Anna Walentynowicz died five years ago this spring in the plane crash that also claimed the lives of many in the Polish leadership. We recall the woman who was a welder, crane driver and political activist - a woman who quietly helped shape modern Poland.
article summary —
It was 35 years ago that Anna Walentynowicz was sacked from her job as a crane operator at the Lenin shipyards in Gdansk (Poland). Anna’s dismissal led to a wave of strikes as workers protested over the sacking of a loyal comrade who had served the shipyard, first as a welder and later as a crane operator, for 30 years.
The strike committee quickly espoused wider goals beyond merely the reinstatement of Anna Walentynowicz — and its work was to have reverberations around Poland and far beyond.
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Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries manage hidden europe, a Berlin-based editorial bureau that supplies text and images to media across Europe. Together they edit hidden europe 
magazine. Nicky and Susanne are dedicated slow travellers. They delight in discovering the exotic in the everyday.
