Commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the so-called "March 1968" events officially started in Poland last week. On March 6, President Lech Kaczyński recognized 45 participants of student and intellectual protests against Poland's communist government.

The Polish 1968 political crisis involved some of the earliest occurrences of mobilized social dissidence at that time in Europe. The events originated at Warsaw University but quickly spread to Poland's other major cities. The protests, which were centered around issues such as freedom of speech and the right of assembly, were met by the government with repressive force. The authories also orchestrated an anti-Semitic campaign to distract national attention from the student movement.

Kaczyński noted the anti-Semitic campaign led to the expulsion of thousands of Poles with Jewish heritage.

"The anti-Semitic campaign of 1968 brought Poland irreparable losses," Kaczyński said during the ceremony. "I belong to the generation that witnessed the campaign. I often cannot believe myself that I really saw and heard it. Was it possible 23 years after the war? Unfortunately, it was," he added.

Some controversy surrounded the presidential chancellery's selection of the awardees. Glaringly absent from the list was Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, who was a central figure in March 1968 and is now a political opponent of President Kaczyński.