In a sensational move, the ‘Gdansk Agreement’ was signed on 31 August 1980. For the first time, an independent trade union was authorised in a socialist country. Its name: ‘Solidarność’. The authorisation was followed by a dramatic few weeks. A wave of strikes against price increases, for more freedom and rights had swept across Poland, with arrests, intimidation and repression. The courage and strength of the trade union movement ‘Solidarność’ gave many GDR opposition activists hope for reforms in their own country. ‘Learn Polish’ was one of many slogans that circulated in the GDR in the early 1980s. The SED rulers were worried about this ‘Polish bacillus’. They feared protests in their own country and reacted to the opposition movement in the neighbouring country with openly anti-Polish propaganda.
The MfS persecuted and severely punished sympathisers in the GDR. The event begins with the screening of the film ‘Lernt Polnisch. GDR opposition activists and Solidarność’ (Rosalia Romaniec and Magdalena Gwóźdź, 2016). In a subsequent panel discussion, former GDR civil rights activist and author Wolfgang Templin will discuss the history of the opposition movement with members of the ‘Solidarność’ trade union: What was the significance of transnational solidarity between the opposition movements? How can the current political situation in Poland and Europe be viewed against this historical background? The discussion will be moderated by Doris Liebermann and will be held in Polish and German. Interpreted by Dr Piotr Olszówka.
For further information and reservations please consider the event page at Berlin Wall Foundation.
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