Lech Walesa — "The only thing I ever wanted was to be free. And to make Poland free."
The only thing I ever wanted was to be free. And to make Poland free.
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More from Lech Walesa
"The future is in our hands."
"I am not a saint. I am a normal man with sins."
"I am a simple man with a simple message: freedom and justice."
"I have always been on the side of the people."
"I am not a hero, I am just a man."
About Lech Walesa (born 1943)
Polish electrician who founded Solidarity in 1980, won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, and became the first post-communist president of Poland (1990-1995). Closely associated with Václav Havel (fellow Eastern-bloc dissident-turned-president) and Pope John Paul II (the Polish pope whose 1979 visit catalyzed Solidarity). For an intellectual contrast, see Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and Communist leader — Jaruzelski imposed martial law in 1981, banned Solidarity, and interned Wałęsa. He represented the Soviet-backed institutional power Solidarity's nonviolent labor movement was organized to displace — they ultimately signed the 1989 Round Table Talks together that ended Polish communism.