AUTHOR'S BIO

Adam Michnik

Adam Michnik was one of the leaders of Solidarity and the founding editor of Gazeta Wyborcza.

RECENT COMMENTARIES

FEATURED COMMENTARIES

From Prague Spring to Velvet Revolution

2008-08-14

The Prague Spring embodied the great illusion that it might be possible to outfox the Soviet Union and move painlessly from communism to democracy. This belief was naïve, but it also underpinned a national awakening in which the potential for freedom found its voice.... read

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In Memory of Bronisław Geremek

Adam Michnik Series: Europe at Home and Abroad

2008-07-31

The sudden death a few weeks ago of Bronislaw Geremek, a leader of Poland's anti-communist resistance and later its foreign minister, represents a loss for what is best in Polish national identity. As a Jew and a patriot who fought tirelessly for Polish democracy, he upheld the paramount importance of honesty about the nation’s history.... read

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The Other Poland

Adam Michnik Series: Against the Current

2007-05-09

When Poland's Solidarity brought down the communist regime in 1989, it embraced the idea of a Poland for everyone rather than a state divided between omnipotent winners and oppressed losers. But today, a Poland of suspicion, fear, and revenge is fighting a Poland of hope, courage, and dialogue.... read

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Europe's Solidarity With Ukraine

Viktor Yushchenko and Adam Michnik Series: The World in Words

2004-05-12

Many generations of Poles dreamt of the day when Europe's postwar division would be undone. Many generations of Ukrainians were also deprived of a right to their own country, language, and culture. What united prisoners of conscience in the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's was the faith that one day their countries would find their place in a united Europe. ... read

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The Revolutionary Conservative Pope

Adam Michnik Series: The World in Words

2003-10-13

Twenty-five years ago, Poland's people were stunned by the choice of their compatriot, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Cracow, as Pope. Some were frightened, others wept with joy. Here, said a prominent writer, was "Poland's second baptism." But even in our euphoria, we did not expect how much the new Pope would change not only Poland, but the world. ... read

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Europe after the Kosovo War

Timothy Garton Ash, Janos Kis, Adam Michnik, Jacques Rupnik, Karel Schwarzenberg, Milan M. Šimečka and Aleksander Smolar Series: The World in Words

1999-07-23

The Kosovo war should force the European Union to rethink its future. As the new commission chaired by Romano Prodi takes over it should seize the opportunity to move the EU from an inward looking institution consumed with an economic agenda to an all-European political project. ... read

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Neither Conspiracy Nor Benevolence: The Miracle Of

Adam Michnik Series: The World in Words

1999-06-30

WARSAW: Ten years ago this month the first partially free elections in any Communist country were held in Poland: a crucial step on the road that began with the rise of Solidarity in 1980 and ended with the fall of the Wall in Berlin and the ultimate collapse of the Soviet system. ... read

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