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Post by hollister on Mar 6, 2008 8:03:11 GMT -7
/East News/ In January, the communist government banned the performance of a play by Adam Mickiewicz, (Dziady, written in 1824) and directed by Kazimierz Dejmek at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw, on the grounds that it contained Russophobic and "anti-socialist" references. The play had been performed 14 times, the last on January 30. Dejmek was expelled from the Communist Party and later fired from the National Theatre. The Warsaw Writers' Union condemned the ban on March 2, followed by the Actors' Union. A crowd of some 1,500 students protesting at Warsaw University on March 8 was met by attacks. Within four days, protests spread to Kraków, Lublin, Gliwice, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Poznań, and Łódź.[/b] Bands of Communist party "worker-squads" attacked the students, followed by police in Warsaw and Lublin. Mass student strikes took place in Wrocław on March 14-16, Kraków on March 14-20, and Opole. A call for a general strike was issued from Warsaw on March 13. A hardline speech by Władysław Gomułka on March 19 cut off the possibility of negotiation. Further student protests, strikes and occupations were met with the mass expulsion of thousands of participants. National coordination by the students was attempted through a March 25 meeting in Wrocław; most of its attendees were jailed by the end of April. At least 2,725 people were arrested for participating. According to internal government reports, the suppression was generally effective, although students were able to disrupt May Day ceremonies is Wroclaw. To stir the attention of general public from the Student movement, which had a liberal backgroud and was centred around freedom of speech for intellectuals and artists, the communist party came up with the idea of Nazi provenance. A leader of the hardline faction inside the Party, blamed the student riot on "Zionists" and used this affair as a pretext to launch a larger anti-Semitic campaign (although the expression "anti-Zionist" was officially used) to target the Jews, following on the earlier anti-Zionist movements. In fact, despite the participation of a mix of Christian and Jewish Polish student activists in the protests, the relation of the protesting to Zionism was mixed if not negative. The national strike call from Warsaw opposed both anti-Semitism and Zionism. A banner hung at a Rzeszow high school on April 27 read: "We hail our Zionist comrades." Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Polish_political_crisis"To był wielki studencki bunt" article (in Polish) tinyurl.com/2f4w8qa short new report showing the protests www.tvn24.pl/-1,1541293,wiadomosc.html
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Post by Jaga on Mar 6, 2008 10:17:12 GMT -7
I remember this time. I was still in the kindergarden but I remember how shocked my mother came from the work. She was working in the downtown in Krakow and she saw students being targeted by a polce. The police was using the gases to pacify the demonstrations.
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Post by hollister on Mar 6, 2008 17:17:12 GMT -7
My friend, Kasia, likes the tell the story about how she and a bunch of her fellow students "stormed" the roof of one of the sciences buildings at the University. According to her, their efforts were largely ignored by the authorities but they had great seats to watch what was happening in the streets.
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Post by Jaga on Mar 9, 2008 9:05:13 GMT -7
+++great seats to watch what was happening in the streets. +++
Holly, but this was real... so I am not sure how great it was to watch students to be pacified...
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Post by Jaga on Mar 9, 2008 9:06:27 GMT -7
There is a controversy now since Adam Michnik was not invited by pres. Kaczynski for the 40th year anniversary of MArch 1968. Adam Michnik was one of the main force behind the students unrest so he could be there at the ceremoy.
