Pre-launch of the Virtual Print Shop of the “Fighting Solidarity” Naming “Next Stop History” of Institute of National Remembrance in Wrocław after Kornel Morawiecki
The name of Kornel Morawiecki, the legendary founder of the Fighting Solidarity movement and, in free Poland, Senior Marshal of the 8th term of the Sejm, will be given to the Educational Centre “Next Stop History” at the Wrocław branch office of the Institute of National Remembrance. During the ceremony, a commemorative plaque will be unveiled and an app portraying the Fighting Solidarity underground print shop in virtual reality (VR) will be pre-released. The event will be hosted by the President of the Institute of National Remembrance dr Karol Nawrocki. Participants will include Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the Metropolitan of Wrocław Archbishop Józef Kupny and Mrs Jadwiga Morawiecka – wife of the founder of the Fighting Solidarity – with her family. The event will be held on 14 November (Monday) at 2 p.m. at the Wrocław IPN branch office, 48 Jana Długosza Street. At 6 p.m., the artistic part of the celebrations will be held at the Wrocław Opera House – a screening of the film “Solidarność Walcząca to takie moje życie wieczne… Wspomnienia o Kornelu Morawieckim” (“‘FightingSolidarity’ is my eternal life… Memories of Kornel Morawiecki”) and a concert entitled “…w drodze” (“…On the Road”).
Programme of the event
2 p.m. Next Stop History, 48 Jana Długosza street.
- Welcome address: Director of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Institute of National Remembrance, dr Rafał Leśkiewicz.
- Speeches: President of the Institute of National Remembrance dr Karol Nawrocki, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
- Unveiling and dedication of the commemorative plaque.
- Speeches: Deputy Director of the Wrocław Branch Office of the Institute of National Remembrance Marcin Marczak.
- Pre-release of the VR app Szybowcowa ’87 – the underground print shop of the Fighting Solidarity movement.
6 p.m. Wrocław Opera House, screening of the film “Solidarność Walcząca to takie moje życie wieczne… Wspomnienia o Kornelu Morawieckim” (“‘FightingSolidarity’ is my eternal life… Memories of Kornel Morawiecki”) and a concert entitled “…w drodze” (“…On the Road”).
The name of the app portraying the underground print shop of the Fighting Solidarity in virtual reality – Szybowcowa ’87 – refers to the address of the underground premises in Wrocław, donated for the needs of the Fighting Solidarity by Marek Petrusewicz, the first Polish world record holder in 100m swimming, Olympic swimmer and silver medallist at the European Championships. This Vilnius-born resident of Wrocław, while already a sports official, founded and was a member of the governing body of the Lower Silesian “Solidarity”, and after the establishment of the “Fighting Solidarity”, he also became strongly associated with this organisation. By then he had already had one leg amputated due to Buerger’s disease. Giving up his flat for the underground print shop, he moved into a small studio flat in a block of flats on Drukarska street.
The second part of the “Szybowcowa ’87” story is linked to Barbara Sarapuk, known as the “Queen of Underground Printing”. Previously a teacher at the Technical School of Economics in Legnica, she later became an academic lecturer and computer programmer at the Wrocław Academy of Economics. She was a member of the Fighting Solidarity from the very beginning, in June 1982, she founded and coordinated the work of the organisation’s network of print shops, devoting herself entirely to underground activities. The flat on Szybowcowa Street in Wrocław’s Gądów district was an important location for the underground. A close colleague of the “Queen of Underground Printing”, Fighting Solidarity’s printing assistant Krzysztof Bieżuński, in his book “Zdarzenia” (“Events”), recalls anecdotally that an important conspirator living at this address was …a guinea pig who also did not escape confrontation with the Communist Security Service.
The number ’87 refers to the critical year 1987 when Fighting Solidarity chairman Kornel Morawiecki was arrested. Despite this loss, the movement did not cease its activities in an era of general fatigue with the fight against communism.
Using VR goggles, the users of the “Szybowcowa ’87” app can enter a flat in a communist-era block of flats, where a clandestine print shop is hidden. They will be able to turn on the TV and listen to a programme of Solidarność Walcząca (Fighting Solidarity) Radio entering the bandwidth of the communist propaganda TV News. They can also pick up a clandestine leaflet called “bibuła” or switch on the Fighting Solidarity counterintelligence radio watch to hear encrypted conversations between Communist Security Service officers. The application was developed by the New Technology Division of the Institute of National Remembrance.
The evening concert, which will honour the ceremony of naming Wrocław’s “Next Stop History” after Kornel Morawiecki, refers by its content to the armed struggle of Gen. Władysław Anders. We want to show that the actions of the Fighting Solidarity movement forty years later – albeit by different means – were still the same struggle for the independence of our country.
Biographical entries in the online “Encyclopedia of Solidarity”
Link to article about Marek Petrusewicz on the przystanekhistoria.pl website
Link to a leaflet about Kornel Morawiecki in the “Heroes of Independence” series