Mrs Walesa feels strain

Press, 29 March 1982, Page 8

Mrs Walesa feels strain

NZPA-Reuter London Danuta Walesa, wife of the Solidarity leader, says that it is difficult to carry on while her husband is detained by Polish authorities. "The whole weight of the family is on my shoulders.” Mrs Walesa told the "Sunday Times.” ' Mr Walesa was detained shortly ater martial law was declared in Poland on December 13. "With seven children, it is difficult to carry on,” she said. Their seventh-child was baptised in Gdansk, the birth

place of Solidarity, last Sunday. ’ . She had seen her husband only three times since he was detained. She had last visited her husband on February 8. when the couple and two of their children spent eight Unforgettable days together even if it was a long way from the family atmosphere. she said. Before that, she had seen Mr Walesa on December 16, . three days after the imposition of' martial law, and again on Christmas Eve. The “Sunday Times" said the interview with Mrs

Walesa, aged 32. was con- , ducted by a Polish-born journalist. now living in Italy, shortly before the baptism. She said that her husband, whom she calls Lestek, had been asked to appear on State television many times to appeal for public calm, but he had always refused. "Lestek has become more nervous but he will not bend. I am certain of this,” she . said. Mrs Walesa said that her husband was being detained at a villa at Konstancin. just outside Warsaw. He is taken to another villa at Otwock.

42 km away, for all meetings whether with the family, members of the Catholic Church, or with Polish officials, she said. Her. husband had access to all -the Polish newspapers and also listened to Radio Free Europe and Polish-lan-guage broadcasts of the British Broadcasting Corporation in London. They ,were his: only source of true news, she : said. He also read a lot, smoked : heavily, and hardly left his ' room because it annoyed him j to be constantly followed. |