Pacification of Wujek
Pacification of Wujek | |
---|---|
Part of | |
Casualties | 9 miners killed |
The Pacification of Wujek was a
It was part of a large-scale action aimed to break the
The massacre
On December 16, three days after the introduction of the martial law in Poland, pro-Solidarity miners
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.[1][2] 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).[3]
Popular culture
- The tragedy was portrayed in the 1994 feature film Śmierć jak kromka chleba (Death like daily bread) by Kazimierz Kutz and the 2006 graphic novel 1981: Kopalnia Wujek.
See also
- 1981 warning strike in Poland
- August 31, 1982 demonstrations in Poland
- 1988 Polish strikes
- History of Solidarity
- Jastrzebie-Zdroj 1980 strikes
- Lublin 1980 strikes
- Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland
- 1981 strike at Piast Coal Mine in Bieruń
References
- ^ Polish court sentences 15 policemen in 1981 massacre at coal mine, International Herald Tribune, May 31, 2007
- ^ 'Wujek' coal mine massacre perpetrators face justice, Polskie Radio, 01.06.2007
- Polska Agencja Prasowa, 2007-05-31