Lech Walesa, the hero of the nationwide Solidarity movement, Noble Peace Prize Laureate and ex-President of Poland celebrated at noon in Krakow and later in Gdansk the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Poland, which in consequence led to the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. TVN 24.pl reported that it has been recently emphasized by Condoleezza Rice, who said that Polish strike [shot] ended the communism.

Polish PM Donald Tusk and representatives of 25 national parliaments throughout Europe and special guests including President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Czech President Vaclav Havel and heads of Visegrad group also met in Krakow.  However, as Lech Walesa said in an exclusive interview for Topofpoland.com this is the 31st of August1980 that should be recognized as a victory - the day of signing the agreement [with striking workers] in which communists agreed to negate the leading role of the communist party.

The other important venue of celebrating this anniversary today is Gdańsk. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Polish primate Jozef Glemp took part in the celebrations which also started at noon.

Text & photos by Daniel & Elizabethwww.topofpoland.com