Jaruzelski, Poland's last communist ruler, dead at 90
Marcin Goclowski

Warsaw: General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Poland's last communist leader who imposed martial law to crush the Solidarity movement only to hand over power less than a decade later, has died, aged 90, after a long illness.

"The general was accompanied by his daughter Monika until the last moment," the Warsaw's Military Medical Institute hospital announced in a statement.

In public a stern, enigmatic figure in his trademark dark glasses, General Jaruzelski's record defies easy judgment and still divides Poles almost a quarter century after the fall of communism.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/jaruzelski-polands-last-communist-ruler-dead-at-90-20140526-zrocm.html


-- The Age 2014-05-26

Should never have been allowed to live that long.

Should never have been allowed to live that long.

Many people thing he saved a lot lifes. Without him the Soviet would have marched in.

I can't judge if it is true or not.

Should never have been allowed to live that long.

Many people thing he saved a lot lifes. Without him the Soviet would have marched in.

I can't judge if it is true or not.

Many people think he took more than a few!

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RIP

controversial person, he had chosen lesser evil at the time

It was THIS general, who stopped Solidarnoz in 1981 with a minimum of blood shed, and allowed them to move away the Communist party in 1989.

It was THIS general, who warned the DDR and the Soviet Union NOT to invade Poland, as he would be the leader of the Polish army to fight for its freedom.

He was a child of its time, tied up by rules of that period in that area, but.. thanks to him, situation did not turn bad.

For me, he desires the highest gratitude of the Polish people.

Really, tell that to the ones he starved, imprisoned or had shot.

He was a Soviet puppet, and the reason Russia didn't invade Poland isn't because of him, but because all of their resources were being diverted to and drained in Afghanistan where they were getting their <deleted> kicked. And it was their continued weakening that eventually led them to give up Poland without a fight.

Ironic that his death has come at a time when there are fears in Poland that Putin is after getting all the USSR's old property back, isn't it?

Should never have been allowed to live that long.

I defer those things to a higher power.

Really, tell that to the ones he starved, imprisoned or had shot.

He was a Soviet puppet, and the reason Russia didn't invade Poland isn't because of him, but because all of their resources were being diverted to and drained in Afghanistan where they were getting their <deleted> kicked. And it was their continued weakening that eventually led them to give up Poland without a fight.

Ironic that his death has come at a time when there are fears in Poland that Putin is after getting all the USSR's old property back, isn't it?

Your post has some merit. However, I'm not confident that I know all the answers about his intentions, strategy or reasoning.

Troll post and reply removed.