The Pacification of Wujek was a

strike-breaking A strikebreaker (sometimes called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite a strike action, strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company before the trade union dispute but hired after or ...

action by the Polish police and army at the

Wujek Coal Mine Wujek Coal Mine (''Polish'': Kopalnia Wujek, full name in Polish: ''Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Wujek;'' ) is a coal mine in Katowice, Poland. It is widely known in Poland as the place of the massacre of striking miners in 1981 (most often referr ...

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, 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; cutting, blasting, ...

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

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

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 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 the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...

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

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

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

Anna Walentynowicz Anna Walentynowicz (; ; 15 August 1929 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish free trade union activist and co-founder of Solidarity, the first non-communist trade union in the Eastern Bloc. Her firing from her job at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk in Aug ...

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

Gołdap Gołdap ( or variant ''Goldapp''; lt, Geldupė, Geldapė, Galdapė) is a town in northeastern Poland, in the region of Masuria, seat of Gołdap County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It is located on the Gołdapa River, between the Szeskie ...

The massacre

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 imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

by General

Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military officer, 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 b ...

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 people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

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 who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organize ...

(

ZOMO The Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia ( pl, Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej), commonly known as ZOMO, were paramilitary-police formations during the communist era in Poland. These elite units of Citizens' Militia (MO) were ...

, 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 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 Stawisiński, Joachim Gnida, Józef Czekalski, Krzysztof Giza, Ryszard Gzik, Bogusław Kopczak, Andrzej Pełka, Zbigniew Wilk and Zenon Zając) and wounding 21 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).Wszyscy zomowcy spod "Wujka" winni i skazani
,

Polska Agencja Prasowa The Polish Press Agency ( pl, Polska Agencja Prasowa, PAP) is Poland's national news agency, producing and distributing political, economic, social, and cultural news as well as events information. The agency has 14 news desks in its headquarters ...

, 2007-05-31

Popular culture

*The tragedy was portrayed in the 1994 feature film ''Śmierć jak kromka chleba'' (''Death like daily bread'') by

Kazimierz Kutz Kazimierz Julian Kutz (16 February 1929 – 18 December 2018) was a Polish film director, author, journalist and politician, one of the representatives of the Polish Film School and a deputy speaker of the Senate of Poland. Biography Kazimierz ...

and the 2006 graphic novel ''1981: Kopalnia Wujek''.

References

External links

Pictures from the funerals of the killed strikers
{{History of the People's Republic of Poland 1981 in Poland Law enforcement in Poland Massacres in Poland Miners' labor disputes Protests in Poland Solidarity (Polish trade union) Anti-communism in Poland Conflicts in 1981 Deaths by firearm in Poland

The massacre

Aftermath

Popular culture

See also

References

External links