Poland is where the collapse of the Communist Bloc began. The shipyards of Gdansk are famous the world over as the birthplace of dissident trade union Solidarity, which eventually succeeded in bringing an end to Communist rule in Poland.

By Cintia Taylor

In February 1989 the Polish government attempted to diffuse growing social unrest by meeting with officials of the then-banned trade union for the first time. Solidarity was legalised in April, and the Polish Round Table Talks culminated in the first partially free elections in a Communist country on 4 June. Opposition parties were allowed to run and the resulting government was headed by a non-Communist prime minister.

Twenty years later, Poland has moved firmly on from its Communist past – but the relatives of those who died at the hands of the former regime are still waiting to see justice.

1989 - The year that reshaped Europe

The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 symbolised the end of Communism in Europe in a dramatic fashion.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide marks the anniversary with a series of portraits of former communist countries, once firmly closed off behind the Iron Curtain.

We look at how regimes changed but also how ordinary people changed. And did the hopes and dreams of the democratic revolutions become reality, or were they shattered?
 

Bloodshed
"There was too much bloodshed. Too much regret exists in many people's hearts that so many innocent, unarmed people had to die for a better Poland," says Grazyna Browarczyk talking about the loss of her brother, Anton.

Anton Browarczyk, a member of Solidarity, was just 19 years old when he was shot and killed on 17 December 1981 by the Polish militia.

A few days before the government had introduced martial law to quell growing unrest, sending the army into every major city and cracking down on pro-democracy organisations. The exact number of civilian fatalities is still unknown - at the time only a dozen people were reported dead, while later estimates put the figure at over 90.

Justice
When Solidarity swept to power in 1989, the families of those who died at the hands of the Communist regime hoped they would soon see those responsible for their loved ones' deaths brought to trial.

Cecylia Szczepanska, who believes her 19-year-old son Tadeusz was murdered because of his connections to Solidarity, expresses despair at the lack of political will to investigate the crimes of the past. She accuses Solidarity leader and former Polish President Lech Walesa of neglecting his promises to seek justice for families such as hers.

"There was such hope when Walesa was elected president.... But, unfortunately that hope was extinguished and everything fell apart," she says.