Late great Poles remembered as Poland marks centenary of independence
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
01.11.2018 09:01
The biographies of 25 late great Poles will be released on the Polish president's website daily as Poland marks a centenary of independence, the president's office announced on Wednesday.
Order of White Eagle. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
The Poles were posthumously awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's oldest and highest civilian state distinction, in order to indicate people who represented social and religious groups that were important to 20th century Poland, President Andrzej Duda said.
Among recipients of the Order of the White Eagle were Polish scientist and double-Nobel prize winner Marie Curie-Skłodowska, the doctor behind the polio vaccine, Hilary Koprowski, Olympic gold medallist, artist, poet and WWII hero Halina Konopacka, and Janusz Korczak, the Jewish doctor and teacher famous for accompanying his students as they were taken by Nazis to a death camp.
"Each of these people is certainly exceptional," Duda said.
The president's official website will publish short biographies of each of the 25 award recipients daily until Independence Day on November 11.
On November 11, 1918, the same day as an armistice to end WWI was signed, Polish statesman Józef Piłsudski arrived in Warsaw after being held prisoner in Germany announcing Polish independence after more than 120 years of partitions and foreign rule. (vb)
Source: prezydent.pl