The revolted “grandmother” of Gdansk left in the ashes of Smolensk

(BRUSSELS2) In the crash of the Polish presidential plane in Smolensk, Poland lost not only a few leaders, it was a part of its soul. In this plane were, in fact, representatives and relatives of those shot in Katyn, but also the co-founder of Solidarnosc, Anna Walentynowicz. A stubborn, uncompromising little woman who had survived a lot. Muse of the shipyards, she had caused some migraines to the leaders of Poland. The Deputy Prime Minister of Communist Poland, Rakowskil nicknamed her “the irresponsible shrew”. Kind of a compliment...

Born in 1929, orphaned at the age of 10, Anna Walentynowicz worked on the farm, in a bakery before entering, in 1950, the “Lenin” shipyards in Gansk. A member of the Polish Youth Union (ZMP), she took part in the Socialist Youth Congress in Berlin in 1951. But she left the organization fairly quickly.

Feminist before its time, she became responsible for the "Women's League" in construction sites. And fights against various injustices: discrimination, misuse of money from the provident fund. She is under supervision by management. Victim of cancer, she is reclassified. But she continues the fight. In 1978, she joined the free trade union of coastal workers, WZZ "Robotnik Wybrzeza". Exasperated by her activism, the management of the construction sites dismissed her without the right to retire on August 8, 1980. Her eviction set fire to the powder. A strike breaks out which will give birth to the alternative trade union, NSZZ Solidarnosc.

Co-leader of the independent union, she clashes on several occasions with her other leader, better known in the West, Lech Walesa, but whom she accuses of being too soft and in the pay of the communist secret services. It is against her opinion that she supports the continuation of the strike. His determination won the union's support. His intransigence nearly cost him his life. In 1981, the SB - security services - of Poland tried to poison him. After the introduction of martial law, she was interned, like several hundred leaders of Solidarnosc. Released, she continues the fight nonetheless. Participating in particular in the protest and rotating hunger strike to free political prisoners, in particular Adam Michnik, founder of Gazeta Wyborcza. With the advent of pluralist Poland, she abandoned the political fight not recognizing the power in place.

In 2008, however, she returned to the shipyards, coming to support the workers, again on strike, this time for their working conditions and against the decisions to restructure the shipyards. At almost 80 years old, she does not give up.

Meanwhile, her story, somewhat fictionalized, served as the backdrop for the film "Strike: the heroine of Gdansk" by Volker Schlöndorff, released in 2006. A title she will refuse. She will even threaten the production with a lawsuit if he does not withdraw his name from the production. The only title she will have accepted will be the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest honor, received from the hands of Lech Kaczynski.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)