Warsaw pays tribute to WWII insurgency

A number of ceremonies at cemeteries and monuments commemorating the uprising and its leaders will be held across the city throughout the day.

One of the main observances will be held at the Gloria Victis Monument at Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery, at 5pm CET, the time coordinated attacks were unleashed in various locations across the capital on 1 August 1944.

Like each year, Poles across the country will observe 60 seconds of silence, as sirens wail nationwide to honour the memory of the uprising.

Ahead of Monday’s anniversary, President Andrzej Duda met with the insurgents on Sunday. “The Warsaw Uprising is a monument of our memory and its insurgents are our greatest treasure,” Duda said in his speech.

Sunday’s commemorations also saw Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz grant honorary medals to several insurgents, after which a roll-call was read out in honour of individuals who helped preserve the memory of the Warsaw Uprising.

Later in the evening, young artists performed songs based on letters penned at the time of the struggle, at a concert staged under the slogan “New Generation 16/44”.

The Warsaw Uprising broke out on 1 August 1944. It was the largest military operation by any resistance movement in Europe against the continent's Nazi German occupiers during World War II. Some 18,000 insurgents and 180,000 civilians died in the ill-fated uprising that lasted over two months. (aba)

Source: IAR, PAP