1990 Polish presidential election → following

Winner|

* Lech Wałęsa

Lost in runoff|

* Stanisław Tymiński

Other candidates|

* Roman Bartoszcze
* Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
* Tadeusz Mazowiecki
* Leszek Moczulski

* v
* t
* e

previous ← Candidates in the 1995 Polish presidential election → following

Winner|

* Aleksander Kwaśniewski

Lost in runoff|

* Lech Wałęsa (incumbent)

Other candidates|

* Leszek Bubel
* Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz
* Janusz Korwin-Mikke
* Tadeusz Koźluk
* Jacek Kuroń
* Andrzej Lepper
* Jan Olszewski
* Waldemar Pawlak
* Jan Pietrzak
* Kazimierz Piotrowicz
* Tadeusz Zieliński

Withdrew|

* Lech Kaczyński
* Marek Markiewicz
* Leszek Moczulski
* Bogdan Pawłowski

* v
* t
* e

previous ← Candidates in the 2000 Polish presidential election → following

Winner|

* Aleksander Kwaśniewski

Other candidates|

* Dariusz Grabowski
* Piotr Ikonowicz
* Jarosław Kalinowski
* Janusz Korwin-Mikke
* Marian Krzaklewski
* Andrzej Lepper
* Jan Łopuszański
* Andrzej Olechowski
* Bogdan Pawłowski
* Lech Wałęsa
* Tadeusz Wilecki

Withdrew|

* Jan Olszewski

* v
* t
* e

Heads of state of Poland

Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918)|

* Provisional Council
* Regency Council

Republic of Poland
(1918–1939)|

* Józef Piłsudski
* Gabriel Narutowicz
* Maciej Rataj (Acting)
* Stanisław Wojciechowski
* Maciej Rataj (Acting)
* Ignacy Mościcki

Polish government-in-exile
(1939–1990)|

* Władysław Raczkiewicz
* August Zaleski
* Stanisław Ostrowski
* Edward Raczyński
* Kazimierz Sabbat
* Ryszard Kaczorowski

People's Republic of Poland
(1944–1989)|

* Bolesław Bierut
* Franciszek Trąbalski (Acting)
* Władysław Kowalski (Acting)
* Bolesław Bierut
* Aleksander Zawadzki
* Edward Ochab
* Marian Spychalski
* Józef Cyrankiewicz
* Henryk Jabłoński
* Wojciech Jaruzelski

Republic of Poland
(1990–present)|

* Wojciech Jaruzelski
* Lech Wałęsa
* Aleksander Kwaśniewski
* Lech Kaczyński
* Bronisław Komorowski (Acting)
* Bogdan Borusewicz (Acting)
* Grzegorz Schetyna (Acting)
* Bronisław Komorowski
* Andrzej Duda

* v
* t
* e

Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award laureates

1960s|

* 1964: John Howard Griffin / John F. Kennedy
* 1965: Martin Luther King Jr.
* 1966: R. Sargent Shriver
* 1967: A. Philip Randolph
* 1968: James Groppi
* 1969: Saul Alinsky

1970s|

* 1971: Dorothy Day
* 1974: Harold Hughes
* 1975: Hélder Câmara
* 1976: Mother Teresa
* 1979: Thomas Gumbleton

1980s|

* 1980: Crystal Lee Sutton / Ernest Leo Unterkoefler
* 1982: George F. Kennan
* 1983: Helen Caldicott
* 1985: Joseph Bernardin
* 1986: Maurice John Dingman
* 1987: Desmond Tutu
* 1989: Eileen Egan

1990s|

* 1990: Mairead Maguire
* 1991: María Julia Hernández
* 1992: César Chávez
* 1993: Daniel Berrigan
* 1995: Jim Wallis
* 1996: Samuel Ruiz
* 1997: Jim and Shelley Douglass

2000s|

* 2000: George G. Higgins
* 2001: Lech Wałęsa
* 2002: Gwen Hennessey / Dorothy Hennessey
* 2004: Arthur Simon
* 2005: Donald Mosley
* 2007: Salim Ghazal
* 2008: Marvin Mottet
* 2009: Hildegard Goss-Mayr

