Lech Wałęsa Quotes

Lech Wałęsa is a retired Polish politician and labour activist. He co-founded and headed Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.While working at the Lenin Shipyard , Wałęsa, an electrician, became a trade-union activist, for which he was persecuted by the Communist authorities, 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 movement.

After martial law was imposed in Poland and Solidarity was outlawed, Wałęsa was again arrested. Released from custody, he continued his activism and was prominent in the establishment of the 1989 Round Table Agreement that led to semi-free parliamentary elections in June 1989 and to a Solidarity-led government.

In the Polish general election of 1990, Wałęsa successfully ran for the newly re-established office of President of Poland. He presided over Poland's transition from communism to a post-communist state, but his popularity waned and his role in Polish politics diminished after he narrowly lost the 1995 presidential election.

Since the fall of Communism in Poland, there have been allegations that Wałęsa had collaborated with the earlier communist secret police. In 2017 a lengthy investigation by the Institute of National Remembrance concluded that a handwriting study proved the authenticity of documents that Wałęsa had agreed to collaborate with the communist secret police.Since the death of Wojciech Jaruzelski in 2014, Wałęsa is the oldest living former Polish president at age 75.

✵ 29. September 1943
Lech Wałęsa photo
Lech Wałęsa: 11   quotes 2   likes

Famous Lech Wałęsa Quotes

“One could say I was goofy somewhere, and maybe even outed someone, but not that I was an agent. Not that I wanted to betray anybody. (…) I swear, and damn me if I lie.”

Można powiedzieć, że byłem gdzieś niezręczny, może nawet kogoś wsypałem, ale nie to, że byłem agentem. Nie to, że chciałem kogoś zdradzić (...) Przysięgam i niech mnie szlag trafi, jeśli kłamię.
From the IV Copernican Debate at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, after Gazeta.pl http://miasta.gazeta.pl/torun/1,48723,6510083,Walesa__Przysiegam__ze_nie_bylem_agentem.html and TVN24 http://www.tvn24.pl/1,1596041,druk.html

“I am for, and even against.”

Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedzeń dookoła świata, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 2009, ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9

“It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.”

Na zmęczeniu, goryczy, uczuciu bezsilności nie można budować.
Walesa, Lech. Speech. "Nobel Lecture". 1983 Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1983/walesa-lecture.html (11 December 1983)

“I was arrested many times. The first time, in December 1970, I signed 3 or 4 documents. Most probably I'd sign anything then, except consent for the betrayal of God and Fatherland, to get out and be able to fight. I have never been broken and I have never betrayed the ideals or my comrades.”

Aresztowano mnie wiele razy. Za pierwszym razem, w grudniu 1970 roku, podpisałem 3 albo 4 dokumenty. Podpisałbym prawdopodobnie wtedy wszystko, oprócz zgody na zdradę Boga i Ojczyzny, by wyjść i móc walczyć. Nigdy mnie nie złamano i nigdy nie zdradziłem ideałów ani kolegów.
A note to the Polish Press Agency issued on 4th June 1992 after the publication of a list of Communist collaborators compiled by Antoni Macierewicz.
Przerwana premiera, an interview by Jerzy Kłosiński and Jan Strękowski with Jan Olszewski, Warsaw 1992

“If once again Germany destabilizes Europe, then Germany will be not be divided again, but wiped off the map. East and West have the necessary technology in order to enforce this verdict. If Germany begins again, there is no other solution.”

Wenn Deutschland noch einmal Europa destabilisiert dann wird Deutschland nicht mehr geteilt, sondern von der Landkarte gefegt werden. Ost und West haben die notwendige Technik, um dieses Verdikt auch vollstrecken zu können. Wenn Deutschland wieder anfängt, bleibt keine andere Lösung. - From the report of the German magazine DER SPIEGEL 15/1990 http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13498691.html about an interview of Wałęsa by Dutch weekly Elsevier http://www.elsevier.nl/ of 7 April 1990, which was partially reprinted, with an additional Pancho caricature http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/image/show.html?did=13498691&aref=image036/2006/05/15/cq-sp199001502800280.pdf&thumb=false, by French Le Monde http://www.lemonde.fr/

“Positive pluses and negative pluses.”

Dodatnie i ujemne plusy.
Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedzeń dookoła świata, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 2009, ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9

Lech Wałęsa Quotes

“You can’t change the facts with your lies, allegations and counterfeits”

Being accused of being an agent for the Soviet era communist police, quoted on New Europe (February 18, 2016), "Poland’s former president accused of being a communist spy" http://neurope.eu/article/polands-former-president-accused-of-being-a-communist-spy/

“It is good that it came out that bad.”

Dobrze się stało, że źle się stało.
Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedzeń dookoła świata, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 2009, ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9

“I turned around by 360 degrees.”

Dokonałem zwrotu o 360 stopni.
Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedzeń dookoła świata, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 2009, ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9

“Freedom must be gained step by step, slowly. Freedom is a food which must be carefully administered when people are too hungry for it.”

Interview http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19810316&id=mjkyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=866,2677867&q=%22Freedom+must+be+gained+step+by+step+slowly+Freedom+is+a+food+which+must+be+carefully+administered+when+people+are+too+hungry+for+it%22 with Oriana Fallaci (22 & 23 February 1981)

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