Thirty seven years ago on Sunday the 13th of December 1981 martial law was declared in Poland. At 6 a.m. a radio announcement by General Wojciech Jaruzelski informed Poles about the implementation of the decree by the Polish Council of State. Martial law would be binding in the entire territory of Poland. The communist authorities, on the 12th of December, began arresting activists from the oppostion and the Solidarity movement. In just a few days, 49 internment centres were filled with about 5,000 people. Curfew was sat from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and enforced by the militia. People were required to have special permission to travel beyond their area of residence. School and university classes were cancelled and restrictions were implemented severely restricting civil libertiesof Poland's citizens. For example, all correspondence was subject to official censorship. Some of the most important institutions and places of work were placed under military control in which 8,000 military commissars were in control. On the 31st of December 1982, the martial law was suspended and on the 22nd of July, 1983 was it was cancelled. The United States and other Western countries protested against the repressive measures taken in Poland, but some of them lingered for years to come.