5/5 Indra 1 year ago on Google
Monument
has
been
build
in
the
respect
to
fallen
shipyard
workers
and
their
resistance
to
the
communist
system
and
its
collapse.
The
monument
and
European
Solidarity
Center
is
especially
worth
visiting
for
young
people
or
foreigners
unfamiliar
with
the
regime.
Plan
a
couple
of
hours
for
the
audio-guided
tour.
The
monument
of
the
most
notable
atrocities
of
the
state’s
repressive
apparatus
was
the
firing
at
innocent
workers
leaving
a
train
in
Gdynia
to
go
to
work
in
the
morning
of
December
17,1970.
The
unrest
was
too
much
for
the
authorities.
Armed
militia
units
attacked
the
crowd
with
tear
gas
and
brutally
pacified
the
demonstrators,
who
over
the
next
few
days
fought
for
their
rights,
not
only
in
Gdańsk
but
in
other
port
cities,
notably
Gdynia
and
Szczecin.
Armed
militia
confrontations
with
the
protestors
led
to
the
deaths
of
around
40
people,
while
over
1,000
people
were
injured.
The
economy
in
Poland
had
been
slowing
down
throughout
the
1960s,
with
a
drop
in
foreign
investment,
a
decline
in
production
and
–
most
importantly
–
a
lack
of
everyday
goods
becoming
commonplace
throughout
the
country.
According
to
official
statistics,
in
1969
Poles
spent
an
average
of
1.5
hours
a
day
standing
in
line
for
essential
goods.