Outgoing and elected presidents honour victims of Warsaw Uprising
Outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda and President-elect Karol Nawrocki have laid a wreath at the monument of the victims of the Wola massacre.
During the Warsaw Uprising, German troops carried out several mass killings of the civilian population of the capital. The massacre that occurred in the Wola district in 1944 stands out as one of the most brutal instances, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.
During the ceremony, Duda said that the extermination of Warsaw's inhabitants by the Germans remained largely unrecognised, but added that in Wola, there were over 150 plaques commemorating the fighting and the victims of German occupiers.
"Thus, at the very outset of the anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, we pay tribute first not to the valiant soldiers who fought with weapons in hand, but to the murdered civilian residents of the capital, the victims of the Wola massacre," he said.
The massacre of the Wola district was carried out on Adolf Hitler's orders as part of Germany's plan to demolish Warsaw and murder its residents. As a result roughly 40,000 to 60,000 people were killed in mass executions.
Nawrocki said that the tragedy of Warsaw began on September 1, 1939, so the uprising, which began on August 1, 1944 "was a clear expression and voice of the remarkable citizens of the Polish state, then underground, and a cry for freedom, independence and sovereignty."
He also expressed his deep gratitude to all those who will commemorate the Warsaw Uprising on its 81st anniversary on Friday.
"I am grateful, not only as the president-elect and president of the Institute of National Remembrance, to our heroes and heroines of the Warsaw Uprising, from whom we derive this profound hope and willingness to fight for what is most significant to us," Nawrocki remarked.
The Warsaw Uprising was the largest underground military operation in German-occupied Europe. On August 1, 1944, around 40,000 to 50,000 insurgents took part in the fighting. Planned to last several days, the uprising eventually lasted over two months.
During the fighting in Warsaw, about 18,000 insurgents lost their lives and 25,000 were wounded. The civilian casualties were staggering, totalling approximately 180,000. Following the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, about 500,000 surviving residents were forced to evacuate and Warsaw was almost completely razed to the ground.(PAP)mj/jd/jch
