Central and Eastern Europe, International Journalism and PR

13 December: Martial law in Poland

Martial law in Poland (Polish: Stan wojenny ) was initiated on December 13, 1981 and lasted to July 22, 1983. The authoritarian communist government of the People’s Republic of Poland drastically restricted  life in Poland by introducing martial law in order to crash political opposition. Thousands of opposition activists were put in prison without charge and as many as 91 were killed. Many political prisoners were not released in 1983 when the martial law finished but in 1986 a year of the general amnesty.

Photo: cover: Chris Niedenthal. See more photos here: http://chrisniedenthal.com/en/works?tag=marital-law

Photo below: Wikipedia

Watch also official footage by Polish National Archives.