2016-07-30 17:07 update: 2018-09-27, 02:48
Warszawa, 30.07.2016. Prezydent Andrzej Duda (P) odznaczył Henryka Skalskiego (L) podczas uroczystości w Parku Wolności przy Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego w Warszawie, 30 bm. W związku z 72. rocznicą wybuchu powstania warszawskiego prezydent wręczył ordery i odznaczenia państwowe uczestnikom powstania warszawskiego oraz wolontariuszom i współpracownikom muzeum. (zuz/kru) Fot. PAP/Jakub Kamiński
A large group of Warsaw Uprising veterans took part on Saturday in celebrations at the Freedom Park in the Warsaw Rising Museum on the eve of the 72nd anniversary of the Uprising outbreak.
"Warsaw insurgents are our greatest treasure, the Warsaw Uprising is a monument of our remembrance," President Andrzej Duda said, addressing the gathering.
The president stressed that on behalf of Poles, especially of younger generations, he wanted to honour the insurgents "who are still with us, but also those who passed away, and those killed in August, September and October 1944."
"You are not only the heroes of the Warsaw Uprising but also educators and an example," the president said, stressing that young people were filled with admiration for the insurgents.
Later the president presented state distinctions to a group of Warsaw Uprising veterans, some of them posthumously.
Present was Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.
The Warsaw Uprising broke out on August 1, 1944 as the biggest resistance operation in Nazi-occupied Europe. Initially intended to last several days, it continued for over two months before being suppressed by the Germans. The uprising claimed the lives of 18,000 insurgents and around 180,000 civilians.
After the insurgents surrendered and the remaining 500,000 residents were expelled, the Germans methodically burned down and blew up Warsaw house by house. By January 1945, 85 percent of the buildings had been destroyed. (PAP)
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