Polish opposition veteran Witold Chodakiewicz dies at 88

Witold Janusz Chodakiewicz, a Polish engineer and longtime activist in the anti‑communist opposition, died at the age of 88. Born in 1937 in Vilnius, he joined the Solidarity trade‑union movement in the 1970s and was interned during the 1981 state of emergency, later released in 1982. After the fall of communism he served twice as undersecretary of state in the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Economy and, in 2004, was appointed by former Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczyński as the city’s representative for the construction of the North Bridge. He received several state decorations, including the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity. His death was noted for his contributions to Poland’s democratic transition and infrastructure development.