Members of the Polish resistance rise against the Germans in Warsaw, in a conflict lasting two months and bringing massive casualties

The Red Army liberates the surviving prisoners at Auschwitz, who include the Italian novelist Primo Levi

An election campaign in Poland, marked by violence and the use of terror, brings a Communist landslide

The Family Moskat, about a Jewish family in Warsaw, is the first of Isaac Bashevis Singer's books to be published in English

Polish-born British composer Andrzej Panufnik wins an international reputation with his Sinfonia elegiaco

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda makes Ashes and Diamonds, starring the Polish actor Zbigniew Cybulski

Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski uses 'aleatory counterpoint' in his Venetian Games

Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik's Universal Prayer, a cantata setting poetry by Alexander Pope, has its premiere in New York

Polish composer Witold Lutoslawksi writes a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich

Polish composer Henryk Górecki completes his Third Symphony

John Paul II makes an emotional and influential return to Poland, the country of his birth

Electrician Lech Walesa emerges as the leader of a strike in the Gdansk shipyard in Poland

A trade union, Solidarnośc (Solidarity), is formed by strikers in the Gdansk shipyard in Poland

Lech Walesa is elected chairman of the newly formed Polish trade union movement Solidarnośc (Solidarity)

The Kremlin appoints a general, Wojciech Jaruzelski, as prime minister of Poland

Polish prime minister Wojciech Jaruzelski imposes martial law and suspends Solidarnośc (Solidarity)

The trade union movement Solidarnośc (Solidarity) is declared illegal by the Polish government

Polish union leader and activist Lech Walesa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki's opera The Black Mask is premiered in Salzburg

Elections in Poland bring Solidarnośc nation-wide success, and the party is soon at the head of a coalition government

Solidarnośc leader Lech Walesa wins Poland's first free presidential election