President decorates anti-communist resistance veterans

President Bronislaw Komorowski (C) with anti-communist resistance veterans during Thursday's ceremony: photo - PAP/Jacek Turczyk

The ceremony at the Presidential Palace ties in with tomorrow's so-called Day of Remembrance of Cursed Soldiers, which pays tribute to those who refused to lay down arms after the close of the Second World War, choosing instead to fight Poland's Moscow-backed communist regime.

“You stood fast in the struggle for Poland's freedom, independence, and sovereignty,” Komorowski said during today's ceremony, as quoted by Polish Radio.

Poland's wartime government-in-exile oversaw the disbandment of its official resistance force, the Home Army (AK), in January 1945, after the Red Army pushed back the Nazi German occupiers from pre-war Polish territory.

However, convinced that Stalin would not allow free elections in post-war Poland, many resistance fighters refused to lay down their arms.

Several splinters of the Home Army emerged, including Freedom and Independence (WiN). Meanwhile, the independent wartime National Armed Forces (NSZ) resistance force continued its activities.

An amnesty was held in 1947, and most of the remaining resistance was snuffed out by the communist authorities by the early 1950s, following waves of arrests.

The Day of Remembrance for Cursed Soldiers was first marked in 2011, with the date of March 1 marking the execution of seven members of WiN on that day in 1951. (nh)

Source: PAP/IAR