General Jaruzelski announces introduction of martial law, 13 December 1981.

As many as 41 percent of Poles believe that General Jaruzelski was justified in declaring martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981, according to an opinion poll by TNS Pentor.

The survey shows that four in ten Poles believe martial law was a necessary step to prevent a Soviet invasion of Poland - an argument always used by top communists at the time; 19 percent believe that Jaruzelski introduced martial law to prevent the state’s disintegration and 13 percent think that the general took the step to keep the communists in power.

Thirty three percent of respondents believe the crackdown, in which around 100 people died in Poland and thousands were arrested, was wrong, however, and 27 percent said they do not have an opinion on the matter.

The poll also shows that the number of people who believe that martial law was justified has actually decreased since 1995, when the first poll on the subject was conducted.

The poll was taken in the second half of November among a sample of 1000 respondents.

Yesterday, President Bronislaw Komorowski justified the recent invitation sent to Jaruzelski to attend a high level security meeting with party leaders and former presidents and prime ministers ahead of the visit of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

Komorowski said the invitation - when Jaruzelski sat next to Lech Walesa, who he imprisoned as part of the martial law crackdown - was not a rehabilitation of the general but a process of reconciliation between Poles.

Komorowski, who was imprisoned in the 1980s as a Solidarity activist, also said it was necessary, 29 years after martial law was declared to forgive, if not forget.

“Where is the space [in Poland’s political life] for a Christian approach to others, the ability to forgive, to show mercy?” he said yesterday on the anniversary of the declaration of martial law. (mg/pg)