Pacification of Wujek | |
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Part of Martial law in Poland | |
Type | Shooting |
Location | 50°14′41″N 18°59′17″E / 50.244775°N 18.987936°E |
Objective | Crackdown on the strike |
Date | 16 December 1981 |
Executed by | ZOMO Polish People's Army |
Casualties | 9 miners killed |
The Pacification of Wujek was a strike-breaking action by the Polish police and army at the Wujek Coal Mine in Katowice, Poland, culminating in the massacre of nine striking miners on December 16, 1981.
It was part of a large-scale action aimed to break the Solidarity free trade union after the introduction of martial law in Poland in 1981. Although the strike was suppressed, in a longer term, it turned out to be a milestone towards the collapse of the authoritarian system in Poland and, ultimately, to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. It was a site of numerous protests, including by Solidarity activist Anna Walentynowicz who commemorated a plaque to the murdered miners shortly after she left prison at Gołdap.