The Netherlands commemorates liberation of Breda by Polish army
Polish officials and WWII veterans on Saturday gathered in Oosterhout in the southern Netherlands for the start of several-day commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Breda from under German occupation by the 1st Polish Armoured Division.
The Saturday ceremony was attended by the 1st Division's surviving veterans, Polish Ambassador in the Netherlands Marcin Czepelak, head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression (UKiOR) Jan Jozef Kasprzyk, representatives of the Polish Culture Ministry, as well as General Maczek's son Andrzej Maczek.
The officials laid flowers and lit candles on Polish veteran graves. Tribute to the soldiers was also paid by the city's Dutch residents and pupils of schools named after the 1st Division's commander General Stanislaw Maczek.
The Sunday observances began with a holy mass in Breda's St. Laurence Church, after which a roll-call ceremony for fallen Polish soldiers was held at the Polish Honorary Military Cemetery in the Breda suburb of Ginneken.
Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife, who are starting a visit to the Netherlands on Monday, will take part in the commemorations with Dutch King Willem-Alexander and his wife. (PAP)
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