Polish democracy hero Walesa says Trump’s treatment of Zelensky filled him with ‘horror’

WARSAW — Poland’s democracy hero Lech Walesa and dozens of other former political prisoners in Poland have written a letter to President Trump, telling him that his treatment of Ukraine’s president at the Oval Office last week filled them “with horror and distaste.”

Walesa, who served as president soon after Poland embraced democracy, and the others tell Trump that they found it offensive that he expected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to show respect and gratitude for the materiel assistance the United States has given Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s invasion.

“Gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed blood in defense of the values of the free world. They are the ones who have been dying on the front lines,” they say.

The White House has demanded that Zelensky show more openness to potential concessions in order to bring the fighting to an end, but Zelensky has been resistant, saying Monday that any deal with Russia is still “very, very far away,” while seeking greater security guarantees from Washington.

Walesa posted the letter on Facebook on Monday along with a photograph of himself with Trump. It was signed by himself and 38 other former democracy activists who were imprisoned by Poland’s Moscow-backed communist regime before 1989. Among the others who signed are Adam Michnik, Bogdan Lis, Seweryn Blumsztajn and Wladyslaw Frasyniuk.

“We were also terrified by the fact that the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation reminded us of the one we remember well from interrogations by the Security Service and from the courtrooms in communist courts,” they wrote.

“Prosecutors and judges, commissioned by the omnipotent communist political police, also explained to us that they had all the cards in their hands, and we had none. They demanded that we cease our activities, arguing that thousands of innocent people were suffering because of us. They deprived us of freedom and civil rights because we did not agree to cooperate with the authorities and did not show them gratitude. We are shocked that you treated President Volodymyr Zelensky in a similar way,” they wrote.

Starting in 1980, Walesa spearheaded Poland’s pro-democracy Solidarity movement that nine years later led to the peaceful ouster of communism from Poland and inspired other countries to shed Moscow’s domination.

In 1983, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as democratic Poland’s first popularly elected president from 1990 to 1995.