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Belgian Amiga Club - ADF Collection
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BS1 part 27.zip
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BS1 part 27
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WorldAtlas2_d2.adf
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TEXTA
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1990-04-02
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Slavic tribes were converted to Christianity in the 10th Century
and from the 14th Century to the 17th, Poland was a great
European power. Poland was partitioned three times, in 1772,
1793 and 1795, between Prussia, Russia and Austria. During World
War I, Poland was overrun by the Austro-German armies and on
November 11, 1918, Poland declared its own independence. In
1921, Poland lost large areas of land in a war with Russia.
Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland from September 1 to
27, 1939 and divided the country. Over 6 million Polish citizens
were killed, and half of them were Jewish. After the war, an
election in 1947 resulted in the Communist rising to power. The
Communists abolished large land holdings, nationalized
industries, secularized schooling and jailed Roman Catholic
priests. From June 28 - 29, 1956, large protest broke out in
Poznan and a new Communist leadership developed a more
independent Communism, with the abolition of state farms and
closing many collectives. In December 1970, more riots broke out
and Edward Gierek came to power as Communist Premier of Poland.
Poland became the first communist state to receive most-favored
nations trading status with the United States. On August 30,
1980, after two months of strikes and protests, the Polish
government meet the demands of shipyard workers to form an
independent trade union and the right to strike for better wages
and working conditions. This was unheard of in the Soviet
Communist block. By 1981, over 9.5 million workers had joined
the independent trade union (Solidarity) and on December 12 a
referendum was scheduled to establish a non-communist government
if the Polish leadership failed to agree to a set of demands
including access to mass media and democratic elections. On
December 13, 1981, martial law was imposed and many Solidarity
leaders were arrested. The United States imposed trade sanctions
against Poland that were lifted in December 1982 when martial law
was abandoned. Again in 1983, there were demonstrations at the
shipyards in Gadansk and in many cities across Poland. In June
1983, Pope John Paul visited Poland. @