We proudly invite you to a meeting with Danuta Wałęsa, the wife of the legendary Solidarity leader
Because of the great interest in participating in the Polish language meeting with Mrs Danuta Walesa, which will take place on 6 October from 4pm to 6pm at the Polish House. Please send your RSVP by October 3 to: dublin.polonia@msz.gov.pl
You are also invited for English language meeting:
Polish ways to democracy – A meeting with Danuta Wałęsa
4th October 2013, 6 p.m.
Trinity Long Room Hub, Arts & Humanities Research Institute
Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 1
Admission free
RSVP to dublin.culture@msz.gov.pl
Thirty years ago, in 1983, Lech Wałęsa received the Nobel Peace Prize for his engagement in the trade unions and his fight for democratic Poland. Seven years later he became the first democratically elected President since the end of World War II.
To commemorate this anniversary we invite you to a meeting with Danuta Wałęsa, the wife of the legendary Solidarity leader, who collected the prize in his name and who, for all these years, has been witness to the newest history of Poland.
Danuta Wałęsa has been married to Lech since 1969. She supported her husband in his acitivities in Solidarity and later on during his office as the President of the Republic of Poland. In 1983 she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of her husband, who feared that the communist government might not allow him to return if he travelled to Oslo himself. In 2011 she published her autobiography ‘Dreams and secrets’ (Marzenia i tajemnice) in which she described her life as the wife of the legendary Solidarity leader.
Solidarity (“Solidarność”) is a Polish trade union federation that emerged in August 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first non–communist party-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. In the 1980s, Solidarity constituted a nation-wide social movement that defended workers’ rights and strove for social change. It did not succumb to the communist repressions nor the introduction of the martial law in 1981. Solidarity’s persistence resulted in the Round Table Talks with the government, which in turn led to the semi-free elections in 1989. The elections turned out to be a huge success of Solidarity.
http://www.dublin.msz.gov.pl/en/news/polish_ways_to_democracy___a_meeting_with_danuta_walesa