Thick line

The thick line policy (Polish: gruba kreska, thick stroke, or gruba linia, thick line) was the term used by prime minister of Poland, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, in the exposé_[pl] delivered in the Sejm, on September 12th 1989.^[1]

He said, "We split away the history of our recent past with a thick line. We will be responsible only for what we have done to help extract Poland from her current predicament, from now on". (Przeszłość odkreślamy grubą linią. Odpowiadać będziemy jedynie za to, co uczyniliśmy, by wydobyć Polskę z obecnego stanu załamania.)^[2]

Tadeusz Mazowiecki in November 1989, on a campaign trail in Krzyżowa.

In more recent years, his intentions were considered by many people, and his gruba kreska is often understood as a policy of nonpunishment for crimes committed by the communist regime of pre-1989 Poland.^[3][4][5]

See also

• Polish Round Table Agreement
• Lustration in Poland
• Vergangenheitsbewältigung