Janek Wiśniewski

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Janek Wiśniewski is a fictional name given to a real person in the poem Ballad of Janek Wiśniewski. The name was invented by its author Krzysztof Dowgiałło to symbolize an 18-year young worker killed by the military police on December 17, 1970 during coastal cities events in northern Poland.

The image of an anonymous man's body carried on doors through the squads of police and tanks inspired the author to write the poem. Not knowing his name at the time, the author decided to give him a name that is typically Polish. Later it was discovered the man was named Zbigniew Godlewski and was born in nearby Elbląg.

The legend was popularized in the late 1970s by a song by Mieczysław Cholewa, Pieśń o Janku z Gdyni, and by Jacek Kaczmarski in his Ballada o Janku Wiśniewskim. Later the same person was portrayed by Andrzej Wajda in his movie Man of Iron as Mateusz Birkut.