Gdansk – 7

I continued on and read more details about the events of 14th – 17th December 1970 along the Baltic Coast commemorated in the Monument to the Shipyard Workers outside the centre. People protested at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk on the 14th and then on the 17th 44 people were killed at the dockyard and railway station in Gdynia. One of the people shot was Ludwik Piernicki who was coming out of the station when he was mown down by a salvo of bullets fired by security forces. The authorities claimed the bullets were ricochets but they weren’t. Ludwik’s blood-stained jacket is on display for all to see. He was carrying his blood donor card at the time of his death. The motto on the card stated “Giving blood is the greatest humanitarian act, proof of great social solidarity”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read this – I probably should have done both.