Poland opens communist archives to researchers

Agence France Presse, Thursday 14 December 2000, 2:44 PM

WARSAW, Dec 14 (AFP)—Poland authorities have opened access to archives of the former Polish communist party to historians, Polish media reported Thursday.

Previously access was limited to documents more than 30 years old, which kept historians away from the most imporant period of Poland's recent history covering the birth of the Solidarity trade union in 1980 and the democracy movement in the late 1980s.

Researchers will now be able to access documents concerning the decision to impose martial law on December 13, 1981; and an exchange of letters between Pope John Paul II and General Wojciech Jaruzelski in 1982, PAP news agency reported.