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Post by Jaga on Mar 9, 2008 9:22:20 GMT -7
Here is more about the anniversary which was later related to the purge of remaining Jews from Poland: WARSAW, Poland (AP) - After the horrors of the Holocaust, Poland's Jews suffered once again under the anti-Semitic policies of the new communist regime. This week, Poland marks the 40th anniversary of a purge that drove an estimated 15,000 Jews _ survivors of the Holocaust and their children _ from Poland. The March, 1968 campaign gave an official government blessing to widespread anti-Jewish sentiment «It is important because for the first time it legalized anti-Semitism in Poland,» said Professor Feliks Tych, a Holocaust survivor and historian at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. «It was, as the French say, the coup de grace to Jewish life in Poland. Almost all Jewish institutions were liquidated, young Jews that were the future of the community left. The commemoration, which includes a series of academic conferences and a handful of documentary film viewings, has garnered more of the public spotlight than in years past and fueled government efforts to rectify some of the wrongs committed by the communist regime. It also comes amid a rebirth in the country of Jewish life that was devastated during the Holocaust, and as Poland _ once home to Europe's largest Jewish community of nearly 3.5 million _ continues to confront painful memories from its historical ties with Jews. www.pr-inside.com/poland-observes-40th-anniversary-of-r475202.htm
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Post by hollister on Mar 9, 2008 10:11:46 GMT -7
+++great seats to watch what was happening in the streets. +++ Holly, but this was real... so I am not sure how great it was to watch students to be pacified... Jaga, I think you misunderstood me, or I was not clear... I did not mean "great" that they enjoyed themselves - quite the opposite. They took pictures and recorded what they saw. I was trying to say that they had a strategic place to observe what was going on. They felt part of something historic and important - their world was changing and they were a part of it. Kasia is very aware of how real it was - she was kicked out of Poland because of her activities. Her, now husband, was thrown in jail. I think she was very aware of what was going on and how much it was costing the participants. I am sorry if you feel I was being flip with my response - that was NOT my intent at all - I was attempting to highlight and important event. Just to be clear - She is also disgusted by the Jewish purge.
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Post by Jaga on Mar 9, 2008 14:36:25 GMT -7
I think you misunderstood me, or I was not clear... Just to be clear - She is also disgusted by the Jewish purge. Holly, sorry. I just could not resist not to respond. I was almost sure that this is not what they ment.... it is just that this long winter gets to me...and I am becoming sarcastic...
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Post by justjohn on Mar 10, 2008 5:34:29 GMT -7
BBC NEWS Poland to welcome expelled JewsPoland's president has promised to restore citizenship to thousands of Jews who were expelled from the country by the communists in 1968. Lech Kaczynski described the decision to kick out about 15,000 Jews - many Holocaust survivors - as "shameful". The purge followed nationwide student protests that began after a decision to close down a patriotic play. People of Jewish origin were blamed, stripped of Polish citizenship and ordered out of the country. Police violently broke up a student demonstration at Warsaw University 40 years ago. It had been caused by the communist authorities' decision to close down a patriotic play by Poland's national poet, Adam Mickiewicz. The protests quickly spread across the country before being crushed with considerable violence. Many of the students and professors were of Jewish origin and the communist party used that fact to purge Jews from public life. An estimated 15,000 people - half the country's Jewish population - were given a one-way ticket out of the country and stripped of their citizenship. Loss of talent Among those attending Saturday's anniversary ceremony was Michal Sobelman, one of those forced out in 1968. "We left because we couldn't be Poles and we couldn't live here as Jews," Mr Sobelman said. "The Poland of those times did not want us," he said. I treat this as my personal contribution to reversing the consequences of those sad, shameful events. Never more Lech Kaczynski Polish President "But with our suitcases we took a little bit of Poland that was with us for 40 years. Today, in some symbolic way, we return it to end this sad chapter," Mr Sobelman said. Mr Kaczynski said the campaign was an enormous loss for Poland. "It was a very bad and shameful time," he said. "The nation lost its reputation for many years and the damage has still not be completely repaired. "An even greater loss was that thousands of often very talented, ambitious and entrepreneurial people had to leave our country." The president went on to promise to make up for the communist-era decision by restoring Polish citizenship to those who wanted it. "I am ready, without any formalities or even requests... to return citizenship to everyone from those times who will want it," Mr Kaczynski said at a ceremony in Warsaw at one of the train stations where thousands had boarded to leave. "I treat this as my personal contribution to reversing the consequences of those sad, shameful events. Never more." Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7285304.stmPublished: 2008/03/08 16:23:26 GMT
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