508 SOUDARNOSC
them in 1939. They had watched all the country's catastrophes from afar: the
Nazi and Soviet occupations, the Communist takeover of 1944-8, the Polish
October of 1956, the scandals of 1968, the Baltic riots, the rise and fall of
Solidarity in 1980-1, the rise and fall of Martial Law, and the collapse of
Communism. But now the last of the line, the silver-haired President Ryszard
Kaczorowski, flew from London to Warsaw taking the pre-war presidential
insignia with him. It was a most generous and symbolic act. The Government-
in-Exile had voluntarily decided to end its career with honour. Thanks to its
final gesture, President Walesa was able to take office on 22 December 1990 car-
rying the symbols of his democratic predecessors. It was as if the People's
Republic had never existed. This was the true moment of Poland's liberation.