For over twenty years, it was said that they were killed by ricochets. In 1994, prosecutors discovered hidden files from 1971 that refuted this claim.

On December 17, 1970, in Gdynia, the army opened fire on shipyard workers walking to their morning shift—the day after Deputy Prime Minister Stanisław Kociołek called on television for them to return to work.

December 1970 was one of the bloodiest crimes in the history of the Polish People's Republic: 45 people were killed on the coast, over 1,160 were wounded, and 18 victims in Gdynia alone, including two fifteen-year-old boys. In this episode, we dissect the entire case: who actually authorized the use of weapons, what exactly Kociołek said on the evening of December 16th, why the workers went to the factory surrounded by the military that morning, and what happened to the hidden files that had languished for over twenty years.

📂 We also show what's least talked about—the nighttime burials of the victims, each lasting thirty minutes, with a ban on singing, and the trial that lasted 18 years from indictment to verdict. Twelve defendants, including General Wojciech Jaruzelski. The case was transferred from Gdańsk to Warsaw. The case was reclassified from murder to beating resulting in death. Kociołek's acquittal in 2013, the Supreme Court's cassation appeal in 2015, and the accused's death, which ended everything without a final judgment. We compare this to the trials surrounding the Wujek mine pacification, where fifteen convictions were handed down—and we show how a single procedural decision from 1993 made the difference.

🔔 If you're interested in true stories of the Polish People's Republic, declassified archives, and cases the authorities preferred to close, subscribe to the channel and ring the bell so you don't miss further investigations.

💬 Do you think the soldiers who fired the shots should also have been brought to justice, or was the decision to dismiss the charges against the direct perpetrators justified? Let us know in the comments.

📚 Sources:

Institute of National Remembrance — materials about December 1970, including Piotr Brzeziński's studies on the December 1970 events in Gdynia.

History Stop (IPN), "December 1970 — the bloody consequences of 1968" — chronology of events, Politburo decisions, approval of the use of firearms.

History Stop (IPN), "Is this a real priest? Military chaplains' nighttime burials of victims of the December Revolt in the Tricity" — family accounts, burial numbers, witness quotes.

Gdańsk Region of the NSZZ "Solidarity" — timeline of December 17, 1970, in Gdynia, list of victims.

Polish History Museum — The investigation and trial into the December Massacre, from 1990 to 2015.

Polish Press Agency / dzieje.pl — Reports on the judgment of the District Court in Warsaw of April 20, 2013, and the trials concerning the pacification of the Wujek mine.

Investigation files from the Naval Prosecutor's Office in Gdynia and the Provincial Prosecutor's Office in Gdańsk, indictment of Prosecutor Bogdan Szegda from April 1995.

🏷️ Tags:
December 1970, Gdynia Massacre, Stanisław Kociołek, Władysław Gomułka, Wojciech Jaruzelski, secrets of the Polish People's Republic, crimes of the Polish People's Republic, Polish history, true stories, Janek Wiśniewski, Zbigniew Godlewski, Paris Commune shipyard, People's Republic of Poland, unsolved cases, December 1970 trial, Edward Gierek