\n

<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Poland was a country in crisis in the early 1980s. The founding of <\/span>the <\/span>free trade union, Solidarity, in the Gdansk shipyard in August 1980, led to <\/span>resistance to <\/span>the Communist government. <\/span>On 13<\/span>^{th<\/span><\/sup> December, 1981, <\/span>General <\/span>Jaruzelski<\/span> declared martial law and the army <\/span>took control o<\/span>f<\/span> the country. <\/span><\/p>\n}

In <\/span>Ireland <\/span>a group of Polish people and Irish supporters organized <\/span>protests and fund-raising <\/span>events and sent a large amount of aid to Poland. An exhibition in <\/span>Blanchardstown<\/span><\/strong> Public <\/span><\/strong>Library<\/span><\/strong>, <\/span><\/strong>Blanchardstown<\/span><\/strong> Centre,<\/span><\/strong> from <\/span>March 1<\/span><\/strong>^{s<\/span><\/sup><\/strong>t<\/span><\/sup><\/strong>-13<\/span><\/strong>th<\/span><\/sup><\/strong> and a <\/span>public meeting<\/span><\/strong> on <\/span>March 8<\/span><\/strong>th<\/span><\/sup><\/strong> at 7.00pm<\/span><\/strong> commemorates this e<\/span>pisode<\/span> in Irish-Polish relations.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n}

The Irish Polish Society was formed in 1979 <\/span>for the visit of <\/span>Pope John Paul 2. <\/span>At that time the number of Poles in Ireland was about 350<\/span>. Among them was Dr. <\/span>Janina<\/span> Lyons<\/span> of <\/span>Coolmine<\/span> whose <\/span>husband,<\/span> Sean Lyons, a<\/span>n <\/span>i<\/span>ndependent<\/span> councillor <\/span>on <\/span>Dublin County Council<\/span>, was PRO for the group<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

During martial law <\/span>in <\/span>Poland<\/span> t<\/span>housands <\/span>of activists <\/span>were rounded up and interned. People had to get permission to travel from one city to another. The Polish people suffered shortages a<\/span>nd<\/span> many shops were empty.<\/span> From<\/span> late 1981 the Irish Polish Society organize<\/span>d<\/span> concerts, made collections and took part in pickets and vigils. Polish artist, <\/span>Ula<\/span> Retzla<\/span>ff<\/span>–<\/span>O\u2019Carroll made a <\/span>special <\/span>Christmas <\/span>c<\/span>rib with puppets of <\/span>Jaruzelski<\/span> consulting with <\/span>the Devil. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jan Kaminski of the Irish Polish Society challenged RTE \u201cto reveal the true conditions of Poland where thousands are held in detention camps, recreation facilities are closed, food shops crowded with scanty supplies at inflated prices.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Among <\/span>the<\/span> events was a<\/span>n All-Priests Show in the Olympia <\/span>Theatre<\/span>, a <\/span>Charity Night in Dolly <\/span>Heffernans<\/span> and <\/span>a special performance of The Pirates of Penzance<\/span>, all in aid of the Polish Relief Fund. <\/span><\/p>\n

During 14<\/span> months the Irish Polish Society sent 20 containers of <\/span>medicines, <\/span>powdered milk, baby food and clothes<\/span> to Poland, valued at more than \u00a3250,000. <\/span>Carriers took the cargo free of charge. <\/span>The containers left Dublin Port by ship to the Polish port of Szczecin <\/span>for distribution<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Martial law was eased in February, 1983, with the release of Lech Walesa, but the position of many Poles was still grim. Food, clothing, shoes, soap and medicines were in short supply<\/span> while m<\/span>eat, detergents, cotton wool and children\u2019s exercise books were rationed.<\/span> In February, 1984, <\/span>the IPS<\/span> appeal<\/span>ed<\/span> for items for an Auction for Aid to Poland. <\/span><\/p>\n

Over the years the Irish Polish Society has worked in many ways to improve understanding between Ireland and Poland, but the period of martial law was a highpoint. <\/span>There are times when <\/span>individuals <\/span>can have an impact on history when leaders and governments fail. The<\/span>se<\/span> occasions are rare, but <\/span>are important and they <\/span>should be remembered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Patrick Quigley<\/span><\/p>\n

Irish Solidarity with Poland<\/span><\/span><\/strong>,<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Blanchardstown<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Public Library Exhibition<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

March 1<\/span><\/span><\/strong>^{st<\/span><\/sup><\/span><\/strong>-13<\/span><\/span><\/strong>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n}

Public Meeting<\/span><\/span><\/strong> in <\/span><\/span><\/strong>Blanchardstown<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Library<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, <\/span><\/span><\/strong>Monday, <\/span><\/span><\/strong>March 8<\/span><\/span><\/strong>^{th<\/span><\/sup><\/span><\/strong> @ 7.00pm with local activists, a short film and some <\/span><\/span><\/strong>stirring protest <\/span><\/span><\/strong>music from <\/span><\/span><\/strong>folk-singer, <\/span><\/span><\/strong>Justyna<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Kosmulska<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/strong>Adm<\/span><\/span><\/strong>: free.<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"}

Poland was a country in crisis in the early 1980s. The founding of the free […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}