“Poland would not be a free country if not for the Warsaw Uprising”. Appeal of Remembrance

The Roll Call of Remembrance mentions not only those who fell, but also, for example, the commanders of the Warsaw Uprising who died a natural death and a group of several people who “for dozens of post-war years spared no effort to ensure that the memory of the uprising would not be erased.”

Among them were: the President of the Republic of Poland in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, the President of the Main Board of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers Czesław Cywiński, and soldiers of the uprising: General Stanisław Komornicki, pseudonym Nałęcz, and Colonel Zbigniew Dębski, pseudonym Prawdzic, who “died in the service of the Homeland in the Smolensk catastrophe, and their work will forever be a tribute to the heroism of the Warsaw Insurgents”.

SEE: Four F16s and a Hercules will fly over Warsaw. “They will pay tribute to the Warsaw insurgents”

Present at the event were, among others, the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, the President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Speaker of the Senate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration and the Coordinator of Special Services Tomasz Siemoniak, the Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski and war veterans.

After the Roll Call of Remembrance at the Warsaw Uprising Monument, delegations of state and local government authorities and veterans’ organizations laid wreaths and bouquets of flowers.

For the homeland, the Warsaw insurgents and the residents of the capital, a solemn Eucharist was held on Wednesday at the capital's Krasiński Square by the Warsaw Uprising Monument. After the mass, the ceremonies began, during which President Andrzej Duda spoke. He recalled the words of Lech Kaczyński, who said on July 31, 2009, that the Warsaw Uprising constitutes the moral foundation of our independence.

The President emphasized that if for the Generation of Columbus the moral symbol of Polish independence was the January Uprising, then “for this Republic (…) reborn” it is the insurrection of 1944. – Because the Warsaw Uprising was not only to defeat the Germans, the occupiers, to finally regain the capital after years of oppression, murder, terror, after years of roundups and shootings in the streets, (…) to take revenge for the deaths of loved ones, for suffering, but above all to regain independence – he said.

The president recalled that the uprising “could have been avoided”. – After all, the Soviet army, the Red Army was already on the outskirts of Warsaw, occupying the Praga side of the Vistula – said Andrzej Duda, adding that “it was enough to wait maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks, maybe a little longer and in a moment the Germans themselves would have fled and the Soviet troops would have entered”.

– And that is also why the Warsaw Uprising broke out – he emphasized, explaining that the insurgents themselves wanted to expel the occupiers and show that “thanks to the heroism of the Polish soldier, the Polish capital became free.”

As he pointed out, Stalin knew about it and that is why he did not hesitate to leave them. – It was a simple, yet brutal political calculation – Andrzej Duda emphasized. He added that the leader of the USSR allowed the uprising to fail and Warsaw to be ruined by the Germans, in order to punish the Poles for this uprising and for the lost war of 1920. – And to put his boot here, to show who is the master here and who is actually winning. To seize Poland and make it his vassal, a subordinate state, establishing a puppet government – he indicated.

He quoted a fragment of Józef Andrzej Szczepański's poem “The Red Plague”: “We are waiting for you, red plague, to free us from the black death.”

Referring to the war in Ukraine, Duda said that “we are meeting here so that there will never be another occupation and to say that there is no consent to occupation”. – It does not matter whether it is German occupation, whether it is Soviet occupation, whether it is Russian occupation. The free world, to which we belong today, thanks to the Warsaw insurgents, does not consent to it – he added.

– Eternal memory to the fallen, eternal glory to the Warsaw insurgents, long live a free, sovereign, independent Poland – the president concluded his speech.

– We need to think about the future – how to be strong together in the European Union, how to deter together. The message of the Warsaw Uprising is important and relevant not only for Poles, but for all of Europe – said the mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, at Krasiński Square.

– Poland would not be a free country if it were not for the Warsaw Uprising, if the genes of entire generations were not inscribed with the opposition to enslavement and love for the homeland. There would be no free Poland and who we are, as a nation and as Varsovians – he said.

He referred to the communist era, when it was not possible to talk about the Warsaw Uprising. – It was not possible to say that the Uprising constitutes us as a nation. Because the Warsaw Uprising is the founding myth of our freedom – he added.

– The Warsaw Uprising is an element of deterrence – he emphasized. He stated that if it had not been for the Uprising, post-war history would have taken a completely different course and tanks would be on the streets of Warsaw, just like in Budapest or Prague. – The Soviets did not dare, because they knew that Poles were not worth messing with. And I am convinced that they still know it. Thanks to you, because you have written it in our genes – he addressed the insurgents.

– The uprising was an uprising in the name of freedom, in the name of principles – he stated. He emphasized that the insurgents gave their lives for values, for solidarity, camaraderie, no consent to hypocrisy and for dignity. – Because dignity is absolutely paramount – he added.

He noted that the insurgents also taught us that nothing comes for free. – Today, in the face of what is happening in the East, we must always be ready for any eventuality. We must be responsible – he emphasized. – Only then will we be sure of our freedom, when we are strong and when we look to the future. Because today everything is clear – we know where our friends are and where our enemies are – he assessed.

– You, Polish citizens, have never forgotten the Warsaw Uprising and you will never forget it. And we, the Germans, in whose name I am speaking to you today, must not forget it,” said the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, during the ceremony on the eve of the outbreak of the Uprising.

– We cannot and will not forget the immense suffering we brought to our neighboring country; the brutality and lust for destruction with which the German occupiers treated the entire population after they attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, and then devastated this country, its cities and villages – he said. He added that he knows that many Polish families still feel suffering and sadness. He emphasized that the Warsaw Uprising and the Home Army's fight against the German occupation is one of the most important events in Polish history, a symbol of resistance, and the freedom movement of the 1980s, “which was a model for many others and which finally led to freedom in Eastern and Central Europe, including the eastern half of my country.”

He noted that “every word seems too weak to describe this brutality.”

– It was German nationalism, imperialism and racism that led to the terrible crimes that Poland defended itself against in the Warsaw Uprising. This must never happen again – he said, emphasizing that we must learn from the past so that the future can be better.

According to the German president, the reconciliation and rapprochement of both countries that has taken place is “almost a miracle that we can be grateful for”. – But reconciliation and good neighborliness did not fall from the sky and will not fall from the sky. I know that not only the fight against the German occupiers required courage, also the history of reconciliation with Germany required courage – he said.

He drew attention to the cooperation of Poland and Germany in NATO and the EU for the security of Europe in support of Ukraine. – We, Poles and Germans, are and will remain in solidarity. Today's anniversary also obliges us to this – he added.

He noted that 80 years after the war, it is not just about “never again”, because the war is again in Europe and Putin wants to destroy Ukraine and threatens us all.

He recalled that the German government had just adopted the concept of a Polish House in Berlin. He assured that the governments of both countries maintain a close dialogue on the issue of compensation for living victims of the German occupation.

Steinmeier's audience interrupted his speech several times with applause. Towards the end, a group of people also chanted “reparations.”

Warsaw Uprising was the largest armed action of the underground in German-occupied Europe. On August 1, 1944, approximately 40-50 thousand insurgents joined the fight in the capital. Planned for several days, it lasted over two months. During the fighting in Warsaw, approximately 18 thousand insurgents died and 25 thousand were wounded. Losses among the civilian population were enormous and amounted to approximately 180 thousand killed. The surviving inhabitants of Warsaw, approximately 500 thousand, were expelled from the city, which was almost completely burned and destroyed after the uprising.