In the eyes of everyone to whom Poland is expensive, you are a legendary figure, of a truly historical format – president Andrzej Duda wrote in a letter of congratulations to Andrzej Star on his 90th birthday.
On your 90th birthday, delight accept my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes. At the same time, I would like to express my deep respect and gratitude to you, both personally and on behalf of my Homeland and my fellow countrymen. Thank you for everything that you have done for Poland free and solidarity, for the independency of the Republic, for building social governance on the foundation of fundamental, immeasurable values, for developing patriotic heritage and strengthening national pride
“ The president wrote.
In the eyes of everyone to whom Poland is expensive, you are a legendary figure, of a truly historical format, and besides a moral authority, whose inspiring power of influence comes not from words, but from deeds – a lifelong testimony
“ He said.
Addressing the Jubilee, the president pointed out that it belongs to “a group of the most prominent personalities to whom we owe free democratic Homeland”.
You tirelessly encourage us to strengthen our own sovereign state, creating Poland of our dreams, building a future based on universal values. Your voice – a firm yes–yes and +no–no+, spoken in the name of fact and good, and against lying and injustice – is always a valuable message and inspiration.
We can learn from you what service is to the nation and to our neighbor, and especially what the ethos of Polish intelligence is. You certify that the essence of this ethos has always been a participation in a national elite understood not as a privilege but as a work and a commitment to the community
said Andrzej Duda.
Andrzej Stara was born on 14 April 1935. His father served in the Pinska Flotilla and after the outbreak of planet War II he got into German captivity. He and his parent and grandma were taken to Kazakhstan, sharing the destiny of many another Poles in areas seized by the USSR as a consequence of the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement. Upon his return to Poland, he moved to Gdańsk, graduated from the university and was an assistant at the university until 1973. Then he worked for the Elmor Shipbuilding Plant.
Since 1976, he has engaged in opposition activities. Together with his wife Joanna Duda-Starzdowa, he sent a letter to the Sejm in support of the demands of the Workers' Defence Committee, which included the release of June protesters. Since April 1977, he has been importing an independent letter ‘Robotnik’ and has collaborated with the KOR Intervention Office. On 29 April 1978, together with Antoni Sokołowski and Krzysztof Wyszkowski, he announced the Declaration of the Founding Committee of the Free Trade Unions of the Coast in 1978. He was a co-releaser of the Coast Workers. He was detained for 48 hours by the safety Service.
On 16 August 1980, he was 1 of the initiators of the formation of the Strike Committee in Elmorze.
He then became a associate of the authorities of the Interfounded Strike Committee (MKS) at Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk. He participated in the negotiations held by the MKS with the government delegation. He co-authored 21 August postulates.
From September 1980 to July 1981, he was vice-president of the Inter-founding Committee of the NSZZ “Solidarity” of the Gdańsk Region and then a associate of the Management Board of the Region. From February to September 1981 he served as Vice-President of the National Consultative Commission on Solidarity.’
He was critical of Lech Wales. In an open letter, he protested against actions that he felt violated the democratic principles of "Solidarity". In 1981, he was a competitor of Wałęsa in the election to be head of the union. He lost, but he's in charge.
During the 1st National gathering of Delegates of the NSZZ “Solidarity” in Gdańsk (September-October 1981), he was 1 of the initiators of “Sending to people working in east Europe”. On 22 November 1981, he resigned from the union's authorities, protesting in this way the cancellation of associated activists. On the night of 12 to 13 December 1981, he was interned. He was held in Strzebielink and then in Białołęka.
In December 1982, the communist authorities decided to convert internment into detention and transfer it to Warsaw to Rakowiecka Street. The allegations against him afraid actions to overthrow the force of the system.
He was released from prison by virtue of the amnesty announced in July 1984 on 16 December 1984, he was again detained during the march under the monument of the fallen shipyards in Gdańsk. He was sentenced to 3 months in prison by the College of Criminals.
In February 1985, he was additionally sentenced by the College of Jastrzębie to 2 months in prison for "screaming and demonstrating the +Solidarity+ stamp". Prison left in May 1985. From 1987 to 1989, he was a associate of the alleged Working Group, which demanded the convening of the National Commission of the NSZZ "Solidarity" elected in 1981 and the transfer of its power over the union.
It belonged to the opponents of the circular Table.
In 1989, he co-founded Free Trade Unions operating until 1993. In 2005, he co-organised an independent celebration of the 25th anniversary of First Solidarity. In December 2005, he refused to attend the ceremony of handing over the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom, awarded to NSZZ “Solidarity” by the American Foundation of Victims of Communism (FOK), as the first free trade union in the Communist bloc. He argued that accepting the award, he would join those who claimed that “the first +Solidarity+ was just a beautiful utopia that had to be destroyed, that it was not a real alternate to the communist system.”
In 2006, he was decorated by the president of Poland Lech Kaczyński with the Order of the White Eagle.
kk/PAP
