In connection with this year's 43rd anniversary of the imposition of martial law, the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda and the President of the IPN Karol Nawrocki lit the Light of Freedom at the Pope's Cross on Józef Piłsudski Square in Warsaw.
„13 December 1981 was the moment when the regime went against the beating heart of the Polish people and the Polish soul, built for over a thousand years on our traditions and Christian values. Today we are here to pay tribute to the victims of martial law, thanks to whose sacrifice and dedication we can live in freedom," said the IPN president during the ceremony.
At the end of the ceremony, we presented the exhibition “Solidarity with the Poles”, showing demonstrations organized around the world in support of free Poland and the Solidarity movement. The exhibition at the Jozef Pilsudski Square will be open to the public until 31 January 2025.
The "Victims of Martial Law. Light the Light of Freedom" campaign, initiated by the IPN a few years ago, refers to the gesture of placing candles in the windows, through which, in the early 1980s, Poles, but also others, expressed opposition to the brutal policy of the authorities of the Polish People’s Republic and solidarity with thousands of internees and their families. he phrase “Light the light of freedom” is derived from a speech given by the United States President Ronald Reagan who called upon the Americans for a similar gesture of unity with the victims of Martial Law. “Let the light of millions of candles in American homes be of notice that the light of freedom is not going to be extinguished”, said Reagan during his Christmas 1981 speech. In the act of solidarity with the suffering compatriots, John Paul II decided that a symbolic light should appear in the window of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican on Christmas Eve 1981.
13 December marks the anniversary of the introduction of Martial Law in Poland. An authoritarian government, led by General Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Military Council of National Salvation (WRON), introduced severe political oppression in an attempt to crush political opposition in 1981.
More about the Martial Law in Poland