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Poles to unveil Solidarity monument outside German parliament

Jun 16, 2009, 9:20 GMT

Warsaw - Polish parliamentarians will begin a two-day visit to Berlin Tuesday, which will see them unveil a monument to Solidarity, the shipbuilders' union which helped topple communism, in front of the German parliament. Solidarity helped bring Poland partly-free elections in 1989 and lead to changes across the Soviet bloc that later brought down the Iron Curtain. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Hoerst Keller will take part in the unveiling, Polish Radio said. The monument contains a piece of a wall from the Gdansk shipyard where Walesa held massive protests in the 1980s. The fragment is meant as a reminder of Solidarity's role in toppling the Berlin Wall and uniting Germany. Polish Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski and his delegation will meet with their German counterparts on energy policy in the European Union during a session at the Bundestag. Polish officials were also invited to events commemorating the 1953 uprising in then East Germany. The uprising by construction workers on June 17 was brutally suppressed after an intervention of Soviet troops.

Europe News

Poles to unveil Solidarity monument outside German parliament

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