Former Solidarity leader to take part in a seminar in Dublin
Zbigniew Bujak, together with Lech Walesa, was one of the most resilient Polish opposition leaders in the fight against Communism and will take part in a seminar about the political changes in Poland in 1989.
In order to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 political & social shift in Poland, the Polish Embassy in Dublin will launch the seminar ‘Road to Independence – Polish case study’, which will take place on Wednesday, Nov 11 in the EU House (18 Dawson St., Dublin 2 ). Zbigniew Bujak is going to be a Guest of Honour of the event.
Zbigniew Bujak, an electrician in Ursus, one of the biggest tractor factories in Poland in late 1970s, became chairman of the Warsaw Region branch of Solidarity in September 1980.
He was one the few Solidarity leaders who escaped arrest in 1981 after martial law was declared in Poland in an attempt to break Solidarity. He became one of the leaders of Solidarity’s underground movement and was finally arrested in 1984 after evading the secret police (S?u?ba Bezpiecze?stwa) for nearly three and a half years, becoming the last one of Solidarity’s leader to be captured. Soon afterwards he was released in a general amnesty, and participated in Polish Round Table Talks with the government in 1989. He was elected to the Sejm (Polish parliament) in Polish legislative elections in 1989. In the 1990s he joined left-wing political parties, won a seat to the Sejm at the 1993 legislative elections and served as an M.P until 1997.
Dr Tadeusz Szumowski, the Ambassador of Poland in Dublin and the initiator of the seminar – “1989 constitutes a stepping stone in the contemporary history of not only Poland but also the whole European continent. Zbigniew Bujak is, right beside Lech Walesa, one of the engines of the political transition in Poland”.
Dr Jacqueline Hayden, a TCD lecturer and a former RTE journalist, who witnessed the political changes in Poland and interviewed many leaders of the Communist party and of the opposition will also take part in the seminar. She is the author of two books on the Polish transition – ‘Poles Apart; Solidarity and the New Poland’ (published by Irish Academic Press -an analysis of the role of Solidarity in the transition) and ‘The Collapse of Communist Power in Poland: Strategic Misperceptions and Unanticipated Outcomes’ (published by Routledge).
For further information please contact:
Nikola Sekowska
Embassy of Poland in Dublin
Ph. 01 219 74 30, culture@dublin.polemb.net
Kategoria: Seminars