4th of July at the US Ambassador's Residence in Poland

Martha, Craig and Alan, Brian and Scott and I all piled into a cab and headed out to Ambassador Davies’ residence. Here we entered a home where a huge crowd of Solidarity and Catholic Church dignitaries mingled delightedly with the Embassy staff. Jacek Merkel spied us immediately and drug us around the room and introduced us to, Priest Jankowski, Kuba, Andrjez Kozakiewic and Dr. Janick. Priest Jankowski did not speak English, but he gestured to me that he wanted exchange his pin of Lech Walesa for my American/Polish flag pin I was wearing. Of course. Priest Jankowski was an important figure in the demise of communism in Poland and the world. He was the Priest at St. Brygida’s Cathedral.

The Cathedral was located in Gdansk in direct view of the upper floors of the Hevelius Hotel, where the Communists often worked to spy on the comings and goings of the congregation. Both the hotel and the Cathedral were juxtaposed to the Lenin Shipyard, and so were pivotal in all the activities – whether it was the Solidarity opposition or communist regime. St. Brygida was used as a sanctuary for hunted Solidarity Leaders and sympathizers, such as Andrzej Kozakiewicz; and it was used as a triage hub during the 1970 massacre. Jankowski’s role was constant, and emboldened with the support of Pope John Paul III and the martyrdom of Father Jerzy Popielusko.

The story of Priest Popieluszko is that he was a Solidarity promoter. He was so eloquent in his passion for the movement even though it had been outlawed during the 1980’s, the Polish people never lost hope or the spirit of the Solidarity (Solidarnosc) because of his fervent support. His power to enhance the hope during Martial Law led to his death. He was abducted along a lonely stretch of road outside the city of Torun on Oct 19. His body was found in a reservoir on the Vistual River, 85 miles northwest of Warsaw. The Secret Police had spread the rumors that he was a victim of gang violence, but the Priest’s driver easily identified the Secret Police Captain, Grzegorz Piotrowski (an officer in the Interior Ministry section that monitors the activities of religious groups in Poland) as the ringleader. He and his co-conspirators believed that eliminating the popular Priest would cause the weakened Solidarity Movement to fracture. It had quite the opposite effect.

Popieluszko’s murder gave Solidarity a Martyr. He was a man who preached that no sacrifice was too great for the truth, and was now compelled to be a symbol of that sacrifice, now hallowed by baptism in blood.

Although Jankowski was continually in harm’s way, he managed to escape Popieluszko’s fate. He held many prayer rallies, and covertly supported the efforts of the men and women in Solidarity. Andrzej Kozakiewicz particularly relied on Jankowski during Martial Law.

Andrzej had lived in the U.S. in exile during most of Martial Law. He was able to escape under the Political Asylum provisions at the US Embassy. Although he had been an ordinary roofer, he was truly one of the country’s best. He was the head of the Solidarity Fund founded by Lech Walesa when given a grant from the US Congress (Senator Orin Hatch). The Fund was put in place to find work for those who had been black-listed from all work by the communist regime for their participation in Solidarity.

Later, I met Joanna Woijechowicz who was instrumental in providing employment for these “unemployable” people in her pottery/ art shop – a direct beneficiary of this fund. But I was only learning these things at this time. I was so caught up in all the people I got to meet at this 4^th of July party :

Thadeus Mazowiecki was another man I was introduced to. He was the acting, or interim President of Poland after the resignation of General Jaruzelski (the very man who declared Martial Law on his own people). Naturally, Jaruzelski was not present at this party, but neither was Lech Walesa.

I began to notice that Pan Walesa was being a recalcitrant at this time. His strategy was NOT to be the transitional government. To his credit, Walesa knew that transitional governments were always temporary: notably, they did not last very long after being intruded into the political system. So he was very willing to let Mazowiecki work out the very difficult kinks and then swoop in at a later and more perfect time.

Eventually, Kuba (Zaborowski), Andrzej (Kozakiewicz), Dr. Janik ,and I left the party and made our way up to the bar at the top of the Marriott Hotel.