Lech Wałęsa

Lech Wałęsa born 29 September 1943 is a Polish statesman dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995 After winning the 1990 election Wałęsa became the first democratically elected President of Poland since 1926 and the firstever Polish president elected by popular vote A shipyard electrician by trade Wałęsa became the leader of the Solidarity movement and led a successful prodemocratic effort which in 1989 ended Communist rule in Poland and ushered in the end of the Cold War While working at the Lenin Shipyard now Gdańsk Shipyard Wałęsa an electrician became a tradeunion activist for which he was persecuted by the government placed under surveillance fired in 1976 and arrested several times In August 1980 he was instrumental in political negotiations that led to the groundbreaking Gdańsk Agreement between striking workers and the government He cofounded the Solidarity tradeunion whose membership rose to over ten million After martial law in Poland was imposed and Solidarity was outlawed Wałęsa was again arrested Released from custody he continued his activism and was prominent in the establishment of the Round Table Agreement that led to the semifree 1989 Polish legislative election and a Solidarityled government He presided over Polands transition from MarxistLeninist state socialism into a freemarket capitalist liberal democracy but his active role in Polish politics diminished after he narrowly lost the 1995 Polish presidential election In 1995 he established the Lech Wałęsa Institute Since 1980 Wałęsa has received hundreds of prizes honors and awards from multiple countries and organizations worldwide He was named the Time Person of the Year 1981 and one of Times 100 most important people of the 20th century 1999 He has received over forty honorary degrees including from Harvard University and Columbia University as well as dozens of the highest state orders including the Presidential Medal of Freedom the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and the French Grand Cross of Legion of Honour In 1989 Wałęsa was the first foreign nonhead of state to address the Joint Meeting of the US Congress The Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport has borne his name since 2004 Wałęsa was born in Popowo Reichsgau DanzigWest Prussia Germany Germanoccupied Poland His father Bolesław Wałęsa 19081945 was a carpenter who was rounded up and interned in a forced labour camp at Młyniec outpost of KL Stutthof by the German occupying forces before Lech was born Bolesław returned home after the war but died two months later from exhaustion and illness Lechs mother Feliksa Wałęsa née Kamieńska 19161975 has been credited with shaping her sons beliefs and tenacity Source Article Lech Wałęsa from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30