POLAND/FILE: Local residents in Warsaw say the death of General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Poland's last communist leader, say his actions will be judged by generation to come, as the controversial leader divides even in death

Record ID: 695345

  • Title: POLAND/FILE: Local residents in Warsaw say the death of General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Poland's last communist leader, say his actions will be judged by generation to come, as the controversial leader divides even in death
  • Date: 25th May 2014
  • Summary: SEJM, POLAND (FILE - 1983) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) PARLIAMENT VOTE ON SOLIDARITY AMNESTY BILL JARUZELSKI AT PODIUM ADDRESSING PARLIAMENT WARSAW, POLAND (FILE - APRIL 6, 2006) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) JARUZELSKI SPEAKING
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA53SWKW4ZXMBMMI6XF90D80HTA
  • Story Text: The death of the last communist leader of Poland, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, was met with reflection on Sunday (May 25) by local residents in the Polish capital Warsaw as unrest in Ukraine brought into focus the martial law he imposed in the country in the 1980s.
    In public a stern, enigmatic figure in his trademark dark glasses, Jaruzelski's record defies easy judgment and still divides Poles almost a quarter century after the fall of communism.
    For many Poles, Jaruzelski was a Soviet stooge who, with Moscow's backing, announced military rule on Dec. 13, 1981, after the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain, Solidarity, threatened communist rule.
    Others accepted his argument that the decision helped to avert a Soviet-led military intervention like those that crushed similar protests in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.
    Speaking after his death, Warsaw resident Stefan said Jaruzelski's actions could be juxtaposed with the unrest currently being experienced in Ukraine.
    "He did a lot of good things, but also became entangled in history. From a contemporary point of view, in the context of Ukraine, I think he did well, and now we have democracy," he told Reuters Television.
    "Without martial law we could have been in a worst situation than Ukraine is today," Warsaw Resident Janina said.
    Warsaw Resident Bartosz said that ultimately history would be the judge of Jaruzelski "He's written into our history, but good or bad, it will be judged by future generations," he said.
    Decades later, on trial for declaring martial law and for human rights violations, Jaruzelski defended his decision.
    "Martial law was evil but it was a far lesser evil than what would have happened without it," he told a court in 2008, adding that he regretted the "social costs" of the decision.
    As Polish president in 1989, Jaruzelski also convened talks that led to the legalisation of Solidarity and the first partially free elections in the Soviet bloc that finally broke the communists' monopoly on power.
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