Lech Wałęsa

Lech Wałęsa

Lech Wałęsa (born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, 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 1926 and the first-ever Polish president elected by popular vote. A shipyard electrician by trade, Wałęsa became the leader of the 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. 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 over ten million. After martial law in Poland was imposed and Solidarity was outlawed, Wałęsa was again arrested. Released from custody, he continued his activism and was prominent in the establishment of the Round Table Agreement that led to the semi-free 1989 Polish legislative election and a Solidarity-led government. He presided over Poland's transition from Marxist–Leninist state socialism into a free-market capitalist liberal democracy, but his active role in Polish politics diminished after he narrowly lost the 1995 Polish presidential election. In 1995, he established the Lech Wałęsa Institute. Since 1980, Wałęsa has received hundreds of prizes, honors and awards from multiple countries and organizations worldwide. He was named the Time Person of the Year (1981) and one of Time's 100 most important people of the 20th century (1999). He has received over forty honorary degrees, including from Harvard University and Columbia University, as well as dozens of the highest state orders, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, and the French Grand Cross of Legion of Honour. In 1989, Wałęsa was the first foreign non-head of state to address the Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress. The Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport has borne his name since 2004. Wałęsa was born in Popowo, Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, Germany (German-occupied Poland). His father, Bolesław Wałęsa (1908–1945), was a carpenter who was rounded up and interned in a forced labour camp at Młyniec (outpost of KL Stutthof) by the German occupying forces before Lech was born. Bolesław returned home after the war but died two months later from exhaustion and illness. Lech's mother, Feliksa Wałęsa (née Kamieńska; 1916–1975), has been credited with shaping her son's beliefs and tenacity. ... Source: Article "Lech Wałęsa" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

  • Popularity : 0.529
  • Known For : Acting
  • Birthday : 1943-09-29
  • Place of Birth : Popowo, kujawsko-pomorskie, Polska
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Lech Wałęsa Movies

  • 2023
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    In the Grip of Gazprom

    In the Grip of Gazprom

    8 2023 HD

    The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly it became clear how dependent countries had become...

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  • 1981
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    The Birth of Solidarity

    The Birth of Solidarity

    1 1981 HD

    A film showing the social mood and tensions in the period between the end of the strikes in August 1980 and the registration of the Solidarity Trade...

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  • 1991
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    Człowiek ze studni

    Człowiek ze studni

    1 1991 HD

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  • 2023
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    Der General und der Elektriker: Machtkampf in Polen

    Der General und der Elektriker: Machtkampf in Polen

    8 2023 HD

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  • 2022
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    Intervision Song Contest - schlager i kalla krigets skugga

    Intervision Song Contest - schlager i kalla krigets skugga

    9 2022 HD

    Documentary about the Intervision Song Contest in general and the 1980 edition in particular. Focuses on Finland's participation and the shipyard...

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  • 2008
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    Gra o Nobla

    Gra o Nobla

    1 2008 HD

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  • 1982
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    Workers '80

    Workers '80

    1 1982 HD

    Documentary about the beginning of Solidarnosc.

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  • 2007
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    Hammer & Tickle

    Hammer & Tickle

    7.4 2007 HD

    Hammer & Tickle: The Communist Joke Book is a 2006 propaganda documentary film about "jokes" under the Soviet Union.

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  • 1981
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    Man of Iron

    Man of Iron

    6.8 1981 HD

    In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends disgruntled radio reporter Winkel to Gdańsk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers - particularly on...

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  • 2000
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    Bajland

    Bajland

    3 2000 HD

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  • 2019
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    Tell No One

    Tell No One

    7.5 2019 HD

    Polish documentary directed by Tomasz Sekielski about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland.

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  • 2019
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    Meeting Gorbachev

    Meeting Gorbachev

    6.583 2019 HD

    Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to discuss his many achievements. Topics include the...

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  • 2019
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    Solidarność: How Solidarity Changed Europe

    Solidarność: How Solidarity Changed Europe

    7 2019 HD

    Gdańsk, Poland, September 1980. Lech Wałęsa and other Lenin shipyard workers found Solidarność (Solidarity), the first independent trade union...

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  • 2019
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    1979: Big Bang of the Present

    1979: Big Bang of the Present

    7.5 2019 HD

    Deng Xiaoping's economic and political opening in China. Margaret Thatcher's extreme economic measures in the United Kingdom. Ayatollah Khomeini's...

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  • 2020
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    Stalin and the Katyn Massacre

    Stalin and the Katyn Massacre

    6.857 2020 HD

    The Katyn massacre, carried out by the Soviet NKVD in 1940, was only one of many unspeakable crimes committed by Stalin's ruthless executioners over...

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  • 2011
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    Jan Paweł II: Szukałem Was...

    Jan Paweł II: Szukałem Was...

    1 2011 HD

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  • 2011
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    The Last Days of the USSR

    The Last Days of the USSR

    8 2011 HD

    From 1989 to 1991 a string of unpredictable events happened that brought to light the rivalry between two men: Gorbachev, hindered by the economic...

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  • 2005
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    Solidarność, Solidarność...

    Solidarność, Solidarność...

    6 2005 HD

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  • 2017
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    Wałęsa by Wałęsa

    Wałęsa by Wałęsa

    1 2017 HD

    Lech Wałęsa. One of the most important and at the same time most colourful figures in Polish history. In communist Poland he was a simple...

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  • 1999
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    Faith of the Century: A History of Communism

    Faith of the Century: A History of Communism

    8.5 1999 HD

    Communism spread to all of the continents of the word, lasting through four generations and over seven decades. Hundreds of millions of men and women...

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  • 1995
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    Goldene Henne

    Goldene Henne

    1 1995 HD

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  • 1975
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    Apostrophes

    Apostrophes

    8.5 1975 HD

    Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years...

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  • 1998
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    Alpha Forum

    Alpha Forum

    1 1998 HD

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  • 1999
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    Maybrit Illner

    Maybrit Illner

    8 1999 HD

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  • 2019
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    Ingemann og Jerntæppets fald

    Ingemann og Jerntæppets fald

    1 2019 HD

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