General Wojciech Jaruzelski has died today, 25th May 2014.

He has definitively been a central figure in the recent Polish history, especially in the transition to democracy.

It is difficult to judge the life of Jaruzelski, considering his political and military decisions in the decades between 60s and 80s.


He started his military career very early and in 1945, when he was just 22, he participated in military takeover of Warsaw and in the battle of Berlin, being part of the Polish Army. After joining Communist Party, he developed his career quickly, becoming Minister of Defense in 1968. As Minister, he ordered to occupy Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Moreover, he constantly opposed a strong repression of Polish striking workers. 

Probably the darkest period of Jaruzelski's career was during the proclamation of martial law in 1981, few months later becoming Prime Minister. The aim of the martial law was to suppress Solidarnosc, but Jaruzelski has often justified his decision in order to avoid the invasion from Soviet troops in Poland, a country that was becoming dangerous for the stability of the Soviet area. Anyway an hypothetic Soviet plan to invade Poland has never been discosed.

Jaruzelski has played a central role in the transition to democracy of Poland.  Thanks to the new political view of Gorbaciev, in 1989 negotiations were held in the famous roundtable talks with democratic forces. The agreements resulted completely changed Polish political system, with the recognition of Solidarnosc as legal organization and with a new institutional structure.
Even if Jaruzelski was able to win the Presidential elections in 1989, without the support of Solidarnosc he decided to resign.

What to believe about his political life? Was he a completely negative figure in the Polish history, or he really facilitated the Polish transition to democracy?

Two facts are objective. First, Poland has never been invaded from Sovietic Army since the end of the II World War. Even if the role held by Jaruzelsky is not clear, Poland didn’t have a similar destiny as Hungary and Czechoslovakia.


Secondly, the end of Communism in Poland was peaceful and without any division. Even if Solidarnosc was a strong movement and also Vatican was an important actor, also the Communist political leadership understood the situation and facilitated the transition.