Banned union's banners on the fence at Jasna Góra, Częstochowa: "Zło dobrem zwyciężaj"
Hand-painted white banners hang along an iron fence beside a brick wall at the Jasna Góra monastery, with the Solidarity lettering and the names of workplaces and cities ('Huta Ostrowiec', 'Wrocław') beside Church phrases: 'Zło dobrem zwyciężaj' (Overcome evil with good) and 'Serc[e] z Janem Pawłem II'. The tell for transfer is the pairing: the banned union's name and logo are hung next to the Pope's name and a scriptural motto at a national shrine, so the shrine's standing is lent to the union's cause.
- Date
- 1985
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Local Solidarity groups and pilgrims (Huta Ostrowiec, Wrocław and others named on the banners); individual banner makers not named; Solidarity was banned as a trade union at the time
- Country
- Poland
- Medium
- Signs and banners
- Issuer type
- Movement
- Regime
- Polish Peoples Republic
- Leader
- Wojciech Jaruzelski
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Fortepan (donor: Barna Ádám), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY-SA 3.0 (Fortepan site footer); covers the photograph only
Fortepan / Barna Ádám, ID 267709 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Text on the object
[Large banner, centre-left:] SOLIDARNOŚĆ / HUTA OSTROWIEC [Banner below it:] SOLIDARNI W TRZEŹWOŚCI [Banner, lower left, small red caption above the logo:] WROCŁAWSKA / SOLIDARNOŚĆ / [Solidarity logo] SERC Z JANEM PAWŁEM II [Banner, centre top:] ZŁO DOBREM ZWYCIĘŻAJ [Banner, right of centre:] SOLIDARNOŚĆ / WROCŁAW [Tall banner, right, with small portrait:] [CHCEMY?] WOLNOŚCI, PRAWDY I SOLIDARNOŚCI [Banner, centre, partly folded:] [illegible] daj pomóc naszym dniom a sercom SOLIDARNOŚĆ [Small banner, upper centre, on a Polish flag:] [illegible] SOLIDARNOŚĆ [Banners at left edge and right, cut off or too small:] [illegible]
[Large banner:] SOLIDARITY / HUTA OSTROWIEC (steelworks) [Banner below it:] SOLIDARY IN SOBRIETY [Banner, lower left:] WROCŁAW / SOLIDARITY / [logo] HEART WITH JOHN PAUL II (the first word is cut off and may be 'SERCE') [Banner, centre top:] OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD [Banner, right of centre:] SOLIDARITY / WROCŁAW [Tall banner with portrait:] [We want?] FREEDOM, TRUTH AND SOLIDARITY [Banner, centre:] [illegible] give help to our days and to our hearts Solidarity [Small banner on flag:] [illegible] SOLIDARITY [Others:] [illegible]
Read from enlarged crops of the committed image. Several banners are partly out of frame, folded, hidden behind people or too small to read; only legible parts are given and unclear words are bracketed with a question mark. The 'Solidarność' lettering uses the union's logo style (the final letter's flag-like stroke is not transcribed).
