WORLD : Effort to Save Solidarity Birthplace
WARSAW — A Polish-American millionaire agreed today to try to save the birthplace of the Solidarity free trade union, the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, from closure by Poland’s communist government.
Barbara Piasecka-Johnson, who inherited a fortune from her U.S. businessman husband who helped found the mammoth Johnson & Johnson drug firm, signed a preliminary agreement in the Baltic port with Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and the shipyard manager to form a joint stock company to save the yard.
Solidarity sources said Piasecka-Johnson, who had been her husband’s maid before they were married, had offered to invest about $100 million in the company but the reports could not be immediately confirmed.
She has already given Solidarity $1 million for its health fund, which operates independently of the state health service.
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