last Communist leader

Many people associate picture above with difficult times to Poland. This image shows 

Gen Jaruzelski in 1981, when he declared martial law and ordered the arrest of the pro-democracy Solidarity leader Lech Walesa. 

Gen Jaruzelski fought in a Polish unit of the Russian army during World War Two and rose up the military ranks after the war to become chief "political officer" of Poland's armed forces.

He denied ordering the fatal shooting of dozens of shipyard workers in the northern cities of Gdansk and Gdynia in 1971, for which he was later put on trial.

"Martial law was evil but it was a far lesser evil than what would have happened without it," he told his trial.

To many Poles he was a traitor but others gave him the benefit of the doubt.

His trial was suspended in 2011 after he was diagnosed with cancer.

Today, on 25 may 2014 Poland's last Communist leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski has died  after a long illness.