EN
On the night of 12 to 13 December 1981, martial law was imposed in Poland. Mass arrests of opposition activists and Solidarity supporters began. Young people from academic circles in Wrocław, connected with the Central Academic Ministry Centre (Centralny Ośrodek Duszpasterstwa Akademickiego) and the ‘Wawrzyny’ Academic Ministry, (Duszpasterstwo Akademickie „Wawrzyny”) immediately reacted to the introduced political repressions – they collected information about interned persons and their families in order to provide them with immediate help. Soon afterwards, these activities merged and were supported by church dignitaries, especially by Archbishop Henryk Gulbinowicz, who formalised them by establishing the Archbishop’s Charitable Committee in March 1982. He placed great trust in the organisation and gave its members broad competences, stating: ‘Do what you want, and when they ask you, tell them I have told you to do so’. It allowed the members of the Committee to work in relatively safe conditions, giving them freedom of action and allowing them to develop a wide variety of initiatives: material, medical, legal, procedural, professional, financial and spiritual support. AK Ch tried to provide help to all the repressed people in the then Archdiocese of Wrocław, as well as to their families. Its members worked voluntarily and charitably. The suspension of martial law on 22 July 1983 did not improve the situation of the repressed, so the Committee continued its activities.