77th anniversary of Polish Underground State commemorated
The Polish Underground State is like a jewel in the crown of the 1050-year-long history of Polish statehood, Sejm (lower house) Speaker Marek Kuchcinski said at the monument to the Polish Underground State and the Home Army (AK) in front of the Sejm in Warsaw.
"The Polish Underground State was a unique organisation on a world scale. Launched in September 1939, it was subordinated to the Polish government-in-exile. The Polish government-in-exile had in Poland a secret administration, secret courts, secret prosecution, underground schools and universities, publishing houses and the Home Army (AK). In this way Poland once again confirmed that the existence of a sovereign Polish state (...) was very important for the life and future of the nation," Kuchcinski said on the 77th anniversary of the organisation on Tuesday.
In a letter to participants in the observances, President Andrzej Duda wrote that the Polish Underground State was a unique organisation in Nazi German-occupied Europe.
"The functioning of secret structures subordinated to the Polish government-in-exile and the establishing of the underground Home Army (AK) was the only way to preserve the continuity of Polish statehood and save the nation's identity," the president wrote in a letter read out by head of the National Security Bureau (BBN) Pawel Soloch.
PM Beata Szydlo stressed in her letter that paying homage to the heroes of the struggle for Poland's independence was an obligation, "because we have to remember people who proved that no one could erase Poland from the map of Europe and the world".
The Polish Underground State operated in the years 1939-1945. It was subordinated to the Polish government-in-exile operating first in France and later in Great Britain. (PAP)
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