2010s|

* 2010: John Dear
* 2011: Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri
* 2012: Kim Bobo
* 2013: Jean Vanier
* 2014: Simone Campbell
* 2015: Thích Nhất Hạnh
* 2016: Gustavo Gutiérrez
* 2017: Widad Akreyi
* 2019: Dalai Lama
* 2019: Munib Younan

2020s|

* 2022: Norma Pimentel

* v
* t
* e

Gdańsk articles

History of Gdańsk|

| Timeline|

* Hanseatic League
* Sieges of Danzig
* 1308
* 1577
* 1655–1660
* 1734
* 1807
* 1813
* 1945
* Danzig rebellion
* Battle of Oliwa
* Sevenfold Sun miracle
* History of the Jews in Gdańsk
* Free City of Danzig (Napoleonic)
* Region of Danzig
* Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia
* Free City of Danzig
* Parliament
* Senate
* anthem
* government in exile
* Danzig law
* Polish Post Office
* Postal history
* Battle of Westerplatte
* Battle of Danzig Bay
* Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig
* East Pomeranian offensive
* Polish protests of 1970
* 21 demands of MKS
* Gdańsk Agreement

|

Related|

* Coat of arms
* Kashubians
* Danzig gulden
* Goldwasser
* Marienbrunn Abbey
* Academic Gymnasium Danzig
* Danzig Research Society
* Polish Corridor
* SS Heimwehr Danzig
* Danzig Cross
* Gdańsk Shipyard
* SS Sołdek
* Lech Wałęsa
* Solidarity
* Tricity

Politics|

| Mayors of Danzig|

* Conrad Letzkau
* Adrian von der Linde
* Daniel Gralath
* Gottlieb Hufeland
* Clemens von Delbrück
* Heinrich Sahm
* Ernst Ziehm
* Hermann Rauschning
* Arthur Greiser
* Albert Forster

|

Mayors of Gdańsk|

* Franciszek Kotus-Jankowski
* Bolesław Nowicki
* Piotr Stolarek
* Stanisław Schmidt
* Julian Cybulski
* Stanisław Schmidt
* Tadeusz Bejm
* Jan Nikołajew
* Andrzej Kaznowski
* Jerzy Młynarczyk
* Kazimierz Rynkowski
* Jerzy Pasiński
* Jacek Starościak
* Franciszek Jamroż
* Tomasz Posadzki
* Paweł Adamowicz
* Aleksandra Dulkiewicz

Districts|

* Aniołki
* Brętowo
* Brzeźno
* Chełm
* Jasień
* Kokoszki
* Krakowiec-Górki Zachodnie
* Letnica
* Matarnia
* Młyniska
* Nowy Port
* Oliwa
* Olszynka
* Orunia Górna-Gdańsk Południe
* Orunia-Św. Wojciech-Lipce
* Osowa
* Piecki-Migowo
* Przeróbka
* Przymorze Małe
* Przymorze Wielkie
* Przymorze
* Rudniki
* Siedlce
* Śródmieście
* Stogi
* Strzyża
* Suchanino
* Ujeścisko-Łostowice
* VII Dwór
* Wrzeszcz Dolny
* Nowe Szkoty
* Wrzeszcz Górny
* Wrzeszcz
* Wyspa Sobieszewska
* Wzgórze Mickiewicza
* Żabianka-Wejhera-Jelitkowo-Tysiąclecia
* Jelitkowo
* Zaspa-Młyniec
* Zaspa-Rozstaje
* Zaspa

Landmarks|

| Main City|

* Artus Court
* City walls
* Długi Targ
* Golden Gate
* Granary Island
* Great Synagogue
* Green Gate
* John III Sobieski Monument
* Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970
* Motława
* Neptune's Fountain
* Nowa Motława
* Ołowianka
* Preachers' House
* St. Catherine's Church
* St. Mary's Church
* Archdiocese
* Town Hall
* Ulica Długa
* Uphagen's House

|

Metro area|

* Abbot's Palace
* Oliwa Cathedral
* Ostrów Island
* Port Island
* Port of Gdańsk
* Przekop Wisły
* Ronald Reagan Park
* Third Millennium John Paul II Bridge
* Westerplatte
* Monument
* Wisłoujście Fortress

