The Warsaw Uprising is one of the fundamental milestones of our freedom and independence, the insurgents stood up to fight to regain freedom and to bear witness to their perseverance – said President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday during the ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the uprising.
The meeting of President Andrzej Duda and the Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski with the Warsaw insurgents took place on Tuesday in the Freedom Park on the grounds of the Warsaw Uprising Museum. The event began the main celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising.
Before meeting with the insurgents, President Andrzej Duda laid a wreath in front of the plaque commemorating President Lech Kaczyński in the Main Courtyard of the Museum, and the Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, laid flowers at the monument commemorating the civilian victims of the 1944 uprising.
The event in Freedom Park was attended by representatives of state and local government authorities, representatives of the Polish Army and allied forces, as well as representatives of various denominations and veterans’ organizations.
As Jan Ołdakowski, director of the Warsaw Uprising Museum, emphasized at the beginning of the ceremony, “we have gathered here because the Warsaw insurgents are with us”. “80 years ago, Warsaw went into battle, and the insurgents fought not only for their beloved capital, but also for the freedom of the Republic of Poland. With their heroism, they showed that freedom is the highest value for both individuals and the entire nation,” he said.
Ołdakowski recalled that “when twenty years ago the then president of Warsaw, Lech Kaczyński, opened the Warsaw Uprising Museum, 4,000 insurgents gathered in the Freedom Park”. “Today there are only a few dozen insurgents, so your (insurgents – PAP) presence is all the more valuable to us. But if you turn around, you will see that there are still several thousand people in this square” – he emphasized. “With us are scouts, volunteers, soldiers, veterans of foreign missions, participants of the “Roots of Memory” program. All of them will carry the memory of the uprising into the future and will be faithful to the values you fought for” – he emphasized. “Because the memory of the uprising shapes the free Poland you fought for” – added the director of the Warsaw Uprising.
President Andrzej Duda recalled during his speech that 80 years have passed since the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. “The 80th anniversary of the event that stands today as one of the fundamental milestones of our freedom and our independence, the great – as some sometimes say – second Battle of Warsaw, something that probably has never happened before in history,” Duda said.
He recalled that the uprising was attended by tens of thousands of young people who had military training but were not soldiers. As the president added, most often these young people had no combat experience and no weapons, and yet they stood up to fight the regular army, one of the best in the world at that time, with vast combat experience and modern military equipment. “(The insurgents) stood up to fight in order to regain freedom, in order to bear witness to the fact that they exist, that they are alive, that they endure and that Poland, although it has disappeared from the map, has not disappeared for Poles and Poland has not disappeared from hearts,” the president said.
Duda referred to the discussion about the purposefulness of the decision to start the uprising in 1944. “Was it worth it? Hundreds of thousands of people died, the city was destroyed, and it took decades to rebuild it. The more years that passed since the end of World War II, the more often it happened – especially in free Poland over the last 35 years – that various groups questioned the sense of that decision, that fight,” the president said.
As he assessed, “recently, we have not heard any voices that would try to question the validity, the rightness of that great military action”. “Do you know why? Firstly, because there are still insurgents and they are still a testimony to a free, independent and sovereign Poland, which by existing shows that it was worth it. Thank you for being there all the time” – he addressed the gathered participants of the Uprising, thanking them for the testimony they gave.
He pointed out that the second reason why criticism of the uprising has died down is evidence from the war in Ukraine. “Over the past two years (critics – PAP) have seen Mariupol, practically completely destroyed, and at the very end captured by the Russians, under the ruins of which its defenders died and which Ukrainians have not managed to reclaim to this day. Let someone try to tell Ukrainians that it was not worth it (…) Even though they lost the city, they have not regained it to this day, even though they will rebuild it for decades. Today, everyone who sees it knows perfectly well that it was and is worth it, because there is no price that is not worth paying for the defense of the homeland and for regaining it,” stated President Duda.
During Tuesday’s celebrations, President Andrzej Duda also awarded state decorations to participants of the 1944 uprising.
For outstanding services to the independence of the Republic of Poland, the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta was awarded to Andrzej Sitkowski, codename Sowa, soldier of the “Żyrafa II” Group, headquarters cover platoon.
Andrzej Duda presented the Knight’s Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta to: Anna Duszkiewicz, codename Jadwiga, nurse and liaison officer, 1st Józef Bem Horse Artillery Division; Zbigniew Klenowicz, codename Zew, signals platoon, II District “Żywiciel”; Krystyna Kodymowska, codename Stokrotka, liaison officer and nurse of the Warsaw District Sanitary Unit of the Home Army “Bakcyl”; Barbara Kosianowska-Berner, codename Baśka, nurse in the “Bartkiewicz” Group; Maria Kowalska, codename “Myszka”, nurse at the Elżbietanek Hospital on Goszczyńskiego Street, and then in the Field Hospital on Misjna Street; Jerzy Malewicz, codename Kowalski, soldier of the II District “Waligóra”, then “Sienkiewicz” Group, and then the “Gozdawa” Battalion; Zofia Rus, nicknamed Kanarek and Miś, a nurse in the “Gurt” Group.
