After thirty-five years since the declaration of martial law (which lasted from December 1981 to July 1983), we can observe the beginnings of the institutionalisation of knowledge about that period and changes in sources of information. Although for most Poles their own experiences remain the main source of their knowledge, nevertheless clear differences between generations have emerged. Respondents who were children in 1981-1983 for the most part get their knowledge from family and friends, while those born after martial law rely to a much greater extent on information provided by schools. Only a quarter of the youngest age group (under 25) said that the accounts of people they knew were their main source of information. This shows that gradually martial law is changing from being something people learn about through the lens of individual experience and is starting to become part of the systematised knowledge of history. This also influences opinions about whether it was right to bring it in.

Twenty years ago more than half of Polish people (54%) were convinced of the rightness of the decision to bring in martial law, while just under a third (30%) were of the opposite opinion. Currently two-fifths of respondents (41%) are inclined to say it was a justified move, while one in three (35%) see it as wrong.

More on this subject in the CBOS report.