page_title: Janek Wiśniewski
section_title: The real person
hierarchical_section_title: Janek Wiśniewski / The real person
caption_attribution_description: English: Polish 1970 protests in Gdynia: body of Janek Wiśniewski (Zbyszek Godlewski) is carried by the demonstrators. Polski: Demonstracje Grudnia 1970 w Gdyni: Ciało Janka Wiśniewskiego (Zbyszka Godlewskiego) niesione przez demonstrantów
context_page_description: Janek Wiśniewski is a fictional name given to a real person, Zbigniew Eugeniusz Godlewski, shot dead by security forces during the Polish 1970 protests in the city of Gdynia. The event was popularized across the country in the poem and song, known by the name of Ballad of Janek Wiśniewski.
context_section_description: On December 17, 1970, during Poland's demonstrations against the Communist regime, the army fired into the crowd of workers emerging from a commuter train in Gdynia, under the pretext of preventing an industrial sabotage action. At least 40 innocent people were killed by police . The image of an anonymous young man's body carried on a door panel through the cordons of police and tanks inspired author Krzysztof Dowgiałło to write the poem about him. The name Wiśniewski was invented by Dowgiałło for the ballad to symbolize an 18-year worker killed by the military or the militia. Not knowing his real name, the author gave him a symbolic name sounding typically Polish. Later it was established by the opposition that the killed man was named Zbigniew Godlewski and had lived in nearby Elbląg.
  The music for the song Pieśń o Janku z Gdyni (also known as Ballada o Janku Wiśniewskim) was written by Mieczysław Cholewa. The song, along with the story of Janek Wiśniewski, was popularized when it was performed at the end of the 1981 movie Man of Iron (by actress Krystyna Janda along with Jacek Kaczmarski). After the fall of communism in Poland, a major street in Gdynia was named after Janek Wiśniewski and also a street in Elbląg was named after Zbigniew Godlewski.
  In 2011, a Polish movie about the events of December 17, titled "Czarny Czwartek - Janek Wiśniewski padł" ("Black Thursday - Janek Wiśniewski Has Fallen"), was released in cinemas. The title was inspired by a line in "Pieśń o Janku z Gdyni". The song was covered by Kazik Staszewski and used in the movie trailer.
caption: Polish 1970 protests in Gdynia: body of Zbyszek Godlewski (memorized as Janek Wiśniewski) carried by the demonstrators on a door panel
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