The Polish TV Pirate

My project is about my own grandfather Jan Hanasz, an astronomer from Poland's University of Torun. He was born in 1934 In Torun, Poland, the home of Copernicus.

During the 1980’s democracy was not allowed in Poland, and Poland was run by a military dictatorship. My

grandfather and fellow scientists constructed a portable TV station that was mounted on a balloon that was

broadcasting messages urging people to boycott the elections to support democracy because the election was rigged. The secret police were looking all over for them but they where not aware of the balloon. One of

the balloons even fell in Communist Russia which started an international incident.

In the end my grandfather was caught, his house was searched and he was arrested and received a

suspended sentence.

Very soon after communist government stopped to exist, and all political prisoners were released.

Political Background

After the second world war communist dictatorship was established in Poland.Poland was not independent but was

controlled by the Soviet Union.People were opposed to the communist

government and kept starting protests over the years. In 1980 solidarity movement was born but it didn't exist very long because it

was crushed by the military dictator General Jaruzelski with the support of

Russia. Martial law was declared in Poland.

Telewizia Solidarnosc!

TV Solidarity In September of 1985, four Astronomers

from Poland’s University of Torun, Zygmunt Turlo, Leszek Zaleski, Piotr

Lukaszewski and Jan Hanasz, used a home computer, a synchronizing circuit, and a transmitter to superimpose messages in

support of the labour movement Solidarność (Solidarity) over state-run

television broadcasts in Torun. The messages said...

“Solidarity Torun Boycott the elections

it is our duty!”

The court case attracted huge attention of international

media. TV journalists from major TV station's reported the

story about prosecution of democratic movement although TV cameras were not allowed in

the court room. Many news papers printed the story in

countries as far away as the US, Canada, Israel and Japan.

Even my mom who was still a University student at that time got involved in the commotion and dressed up as an old

lady to escape with some of the broadcasting equipment during the

police search. Although the house was surrounded by the police she managed

to escape unnoticed through the fire exit in the basement. She ran quickly to a taxi and got away with the equipment

to hide the evidence. The equipment was hidden in a sack with potatoes.

CONCLUSIONS

In the year 2007 my grandfather was honoured during an international conference dedicated democratic movement in Europe. Organized by

the European union.

A lot of shows and books were made about my grandfather the most famous was called “Spectacular Computer Crimes” by Buck

BloomBecker.

In the photo you can see my grandfather on the left.

Bibliography

Spectacular Computer Crimes by Buck BloomBecker, Dow Jones-Irwin, Homewood Illinois 60430

Wikipedia

The End

By Ola Hanasz