A previously unimaginable euphoria had reigned in Poland since the summer of 1980. In the autumn of 1980 the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity was registered: the first independent trade union since the end of World War II. The imposition of martial law on December 13th, 1981 put a brutal stop to the "carnival". Declared while people were preparing for Christmas, it was a painful to Poles at home and abroad.
The attempt to bring order with tanks met with protests within and without Poland. International public opinion was outraged as well, especially in the West, including Polish émigrés. The scale of reactions in the weeks immediately following the imposition of martial law exceeded that of what had gone before and provided added stimulus to the flow of aid. There were more and more different forms of protests - rallies, letters, television broadcasts etc. Transports with gifts and medical supplies were sent to Poland in the hope that at least some would reach those who really needed them. The government decision of December 13th consolidated Western public opinion and set in motion a support and aid movement that lasted years. It became much easier to organize a concert or a demonstration at a communist embassy or consulate. Solidarity was an important symbol, capable of uniting people from different political camps, with different political convictions. But the unity of those early weeks, with the passage of time, became more and more difficult to maintain so it is worth remembering those exceptional times and reflecting on the phenomenon. This is a task of this album.