Martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian communist government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition. Thousands of opposition activists were jailed without charge and as many as 91 killed. Although martial law was lifted in 1983, many of the political prisoners were not released until a general amnesty in 1986. Led by General of the Army Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Military Council of National Salvation ("Wojskowa Rada
1981 warning strike in Poland provocation, aimed at the government of Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski. The government responded by sending to Bydgoszcz a special commission, headed by General Jozef Zyto, Deputy Prosecutor-General, whose task was to clear up the situation and find out who was guilty of the beating of the Solidarity activists. However, its members were not interested in fulfilling their task and their inactivity was criticized by Solidarity. Opposition activists were personally insulted by the Bydgoszcz events, thinking that if the beatings could happen to Jan Rulewski, they could happen to any of them. A statement of the Polish United Workers' Party did