Wizyta Herberta Wehnera w Warszawie w lutym 1982 roku w świetle sprawozdań Frakcji SPD
Herbert Wehner’s visit to Poland in February 1982, in the light of SPD Parliamentary Party reports

Summary/Abstract: Drawing on SPD Parliamentary Party reports held in Archiv der Sozialen Demokratie in Bonn, the author describes the political context and the circumstances of the visit made by Mr Herbert Werhner, the leader of the SPD Parliamentary Party in the Bundestag, the first western politician of major stature to accept the invitation of the then Communist authorities after the introduction of martial law in Poland. The non-official visit to Warsaw was paid in February 1982, during a period when Poland was isolated internationally, and was regarded in both the political arena and the media as one of the West German government’s most controversial actions toward the political opposition in Poland. The CDU/ CSU, which was then in opposition, accused the SPD of being inconsiderate and of providing support for Poland’s military authorities. On the basis of the available documents, the author describes the course of the visit and Mr Wehner’s talks in Poland with representatives of the Communist government and of the Catholic Church and with General W. Jaruzelski. The most important questions asked in these confidential talks pertained to the causes of the crisis that had arisen, the circumstances in which the martial law had been introduced, including the role of the Soviet Union, and the possibilities of re- opening a political dialogue with Solidarity and its leader, Mr Lech Wałęsa, as well as a matter which was important to the Polish party to the talks – the forestalling of sanctions against Poland. It is difficult to appraise the significance of Mr Wehner’s visit unambiguously, because other source materials have yet to be disclosed. As far as the SPD politicians are concerned, what was probably paramount was the fact that the two most important political forces in Poland, the government and the Church, confirmed that the route chosen by the SPD-FPD coalition government in the Federal Republic of Germany was right.

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