Lech Wałęsa

Acting

Born: 1943-09-29
From: Popowo, kujawsko-pomorskie, Polska
Gender: Male
Popularity: 0.1

Also Known As

Lech WalesaBolek

Biography

Lech Wałęsa (born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democratically elected President of Poland since 1926 and the first-ever Polish president elected by popular vote. A shipyard electrician by trade, Wałęsa became the leader of the 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 over ten million. After martial law in Poland was imposed and Solidarity was outlawed, Wałęsa was again arrested. Released from custody, he continued his activism and was prominent in the establishment of the Round Table Agreement that led to the semi-free 1989 Polish legislative election and a Solidarity-led government. He presided over Poland's transition from Marxist–Leninist state socialism into a free-market capitalist 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. Since 1980, Wałęsa has received hundreds of prizes, honors and awards from multiple countries and organizations worldwide. He was named the Time Person of the Year (1981) and one of Time's 100 most important people of the 20th century (1999). He has received over forty honorary degrees, including from Harvard University and Columbia University, as well as dozens of the highest state orders, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, and the French Grand Cross of Legion of Honour. In 1989, Wałęsa was the first foreign non-head of state to address the Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress. The Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport has borne his name since 2004. Wałęsa was born in Popowo, Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, Germany (German-occupied Poland). His father, Bolesław Wałęsa (1908–1945), was a carpenter who was rounded up and interned in a forced labour camp at Młyniec (outpost of KL Stutthof) by the German occupying forces before Lech was born. Bolesław returned home after the war but died two months later from exhaustion and illness. Lech's mother, Feliksa Wałęsa (née Kamieńska; 1916–1975), has been credited with shaping her son's beliefs and tenacity. ... Source: Article "Lech Wałęsa" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Awards & Nominations47 won · 0 nominated

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Distinguished Member of the European Order of Merit

2026
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Point Alpha Prize

2013
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Ronald Reagan Freedom Award

2011
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honorary citizen of Budapest

2011
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Ernst Reuter Medal

2009
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Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

2009
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Jan Karski Freedom Award

2007
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Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class

2006
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Kisiel Prize

2005
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Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 2nd class

2005
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Osgar

2004
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Pacem in Terris Award

2001
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Golden Plate Award

2000
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Grand cross of the Order of the White Lion

1999
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Democracy Service Medal

1999
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Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry

1995
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Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay

1995
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Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary

1994
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Knight of the Order of the Elephant

1993
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Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland

1993
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Order of the White Eagle

1992
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Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta

1992
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Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

1991
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Order of Pius IX

1991
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doctor honoris causa from the University of Nancy

1991
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Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour

1991
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Honorary doctor of the University of Gdańsk

1990
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Presidential Medal of Freedom

1989
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Order of Francisco de Miranda

1989
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Philadelphia Liberty Medal

1989
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Freedom Award

1989
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Integrity Award

1986
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honorary doctor of Paris 8 University

1983
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Nobel Peace Prize

1983
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Fritt Ord Award

1982
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Monismanien Prize

1981
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Financial Times Person of the Year

1980
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European Human Rights Prize

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Grand Order of Mugunghwa

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honorary citizen of Gdańsk

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Order of State of Republic of Turkey

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Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

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Royal Order of the Seraphim

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Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland

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Grand Collar of the Order of Liberty

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Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great

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Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany