MONUMENT TO THE SHIPYARD WORKERS
- Plac Solidarności Robotniczej.
-
-
to Dworzec
PKP.
The monument was built a few months after the famous Gdańsk Shipyard workers’
strike of 1980 and the creation of the independent Solidarity trade union. It
was erected in honour of the shipyard workers who were killed during the strike
and demonstrations of December 1970; it stands 30 m (100 ft) from the spot where
the first three victims fell. Its three stainless steel crosses, 42 m (130 ft)
high, were both a warning that such a tragedy might happen again and a symbol of
remembrance and hope.
The monument was designed by the ship-yard workers and a group of artists
including Bogdan Pietruszka, Wiesław Szyślak, Robert Pepliński and Elżbieta
Szczodrowska. It was built by a team of workers from the shipyard. In the 1980s,
the cross was the rallying point for Solidarity demonstrations, which were
suppressed by the police.
Monument to the Shipyard Workers
The Gdańsk Shipyard is known throughout the world as the birthplace of
Solidarity. In December 1970, a shipyard workers’ strike and protests in the
city were crushed by the authorities. The next strike, in 1980, led to the
establishment of the Independent Solidarity Trade Union. The strike leader
was Lech Wałęsa, who was to become President of Poland (1990–5). Since 1989,
in free market conditions, the shipyard has proved commercially
unviable.
