Komorowski visits town that rejected Big Brother

President Bronislaw Komorowski lays a wreath at the Solidarity Monument on Central Square in Nowa Huta. Photo: PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk

Nowa Huta, which was officially merged with Krakow in 1951, was famed for the vast Vladimir Lenin Steelworks, which became a bastion of resistance to communist rule in the 1980s.

“I feel very moved that I can be with you today in Nowa Huta, which is itself a symbol of a dark period of building that was done contrary to the national tradition and to the values that formed the nation, but it is also a symbol of victory in a hard fought struggle,” Komorowski said.

“In the end it turned out that what was built against our national values became a source of victory and success, it turned out for the good.”

President Komorowski laid a wreath at the Solidarity Monument on Nowa Huta's Central Square (which was dedicated to President Ronald Reagan in 2004) and he also planted an 'Oak of Freedom.'

Over a dozen former opposition activists from Krakow were awarded with crosses and medals for their contributions to Solidarity's ultimate victory. Among those decorated was journalist Adam Szostkiewicz.

“All through my youth I dreamed that Poland would look like it does today,” he told the Dziennik Polski daily.

“It's wonderful that a journalist can telephone me today, and I can talk to him without fear that my comments will later be studied by the censor.”

President Komorowski's visit to Nowa Huta was part of the ongoing celebrations marking 25 years since the 4 June 1989 free elections that brought an end to communist rule in Poland. (nh)

Source: PAP