In the 1970s and 1980s the opposition movement in Poland refers to the 1956 traditions of struggle for freedom and independence. Numerous books and articles dealing with the events in Poznań and Hungary are published illegally.

Ákos Engelmayer:

In 1961 I decided to ‘choose freedom’ in Poland and after overcoming many obstacles I managed to stay here thanks to my wife. I completed my university studies and I tried to act as an intermediary between Polish and Hungarian intellectuals [...] and, later on, between the opposition movement in Hungary and Poland. [...] The opposition activists in the 1970s and, later on, Solidarity consciously referred to the traditions of the 1956 Hungarian uprising. Many publications and books dealing with the subject were brought out then. Wiktor Woroszylski’s Dziennik węgierski (Hungarian Diary) alone had seven editions in the period between 1976 and 1989.

The 1956 ideals brought the Hungarian opposition movement closer to the Polish one, and vice versa. The first plaque commemorating persons killed and murdered during the Hungarian uprising was made in Podkowa Leśna in 1986, i.e. earlier than in Hungary. Book publications (on the subject) were more numerous here than in Hungary.