The union leader whose arrest sparked the Wujek strike
When news of his arrest reached Wujek on 13 December 1981, the miners decided not to work until he returned.
Jan Ludwiczak was a miner and chairman of the Wujek mine works committee of Poland's Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity. His detention became the immediate trigger for the miners' strike against martial law and their demand for the release of detained union activists. After his release, he endured demotion and surveillance while distributing underground publications at the mine, and in 1989 helped prepare Solidarity's restoration.
Career Timeline
- 1937Born in Pecna near Poznań
- 1954Graduated from the Railway Vocational School in Poznań
- 1958–1959Served in the Mining Military Corps in Katowice
- 1965–1990Worker at the Wujek coal mine in Katowice
- 1980Vice-chairman of Wujek Solidarity's Founding Committee
- 1980–1981Chairman of Wujek Solidarity's works committee
- 1981–1982Arrested and interned, released in December 1982
- 1989Chairman of Wujek Solidarity's Temporary Founding Committee