The event was popularized across the country in the poem and song, known by the name of Ballad of Janek Wiśniewski [pl] (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjanɛɡ viɕˈɲɛfskʲi]).

On 17 December 1970, during Poland's demonstrations against the Communist regime, the army fired into the crowd of workers emerging from a commuter train in Gdynia, under the pretext of preventing an industrial sabotage action.

The image of an anonymous young man's body carried on a door panel through the cordons of police and tanks inspired author Krzysztof Dowgiałło to write the poem about him.

Later it was established by the opposition that the man shot dead was named Zbigniew Godlewski and had lived in nearby Elbląg.

[4][5] The song, along with the story of Janek Wiśniewski, was popularized when it was performed at the end of the 1981 movie Man of Iron (by actress Krystyna Janda along with Jacek Kaczmarski).