Lech Wałęsa

Polish dissident, Nobel laureate, and first democratically elected President of Poland.

Chronology: 1943-09-29 – Present

Origins & Early Life

Lech Wałęsa (born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, anticommunist dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democratically elected president of Poland since 1922 and the first-ever Polish president elected by popular vote. An electrician by trade, Wałęsa became the leader of the opposition Solidarity movement and led a successful pro-democratic effort, which in 1989 ended Communist rule in Poland and ushered in the end of the Cold War. While working at the Lenin Shipyard (now Gdańsk Shipyard), Wałęsa, an electrician, became a trade-union activist, for which he was persecuted by the government, placed under surveillance, fired in 1976 and arrested several times.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

In August 1980, he was instrumental in political negotiations that led to the ground-breaking Gdańsk Agreement between striking workers and the government. He co-founded the Solidarity trade union, whose membership rose to more than ten million. After martial law in Poland was imposed and Solidarity was outlawed, Wałęsa was arrested again. Released from custody, he continued his activism and was prominent...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Source: Wikipedia