Belgium-related holdings in the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union

Belgium-related holdings in the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union

We would like to share with you selected materials related to the Solidarity Trade Union’s activities in Belgium. The main documents are to be found in the files of the Coordinating Office Abroad of NSZZ “Solidarność” in Brussels (no. 24), but some materials are also held in the the files of the National Coordinating Committee and the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union in Gdańsk (no. 3), and the General Committee of the NSZZ “Solidarność” Medicines and Medical Equipment Bank (no. 25).

The files of the Coordinating Office Abroad of NSZZ “Solidarność” in Brussels abound in 1980’s correspondence, e.g. with the Centrale Chretienne des Metallurgistes de Belgique, European Organization of the International Federation of Employees in Public Services, Conseil General Apostolat Laics Belgique, Confederation des Syndicats Chretiens de Belgique, Conseil National de Travail, and the Polish Ex-Combatant’s Association – Delegation of Belgium. Other interesting materials include the article on the August Agreements and the Statutes of the Migrant Worker proclaimed by the Confederaion des Syndicats Chretiens de Belgique in 1975. Worth mentioning is the draft program of the Solidarity delegation visit in Belgium in May 1989.

In the fonds of the National Coordinating Committee and the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union in Gdańsk there are numerous telex messages sent from Belgium in 1981. Attached are also traditional letters from 1980-1981, exchanged with the World Federation for the Metallurgic Industry, Fifty-One International Club, and the 1st May Committee for the Democratic Freedom and Workers’ Rights in the Eastern countries with headquarters in Brussels. Furthermore, we would like to draw your attention to the invitation for the Confederaion des Syndicats Chretiens de Belgique to participate in the I General Congress of Delegates of the Solidarity Trade Union.

In the collection of the General Committee of the NSZZ “Solidarność” Medicines and Medical Equipment Bank we can find i.a. the correspondence addressed at Zbigniew Gryszkiewicz, the creator of this committee.

Visit us at the in the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union

If you are interested in the attached documents and in our other archival materials in the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union, please contact us first by email: .

/Łukasz Grochowski, the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union,
Iwona Flis, Stanisław Flis Foundation “Pomerania Archives”/