Here’s a look at the life of Lech Walesa, former president of Poland.
Personal
Birth date: September 29, 1943
Birth place: Popowo, Poland
Father: Boleslaw Walesa, carpenter
Mother: Felicja (Kaminski) Walesa
Marriage: Miroslawa “Danuta” (Golos) Walesa (1969-present)
Children: Bogdan, Slawek, Przemek, Jarek, Magdalena, Ania, Maria Wiktoria and Brygidka
Military service: Army, Corporal, 1965-1967
Religion: Roman Catholic
Other Facts
His father was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.
Sent his wife to accept his Nobel Prize, as he feared he would not be allowed to return to Poland.
Timeline
1961-1965 - Works as a car mechanic.
1965-1967 - Serves in the Polish Army.
1967 - Begins working as an electrician at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk.
1970 - During strikes protesting the rise of food prices, 45 shipyard workers are killed. Walesa is one of the leaders of the strike.
1976 - Is fired for his political activities.
1978 - Works with other activists to form free trade unions.
August 1980 - Leads a strike in the Gdansk shipyard, which spreads across the country. The workers win the right to organize their own union.
September 1980 - The independent trade union Solidarity is formed.
January 1981 - Meets with Pope John Paul II.
December 1981 - Walesa is arrested. Martial law is imposed across the country.
October 1982 - The Polish parliament passes an act dissolving all unions, including Solidarity.
November 1982 - Walesa is released.
July 1983 - Martial law is lifted.
October 1983 - Is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1987 - Walesa’s book, “A Way of Hope,” is published.
November 1989 - Addresses a joint session of the US Congress.
December 1990 - Is elected president of Poland.
1991 - Walesa’s autobiography, “The Struggle and The Triumph,” is published.
1995 - Founds the Lech Walesa Institute.
November 1995 - Is defeated in the presidential election.
2000 - Is again defeated in the presidential election.
August 2006 - Announces he has quit Solidarity as he opposes the union’s support of Poland’s current leadership.
February 2008 - Is implanted with a pacemaker at a hospital in Houston.
2009 - Sues Polish President Lech Kaczynski for libel, because of Kaczynski’s comments that Walesa was a spy in the 1970s. Kaczynski is killed in a plane crash in April 2010.
July 2012 - At Walesa’s invitation, US presidential candidate Mitt Romney travels to Poland. Walesa wishes Romney success in the election.
March 2013 - Tells a television reporter that as a minority, gay people have no right to prominent positions in politics, and should sit toward the rear of parliament or even “behind a wall.” He later refuses to apologize.
July 8, 2017 - Is hospitalized with heart problems in Gdansk.
January 21, 2022 - Walesa announces he has tested positive for Covid-19.