Culture and events|

* Baltic Days of Jewish Culture
* Baltic State Opera
* Ergo Arena
* Forum Gdańsk
* European Solidarity Centre
* Gdańsk City Stadium
* Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre
* Gdańsk Sports Center Stadium
* Hala Olivia
* Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art
* Museum of the Second World War
* National Maritime Museum
* National Museum
* Polish Baltic Philharmonic
* St. Dominic's Fair

| In popular culture|

* The Jew
* The Tin Drum
* film
* Tajemnica Westerplatte
* Live from Gdańsk
* Live in Gdańsk
* Strike
* Zero Dark Thirty
* Walesa: Man of Hope

|

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Time 100: The Most Important People of the 20th Century

Leaders & Revolutionaries|

* David Ben-Gurion
* Winston Churchill
* Mahatma Gandhi
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Adolf Hitler
* Ho Chi Minh
* Pope John Paul II
* Ruhollah Khomeini
* Martin Luther King Jr.
* Vladimir Lenin
* Nelson Mandela
* Mao Zedong
* Ronald Reagan
* Eleanor Roosevelt
* Franklin D. Roosevelt
* Theodore Roosevelt
* Margaret Sanger
* Margaret Thatcher
* Unknown Tiananmen Square rebel
* Lech Wałęsa

Artists & Entertainers|

* Louis Armstrong
* Lucille Ball
* The Beatles
* Marlon Brando
* Coco Chanel
* Charlie Chaplin
* Le Corbusier
* Bob Dylan
* T.S. Eliot
* Aretha Franklin
* Martha Graham
* Jim Henson
* James Joyce
* Pablo Picasso
* Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein
* Bart Simpson
* Frank Sinatra
* Steven Spielberg
* Igor Stravinsky
* Oprah Winfrey

Builders & Titans|

* Stephen Bechtel Sr.
* Leo Burnett
* Willis Carrier
* Walt Disney
* Henry Ford
* Bill Gates
* Amadeo Giannini
* Ray Kroc
* Estée Lauder
* William Levitt
* Lucky Luciano
* Louis B. Mayer
* Charles E. Merrill
* Akio Morita
* Walter Reuther
* Pete Rozelle
* David Sarnoff
* Juan Trippe
* Sam Walton
* Thomas J. Watson Jr.

Scientists & Thinkers|

* Leo Baekeland
* Tim Berners-Lee
* Rachel Carson
* Albert Einstein
* Philo Farnsworth
* Enrico Fermi
* Alexander Fleming
* Sigmund Freud
* Robert H. Goddard
* Kurt Gödel
* Edwin Hubble
* John Maynard Keynes
* Leakey family
* Jean Piaget
* Jonas Salk
* William Shockley
* Alan Turing
* Francis Crick & James Watson
* Ludwig Wittgenstein
* Wright brothers

Heroes & Icons|

* Muhammad Ali
* The American G.I.
* Lady Diana Spencer
* Anne Frank
* Billy Graham
* Che Guevara
* Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay
* Helen Keller
* Kennedy family
* Bruce Lee
* Charles Lindbergh
* Harvey Milk
* Marilyn Monroe
* Emmeline Pankhurst
* Rosa Parks
* Pelé
* Jackie Robinson
* Andrei Sakharov
* Mother Teresa
* Bill W.

Authority control

International|

* FAST
* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Norway
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* BnF data
* Catalonia
* Germany
* Italy
* Israel
* Finland
* Belgium
* United States
* Sweden
* Latvia
* Japan
* Czech Republic
* Australia
* Greece
* Korea
* Croatia
* Netherlands
* Poland

Academics|

* CiNii

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

People|

* Deutsche Biographie
* Trove

Other|

* Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine
* NARA
* SNAC
* IdRef

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