On September 30, in Gdańsk the premiere of the book 'Wałęsa '80' took place. The author's meeting, hosted by Magdalena Rigamonti, was attended by Lech Wałęsa, the authors and Onet journalists, Janusz Szwertner and Kamil Dziubka, and the President of the Lech Wałęsa Institute, Bogdan Wałęsa.

The aim of the meeting was to promote and discuss an interview with Lech Wałęsa, published by the Znak publishing house, in which President talks primarily about the difficult times of the struggle for a democratic Poland in the 1980s and 1990s, the backstage of Solidarity movement, his private life, but also about the opportunities facing our country in the future.

In a conversation with award-winning journalists from Onet, Kamil Dziubka and Janusz Schwertner, President Wałęsa reveals many previously unknown facts about both his political and private life. The book also includes interviews with the President's sons Bogdan and Jaroslaw, who talk about their childhood and their relationship with their father during the times of the struggle against the communist authorities.

"At that time people were afraid, and I was brave. They started to push me forward. There were no takers and so it was hard for me to refuse. (...) I became a leader out of necessity, out of compulsion," the President says in the interview. "I was in charge of solving the problems that life brought me. (...) We had to live it all and experience it personally. Learning democracy is simply collecting experiences. These are sometimes painful".

A transmission from the meeting is available HERE. We also strongly encourage you to purchase the book.