DEAD OR ALIVE

Lech Wałęsa

Polish statesman, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and former president known for his role in ending Communist rule in Poland.

Lech Wałęsa is one of 1212 people in the A–Z index, listed under L.

Is Lech Wałęsa dead or alive?

Who is Lech Wałęsa?

Lech Wałęsa is best known for Leading the Solidarity movement that ended Communist rule in Poland and serving as the first democratically elected president of Poland since 1922. On Dead or Alive, Lech Wałęsa is listed in the World Leaders 80s and Nobel Laureates categories, where you can test yourself on similar names. Dead or Alive is a trivia game: you decide whether a famous person is still alive, then see the answer. The status for Lech Wałęsa is checked against public sources such as Wikidata and is shown only after you answer.

Facts

Known for: Leading the Solidarity movement that ended Communist rule in Poland and serving as the first democratically elected president of Poland since 1922.
Listed under: World Leaders 80s and Nobel Laureates

About Lech Wałęsa

After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democratically elected president of Poland since 1922 and the first-ever Polish president elected by popular vote. An electrician by trade, Wałęsa became the leader of the opposition Solidarity movement and led a successful pro-democratic effort, which in 1989 ended Communist rule in Poland and ushered in the end of the Cold War. While working at the Lenin Shipyard (now Gdańsk Shipyard), Wałęsa, an electrician, became a trade-union activist, for which he was persecuted by the government, placed under surveillance, fired in 1976 and arrested several times. In August 1980, he was instrumental in political negotiations that led to the ground-breaking Gdańsk Agreement between striking workers and the government. He co-founded the Solidarity trade union, whose membership rose to more than ten million. After martial law in Poland was imposed and Solidarity was outlawed, Wałęsa was arrested again. He presided over Poland's transition from Marxist–Leninist state socialism into a market-based liberal democracy, but his active role in Polish politics diminished after he narrowly lost the 1995 Polish presidential election. In 1995, he established the Lech Wałęsa Institute. He was named the Time Man of the Year (1981) and one of Time's 100 most important people of the 20th century (1999).

Text from the Wikipedia article Lech Wałęsa, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Sentences about life status are left out so the game is not spoiled.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lech Wałęsa known for?

Lech Wałęsa is known for Leading the Solidarity movement that ended Communist rule in Poland and serving as the first democratically elected president of Poland since 1922.

Which Dead or Alive categories include Lech Wałęsa?

Lech Wałęsa appears in World Leaders 80s, Nobel Laureates.

Is Lech Wałęsa still alive?

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