President honours Silesian patriots
President Andrzej Duda on Friday in Katowice, capital of Poland's Silesian industrial basin, commemorated the heroes of the First Silesian Uprising (1919), whose centenary falls this year.
Speaking at a special session of the Silesian local parliament, Duda said that Poland will always uphold the memory of the Silesian Uprisings, three insurgencies (1919-1921) in which the region's Polish population fought against a vast German community for its inclusion into Poland.
Duda stated that Silesia today belonged to Europe's highest-industrialised regions, which it owed to the insurgents and their descendants. He added that he was sure the region will remain an economic powerhorse in future.
"(Silesia - PAP) exemplifies the very successful construction of a hi-tech-based economy. I am convinced that also in future Silesia will be a major economic driving force of the national economy, both in heavy industry and modern economic branches. And for this I wish to thank all of you, descendants of the Silesian insurgents and Silesians by choice," Duda said.
The president also recalled that Silesians were strongly involved in the overthrow of the communist regime, and in this context paid tribute to nine miners from Katowice's Wujek coalpit, gunned down by communist police on December 16, 1981 who were putting down a strike in the mine.
Prior to the parliamentary session, Duda unveiled a memorial plaque to the Silesian Uprisings in the vestibule of Silesian parliament building.
In the years 1919-1921, Upper Silesia, which belonged to Germany before World War I, was contested by Germany and Poland. Polish national moods in the region mounted considerably after Poland re-won its independence in 1918, and were strongly fought down by its German administration and army. The conflict led to three Silesian Uprisings between 1919 and 1921. After the Third Silesian Uprising, 29 percent of land and 46 percent of the population of the area was returned to Poland. (PAP)
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