‘Icy silence …’ In 1980, as Poland is hit by workers’ strikes, the Swiss cartoonist Geisen illustrates the threat of a military intervention by Moscow to restore order.

Lech Walesa, Chairman since 1981 of Solidarnosc, the Polish Workers' Trade Union opposed to the Communist regime.

‘Whatever you do, don’t look at him!’ The cartoonist Behrendt illustrates the fears of the Soviet authorities that the anti-establishmentarianism triggered in Poland by Lech Walesa and the social movement Solidarnosc (Solidarity) will spread throughout the Eastern bloc.

Adam Michnik, born on 17 October 1946 in Warsaw, was one of the main leaders of the opposition to the totalitarian rule of the Polish United Workers’ Party and was co-founder, with Jacek Kuron, of the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR) in 1976. He took part in the Round Table talks in 1989 before being elected MP in the Polish Sejm the same year.

‘In need of help?’ In 1985, the German cartoonist, Fritz Behrendt, depicts the importance of Lech Walesa’s Solidarnosc trade union in providing support to Polish society against the failures of Marxism and General Wojciech Jaruzelski’s Communist regime.

In October 1986, the British Ambassador in Warsaw analyses the impact of Solidarnosc, the Polish workers’ trade union, on Polish society and institutions.

In 1986, activists belonging to Solidarnosc, the Polish Workers’ Trade Union, demonstrate in favour of the release of political prisoners and organise strikes which defy the regime of General W. Jaruzelski and paralyse the country.

‘Eye test’. In 1988, German cartoonist Lang illustrates the policy of mistrust adopted by Lech Walesa and the Polish workers’ trade union Solidarnosc with regard to the Polish Communist regime led by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.

On the campaign trail for the first semi-democratic elections in Poland since the end of the Second World War, Bronislaw Geremek, Special Adviser to Lech Walesa during the Round Table talks, stands in June 1989 as the candidate for the social movement Solidarnosc.

Le 2 février 1990, le quotidien belge La Libre Belgique revient sur les promesses d'aides accordées par la Communauté économique européenne (CEE) à la Pologne à l'issue de la première visite officielle en Belgique du Premier ministre polonais, Tadeusz Mazowiecki.

Anlässlich des beginnenden Wahlkampfes zur Ablösung des Generals Jaruzelski in Polen kommentiert die französische kommunistische Tageszeitung L’Humanité am 26. Juni 1990 die wachsenden Unstimmigkeiten zwischen Lech Walesa, dem ersten Sekretär von Solidarnosc, und seinen ehemaligen Weggefährten.

On 10 December 1990, the French daily newspaper Le Figaro considers the victory of Lech Walesa, founder of the Polish trade union Solidarnosc, in the first presidential elections held in post-Communist Poland.

On 26 April 1990, in Warsaw, in response to the geopolitical upheavals taking place in Central and Eastern Europe, Krzysztof Skubiszewski, Polish Foreign Minister, outlines the main thrust of his country’s foreign policy.