Polish freedom icon Anna Walentynowicz dead at 80

WARSAW, Poland — Anna Walentynowicz, 80, a union activist whose 1980 dismissal from a Gdansk shipyard touched off strikes that led to the founding of the Solidarity movement and the eventual toppling of Polish communism, died in the plane crash that devastated the country’s elite.

Walentynowicz was an anti-communist dissident who worked with Solidarity founder Lech Walesa in the early 1980s to agitate against repressive communist rule. She was close to President Lech Kaczynski, also killed in the crash on Saturday. Many others aboard the plane were also their ideological brethren.

Walentynowicz was the most famous Solidarity activist aboard, an iconic figure more closely associated with the 1980 strikes than anyone save Walesa. She had sometimes been referred to as the Rosa Parks of Poland — a nod to the American woman who was the public face of the American civil rights movement.

A 51-year-old widow and crane operator in 1980, Walentynowicz was only five months away from retirement when her shipyard bosses fired her for producing and distributing a newspaper critical of the regime. She had handed some copies directly to her bosses.

Her fellow workers were outraged at the injustice of her firing and agitated to have her reinstated, resistance that led to strikes and sit-ins at the Gdansk shipyard and in factories across the country.

Walesa, who also had been fired for his opposition activism, jumped the walls of the shipyard and returned to his workplace to lead massive strikes.

“I was the drop that caused the cup of bitterness to overflow,” she once said, according to the weekly magazine Przekroj.

That protest, which lasted 18 days, resulted in a historic agreement with the communist authorities which gave birth to Eastern Europe’s first independent workers’ movement. Both Walesa and Walentynowicz were allowed to return to work.

“Anna had been at the center of the events that birthed Solidarity, and along with Lech Walesa she virtually personified the 1980 strikes in the public eye,” writes author Shana Penn in “Solidarity’s Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland.”

But it didn’t take long for Walentynowicz and the other female activists to be sidelined by Walesa and the other male organizers.

“They ignored her in the next phase,” Penn said in a telephone interview today. “But she didn’t go out quietly. She always insisted on (reminding the public) that she played an important role and that she still had something to say.”

She appeared as herself in director Andrzej Wajda’s acclaimed 1981 film about the birth of Solidarity — “Man of Iron” — and also served as the inspiration for “Strike,” a 2006 fictionalized version of her story made by German director Volker Schloendorff.

Walentynowicz, though the godmother of one of Walesa’s eight children, eventually turned against him for personal and idelogical reasons. She felt he took too much credit for himself in the eventually victorious struggle and that he made too many compromises with the communists.

Kaczynski also turned against Walesa, and the two carried out a very public rivalry.

After Saturday’s tragedy, Walesa noted that he hadn’t spoken to Kaczynski in five years and expressed remorse that he had not reconciled with his one-time allies before their deaths.

“I have to ask God for forgiveness because I made some mistakes and I don’t have a clear conscience,” Walesa said in televised remarks Sunday.

Walentynowicz was born Aug. 13, 1929, and was 10 years old when Nazi Germany and then the Soviet Union invaded and occupied the country. Her father was killed in the war and she herself fell victim to a Nazi decree that prevented Poles from continuing their education after the fourth grade — part of an effort by the Nazis to enslave Poles.

She was initially attracted to communism and belonged to the party but eventually became disillusioned with their “lies and manipulation of the workers,” Penn said. “She wasn’t afraid to expose hypocrites.”

When Walentynowicz began her activism at the shipyard she was already widowed and had survived a near-fatal bout of cancer. Her unlikely survival from the illness left her with a sense that she had survived to carry out something worthwhile.

“It took someone like her unafraid of authority to tackle the Communist authorities of the day,” said Victor Ashe, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland who said he was honored to have the silver-haired Walentynowicz as a guest as his residence on a number of occasions. “She was an amazing person who continued to express her views actively and directly.”

No funeral arrangements have yet been made for Walentynowicz or many of the others killed in the crash. Many of the bodies are still being identified in Russia and most have not yet returned to Poland.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Customers enter and exit the Costco on Dec. 2, 2022, in Lake Stevens. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Costco stores could be impacted by looming truck driver strike threat

Truck drivers who deliver groceries and produce to Costco warehouses… Continue reading

Two Washington State ferries pass along the route between Mukilteo and Clinton as scuba divers swim near the shore Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ferry system increases ridership by a half million in 2024

Edmonds-Kingston route remains second-busiest route in the system.

Pharmacist Nisha Mathew prepares a Pfizer COVID booster shot for a patient at Bartell Drugs on Broadway on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett lawmakers back universal health care bill, introduced in Olympia

Proponents say providing health care for all is a “fundamental human right.” Opponents worry about the cost of implementing it.

x
Edmonds police shooting investigation includes possibility of gang violence

The 18-year-old victim remains in critical condition as of Friday morning.

Outside of the updated section of Lake Stevens High School on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Lake Stevens, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lake Stevens, Arlington school measures on Feb. 11 ballot

A bond in Lake Stevens and a levy in Arlington would be used to build new schools.

Robin Cain with 50 of her marathon medals hanging on a display board she made with her father on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Running a marathon is hard. She ran one in every state.

Robin Cain, of Lake Stevens, is one of only a few thousand people to ever achieve the feat.

People line up to grab food at the Everett Recovery Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Coffee, meals and compassion are free at the Everett Recovery Cafe

The free, membership-based day center offers free coffee and meals and more importantly, camaraderie and recovery support.

Devani Padron, left, Daisy Ramos perform during dance class at Mari's Place Monday afternoon in Everett on July 13, 2016. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Mari’s Place helps children build confidence and design a better future

The Everett-based nonprofit offers free and low-cost classes in art, music, theater and dance for children ages 5 to 14.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett water, sewer rates could jump 43% by 2028

The rate hikes would pay for improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The bond funded new track and field at Northshore Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Courtesy of Northshore School District)
Northshore School District bond improvements underway

The $425 million bond is funding new track and field complexes, playgrounds and phase one of two school replacements.

Lake Stevens Sewer District wastewater treatment plant. (Lake Stevens Sewer District)
Lake Stevens sewer district trial delayed until April

The dispute began in 2021 and centers around when the city can take over the district.

A salmon carcass lays across willow branches in Edgecomb Creek on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Tribes: State fish passage projects knock down barriers for local efforts

Court-ordered projects have sparked collaboration for salmon habitat restoration

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.