Thick line

The term broad-stroke or broad line policy (Polish: "gruba kreska") was employed by prime minister of Poland, Tadeusz Mazowiecki in 1989, in his first parliamentary speech in Sejm. He said "We split away the history of our recent past with a broad line. We will answer only for what we have done to help extract Poland from her current predicament, from now on" ("Przeszłość odkreślamy grubą linią. Odpowiadać będziemy jedynie za to, co uczyniliśmy, by wydobyć Polskę z obecnego stanu załamania").

Tadeusz Mazowiecki in November 1989 on a campaign trail in Krzyżowa

In more recent years, his intentions were either more or less deliberately misunderstood by some people and his "gruba kreska" is often understood as a policy of non-punishment for crimes committed by the communist regime of pre-1989 Poland.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Polish Round Table Agreement
• Lustration in Poland
• Vergangenheitsbewältigung