Friday's ceremony was attended by Halina Krahelska's granddaughter, Joanna Krahelska, and Karol Modzelewski's wife, Małgorzata Goetz, who, together with the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, unveiled plaques commemorating their loved ones.

This momentous event carries many symbolic dimensions, which for me personally as a politician, but also as the Minister responsible for labour, are extremely important. 'This is because just a few days before Labour Day, we are honouring people who have put the defence of the dignity of working people first in their public activities', said Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk at the ceremony.

They not only believed in, but also were working to create a better world

As a writer, researcher and deputy Chief Labour Inspector, Halina Krahelska was fighting for the establishment of labour standards in the reborn Republic of Poland. She was paying special attention to the fate of working women and young people.

Karol Modzelewski was on the workers' side throughout his life: he was with them in October 1956, wrote the Open Letter to the Party in 1964, he was one of the founders of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union 'Solidarity' in 1980 or disagreed with the anti-worker so-called 'shock therapy' in 1989.

Both showed great civil courage in their social activism and a willingness to pay a high price in defence of their ideals. In the case of Halina Krahelska, the price was deportation to Siberia and then death in Ravensbruck. In the case of Karol Modzelewski, the price was eight years spent in communist prisons', said the head of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.

As she emphasised, those honoured were united not only by their vision of a better world, but also by their willingness to work towards that vision.

Great courage in the fight for ideals

Both showed great civil courage in their social activism and a willingness to pay a high price in defence of their ideals. In the case of Halina Krahelska, the price was deportation to Siberia and then death in Ravensbruck. In the case of Karol Modzelewski, the price was eight years spent in communist prisons.

The attitudes of Halina Krahelska and Karol Modzelewski, although they lived in different times, are united by steadfastness, fidelity to their convictions, sincerity and great empathy for other people. In their biographies, the aspirations of all the brave women and men who have fought for a fairer world, which have been with us for centuries, are concentrated as if through a lens," emphasised Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk.

KAROL MODZELEWSKI

Karol Modzelewski (born. 23 November 1937 in Moscow, died. 28 April 2019 in Warsaw) - medievalist historian, professor of humanities, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and dissident, political prisoner and democratic opposition activist during the Polish People's Republic, senator of the first term. Knight of the Order of the White Eagle.

Participant in the events of October 1956 (he was a liaison between students and workers of the FSO Żerań passenger car factory). Member of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) since 1957. In 1964, together with Jacek Kuroń, he wrote an 'Open Letter to the Party' criticising the political line of the PZPR for departing from the ideals of socialism; writing this letter resulted in the expulsion of its authors from the PZPR. He was one of the initiators of the student protests at the University of Warsaw in March 1968. From November 1980 to April 1981, he was the first spokesman for the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union 'Solidarity’ and initiated the adoption by the union of its name 'Solidarność'. Imprisoned and interned several times for political reasons during the communist era, he spent a total of eight and a half years in prison.

Professor at the University of Wrocław (1992-1994) and at the University of Warsaw (1994-2019), a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Vice President of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2007-2010. In 2007 he was awarded the Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science for his monograph Barbarian Europe (2004), in which he tackled the issue of the emergence of European identity under the influence of pre-Christian traditions. Author of the autobiography Zajeździmy kobyłę historii. Wyznania poobijanego jeźdźca (Riding the mare of history. Confessions of a battered rider.) (2013), in which he gave an account of his ideological and political activities initiated in the 1950s, as well as criticised the way in which the systemic transformation was carried out in Poland, pointing out the negative effects of this transformation related to the domination of the neoliberal model.

HALINA KRAHELSKA

Halina Krahelska (born on 12 May 1886 in Odessa, died on 19 April 1945 in Ravensbruck concentration camp) - Polish social activist, sociologist, publicist and writer, left-wing activist. From 1908 in the Polish Socialist Party-Revolutionary Faction, from 1912 in the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party.

 From 1912 to 1917 in exile - first in Kishinev, in 1913 in Kiev, and from November 1914 in eastern Siberia, near Kansk. After the February Revolution and the overthrow of the Tsar, she returned from exile via Smolensk to Odessa. In 1918, a member of the Polish Military Organisation (POW) in Odessa. After regaining independence, she came to Poland in 1919. From 1919 to 1921 and 1927 to 1931 she was Deputy Chief Labour Inspector, dealing mainly with the system of labour protection and social welfare - especially the protection of maternity and the health of working women and young workers. From 1921 to 1925 on parental leave. In 1928 or 1929, as part of a Rockefeller Scholarship, she travelled through Switzerland, France, Austria and Germany, researching labour and welfare systems in Western Europe. She took part in many social left-wing political campaigns. From 1931 she was a labour expert, representing Poland at the International Labour Office in Geneva.

She published both poetry and fiction, as well as scientific and social studies. In 1932, her book 'Women's Work in the Textile Industry' was published by the Institute of Social Economy. At that time, she carried out a preliminary selection of manuscripts submitted to the Institute for a competition entitled 'Pamiętniki Bezrobotnych' (Memoirs of the Unemployed). In 1933, Krahelska's next publication, entitled 'Przeobrażenia w rodzinie współczesnej i w roli kobiety' (Transformations in the Modern Family and the Role of Women), was published in Lviv. In her further work, Krahelska, together with two writers, Leon Kruczkowski and Andrzej Strug, undertook the evaluation of the very extensive material submitted in the competition for 'Pamiętniki chłopów’ (Farmers' Memoirs), which was organised by the Institute of Social Economy. Both publications resulting from these diary competitions are still used extensively today by researchers and scholars of Polish social history. From 1933 she was associated with the literary group 'Przedmieście’ (Suburb Area). In 1937, she was a co-founder of the Democratic Club in Warsaw.

After the Third Reich's aggression against Poland in September 1939, she was commander of the Anti-Aircraft Defence in Mokotów neighbourhood during the defence of Warsaw. She also worked in the Military Historical Bureau and the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the ZWZ-AK (Union of Armed Struggle-Home Army) Headquarters. In 1941, she suffered a serious accident, being hit by a German military car and losing her leg. She was carrying important reports at the time and, despite her suffering, managed to get them into the right hands, avoiding deconspiration. In recognition of this heroic deed, she was awarded the Cross of Valour. She is the author of the pamphlet 'Oświęcim - Diary of a Prisoner' (the memoirs are largely based on the accounts of Władysław Bartoszewski). She was imprisoned in the Ravensbruck concentration camp, where she was either killed or died, probably on 19 April 1945. Before her death, she wrote 'Tezy do działalności inspekcji pracy w odrodzonej Polsce' (Theses for the activity of labour inspection in reborn Poland).