Janusz Pilchowski, pseudonym Lisek, Zgrupowanie “Leśnik”, who after the Uprising was a soldier of the 1st Armoured Division of General Maczek, was posthumously awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Additionally, for outstanding achievements in disseminating knowledge and cultivating the memory of the history of Poland and for her activities on behalf of veterans’ communities, the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta was awarded to Anna Lewak, secretary of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers.
For his services to the independence of the Republic of Poland, the Gold Cross of Merit was awarded to Jan Dąmbrowski, codename Rekin, a liaison officer in the “Baszta” Regiment.
The Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, emphasized in his speech that it is the insurgents who always keep everyone’s spirits up. “It is the insurgents who hold our hand in these difficult moments,” he added.
“Let’s hope that none of us will have to face such a test as you. None of us will have to give our lives for our country. Because thanks to your experience, Poland is safe today. I think that no one in their right mind would dare to raise a hand against the Republic of Poland,” Trzaskowski said.
Addressing the insurgents, he noted that “most importantly, dear insurgents, you have raised crowds of people who will pass on your values”. “You can be completely calm that this is your experience, that your blood tribute, your heroism, will never go to waste” – he emphasized.
“We assure you that your experience will accompany us until the end of our days, every generation that had the chance to meet you, talk to you. And every next generation that will listen to our stories about you,” said the mayor of Warsaw.
During the meeting, Bogdan Bartnikowski, a participant in the Warsaw Uprising and a Home Army soldier known as Mały, said that “we remember the occupation period very well, when we were constantly preparing for the day when we would be able to face the occupiers and regain the freedom we had been missing so much.”
“We remember the last days before the outbreak of the uprising, when we saw the Germans and their collaborators fleeing. We were growing very anxious about what would happen next, why we were not fighting. And finally, August 1st and the hour +W+ came. It was a difficult fight. Because the spirit among the insurgents was great. The will to fight was enormous, but our capabilities turned out to be too small to defeat the Germans, who were fortified and surrounded by barbed wire and bunkers,” he explained.
“The Warsaw Uprising Museum is a sacred place for us. Here, where you have gathered in such large numbers today, there is a long wall on which the names of the insurgents are engraved. I will also go here, where my father’s name is listed. Together with him, we were next to each other in the Ochota redoubts, the “Kaliska Redoubt”. And now I can come to the wall and say: “I am here, Dad!” – he added.
“The Warsaw Uprising Museum was established twenty years ago. An organization was also established, which is made up of people of the younger generation, namely volunteers. The latter, in the environment of still living witnesses of history, gather knowledge not always available in existing documents,” said Prof. Leszek Żukowski, a participant of the Warsaw Uprising, during his speech.
“We are on the grounds of the Warsaw Uprising Museum, which enjoys an excellent reputation both in Poland and abroad. The first visit to the museum encourages a second visit. Both the exhibits and the museum staff, from whom one can hear a lot of information, encourage this. Many thanks!” – emphasized Prof. Żukowski.
“In the Warsaw Insurgents’ House, established six years ago, volunteers can gain a lot of information about the painful past through direct contact with veterans of the uprising. My admiration for the volunteers stems from the fact that they devote their time to caring for and helping the insurgents,” said a veteran of the uprising.
On behalf of veterans of operations outside the borders of the Republic of Poland, Colonel Piotr Gąstał spoke. “I grew up in the Old Town of Warsaw, every day on my way to primary school, to scout meetings, and then to secondary school, my first job at the Royal Castle or on my way to studies at the University of Warsaw I passed by places of remembrance dedicated to you – the Warsaw insurgents and the events that took place then,” he said. He pointed out that “these places influenced my imagination, which shaped me as a person and influenced the choice of the life path I chose – the path of a soldier of the Polish Army.”
Colonel Gąstał also emphasized that he had participated in numerous ceremonies commemorating the Warsaw Uprising and had spoken to the participants of the 1944 uprising. He also addressed the insurgents themselves, saying: “you were and are for us a bag of patriotism, sacrifice and service to the homeland”. “We did not have to fight for freedom, like you, because thanks to you we live in a free country,” he added.
In turn, the commander of the Capital Banner of the Polish Scouting Association, Scoutmaster Katarzyna Karolak, representing the scouts, said that “standing here today, in the heart of Warsaw, which was reborn from the ruins, we bow with deep respect and gratitude before you, the heroes of the Warsaw Uprising”. “We are here to pay tribute to the city of Warsaw and its defenders, who preferred to die as free people on the streets, in basements and sewers than to live under the regime of evil”, she emphasized.
The Warsaw Uprising, which broke out on August 1, 1944 at 5 p.m., was the largest armed action of the underground in German-occupied Europe. Around 40-50 thousand insurgents joined the fight in the capital. Planned for a few days, it lasted over two months. During the fighting in Warsaw, around 18 thousand insurgents died and 25 thousand were wounded. Losses among the civilian population were enormous and amounted to around 180 thousand dead. The surviving inhabitants of Warsaw, around 500 thousand people, were expelled from the city, which the Germans began to systematically destroy after the uprising. (PAP)
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