Sunday morning, 13 December 1981 – dead phones, silent radio, no favourite children’s programme on TV, why?
we look in the face of hunger the face of fire the face of death the worst of all – the face of betrayal

(Zbigniew Herbert, Report from the Besieged City)

On this December morning, at 6.00, few Poles listened to the announcement by Wojciech Jaruzelski on the imposition of martial law in the whole country. However, the message was spread throughout the country and the announcement was repeated on the radio and television. At the same time, there were arrests of oppositionists and active Solidarity activists – more than 5 thousand activists were arrested in a few days and placed in specially prepared internment centres. The arrested included scientists, teachers, people of culture, workers. It was not a sudden decision resulting from some threat but an elaborate plan that had already been prepared the year before, under the supervision of the Warsaw Pact commander-in-chief and under the supervision of the Kremlin. The lists of persons to be arrested prepared by SB (Security Service) officers were ready as early as at the beginning of the year and the ZOMO (Motorised Reserves of the Citizens’ Militia) underwent intensive training on suppression of rebellion. The nation did not expect a blow, the Solidarity movement worked, despite the huge economic collapse and problems with food supply, there was a hope that hated communism would fall down. Martial law shattered these hopes. In the night at the turn of 12 and 13 December, Jaruzelski, in agreement with the Kremlin, implemented his plan in breach of the Constitution and the law applicable in the Polish People’s Republic.

Poles had to face restrictions – curfew, dead phones, postal censorship and the need to have a pass to be able to travel outside the place of residence. Publishing of books and press has been restricted. These are just some restrictions.

The tragedy of martial law was the bloodshed of Poles – Cain’s crime committed against the protesting miners from the Wujek mine and a participant in the demonstration in Gdańsk. Strikes and protests in mines and in the “Katowice” steelworks were ruthlessly suppressed. Alongside the workers, also the intellectualists and students protested against martial law.

The first support was given to the compatriots by Pope John Paul II and a burning candle appeared in the windows of his apartment – the symbol of the Pope’s solidarity with the suffering homeland, and, at the same time, a sign of hope. As early as on 13 December, after the Angelus prayer, the Pope prayed for Poland and on the following day, on the St. Peter’s Square thousands of people prayed for the Pope’s homeland. The support for the anti-communist opposition was also given in the official address of the then President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, on 23 December 1981.

When looking back to these times, let us honour the murdered victims of martial law, such as 9 killed miners and teenage Grzegorz Przemyk, a young poet and a secondary school graduate from Warsaw.

On the 40^th anniversary of martial law, let us not forget about the gesture of the Polish Pope nor about those who have given their lives to the ideals of Solidarity – freedom for the Homeland and bread for all. Let the candles, the divine lights of hope scattering the darkness and evil spreading all over the world, burn in our windows. Let the bright light of the candles in our windows also become a symbol of faith in the future.