On Saturday, 11 November, in Zgorzelec County, as throughout the country, we celebrated National Independence Day. In the county’s municipalities, the celebrations began with solemn Masses, after which those gathered laid bouquets of flowers at places of particular significance.
County Governor Urszula Ciupak took part in a ceremony organised in Sulików. In her speech, she recalled the goal that should unite all Poles in working together to achieve it:
99 years ago, Polish dreams of independence came true. The road to it was long and difficult. The defeat of the partitioning powers during the First World War, but above all 123 years of struggle—from the Kościuszko Uprising until 1918—made it possible for our country, cherished in the hearts of generations of Poles, to be reborn and return to the map of Europe. We regained independence because political leaders from various camps—the left, nationalists, agrarians and socialists—were able to reach an agreement beyond divisions for the sake of a great cause. The Polish elites proved themselves, as did the Polish soldiers and society.
At the celebrations in Zgorzelec, the county authorities were represented by Deputy County Governor Mariusz Wieczorek:
Today we live in a stable, rapidly developing state, but the state must be strengthened and protected at all times. Agreement beyond divisions on matters of greatest importance to Poland is just as necessary today as it was nearly one hundred years ago. We know that economic, energy and cultural security, together with everything that creates the Polish spirit, values, tradition and identity, is just as important as military security. All these things enabled Poles to survive the most difficult moments in our history. We must remember this history and be able to draw lessons from it, because, as Marshal Piłsudski emphasised, “a nation that loses its memory ceases to be a nation—it becomes merely a group of people temporarily occupying a given territory”.
More information and photographs can be found on the Zgorzelec County.