A new road located in the western part of the city of Bolesławiec will be named “Orląt Lwowskich”. The name “Orląt Lwowskich” refers to the young residents of Lviv who, in the absence of Polish military units in Lviv, defended the city against Ukrainian military units in 1918–1919. The young volunteers also fought Soviet forces in the Polish–Bolshevik War in 1920. The Polish volunteer forces included pupils, students, workers, officials, boys and girls. At first they fought practically with their bare hands, later using weapons captured from the enemy. In the absence of regular troops, sent by the Austrian command to other regions of Europe, the young defenders decided to liberate their city, which the departing occupying forces had handed over to Ukrainian military units deliberately brought to Lviv. The opponents of the “Orląt Lwowskich” in the second phase of the struggle for Lviv in 1918 were the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen – a military formation composed of Ukrainians and created on principles similar to those of the Polish Legions. In total, 6,022 people took part in the fighting on the Polish side, including 1,421 who were under 17 years of age; the youngest was only 9. One of them, 13-year-old Antoś Pietrykiewicz, became the youngest recipient in history of the Virtuti Militari Order. Lviv, belonging to Poland since the 14th century, had for several centuries been a city inhabited mostly by Poles – approximately 60% of the total population; the remainder consisted of Jews (approximately 30%) and Ukrainians (approximately 10%), also called Ruthenians.

Naming the street after “Orląt Lwowskich” honours the bravery and patriotic attitude of Polish youth in the eastern borderlands of the Republic of Poland.

Another road was named “Żołnierzy Wyklętych”. The road, located in the western part of Bolesławiec, connects Gdańska Street with Lubańska Street and runs parallel to Śluzowa Street.

Żołnierze Wyklęci is the collective name for members of the anti-communist and independence underground who resisted Sovietisation after the Second World War. According to Professor Jan Żaryn, more than 20,000 soldiers died or were secretly murdered or killed in NKVD and communist secret-police prisons; some were deported eastwards, while many were sentenced to imprisonment. At the end of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s, more than 250,000 people were imprisoned and held in labour camps. Since 2011, 1 March has been a national holiday dedicated to the soldiers of the armed anti-communist underground. The National Remembrance Day of the “Żołnierzy Wyklętych” is observed annually, but it is not a work-free day. The first day of March is particularly symbolic for the soldiers of the anti-communist underground: on that day in 1951, the death sentence was carried out on the leadership of the Fourth Command of the “Wolność i Niezawisłość” Association.

Naming the street “Żołnierzy Wyklętych” honours the memory of outstanding Poles and patriots, defenders of truth and, above all, advocates of the highest values – freedom and dignity. It is also a tribute to great heroes, people of unyielding energy and courage, for years of faithful service to the homeland and devotion whose examples are difficult to find today. It is also an encouragement, especially for the youngest generation of Poles, to learn about the achievements and preserve the memory of the traditions and ideals of the national armed forces.

A new street, also located in the western part of the city, was named “Powstańców Warszawy”. Powstańcy Warszawy were the steadfast and heroic participants in the armed struggle against the German occupier undertaken by Home Army units as part of Operation “Burza”, commonly known as the Warsaw Uprising. The Warsaw Uprising, which lasted from 1 August to 2 October 1944, involved approximately 37,000 Home Army soldiers, joined by units of the National Armed Forces, the People’s Army and the Security Corps. The civilian population of Warsaw made a significant contribution to the Uprising. Uprising losses are estimated at 18,000 dead and missing and 25,000 wounded. Approximately 15,000 soldiers and officers were taken prisoner, including General T. Komorowski (Bór), appointed commander-in-chief. Civilian losses amounted to more than 180,000 dead, most of them murdered. After the Uprising capitulated, the soldiers were placed in prisoner-of-war camps, while civilians were sent to the transit camp in Pruszków, from where they were dispersed throughout the General Government or sent to labour camps in Germany.

The Warsaw Uprising was one of the most important events in Poland’s recent history. Its consequences were far-reaching and remain felt to this day. It arouses strong emotions and is the subject of lively debate concerning its interpretation and assessment. Regardless of the political and social evaluations of the Warsaw Uprising, the participants in this armed action – the “Powstańcy Warszawy” – deserve our highest recognition and remembrance. Naming the street “Powstańców Warszawy” is a tribute to the fallen and surviving participants of the Warsaw Uprising.

In the same area of the city, another road was named after Rotmistrza Pileckiego. Rotmistrz Witold Pilecki used many pseudonyms: “Witold”, “Tomek” and “Romek”, as well as the clandestine names “Roman Jezierski”, “Tomasz Serafiński”, “Leon Bryjak”, “Jan Uznański” and “Witold Smoliński”. He was born on 13 May 1901 in Olonets, Russia, and executed on 25 May 1948 in Warsaw. He was a cavalry captain in the Polish Army, co-founder of the Secret Polish Army and a Home Army soldier. In 1940, he deliberately provoked his arrest in order to enter Auschwitz concentration camp and obtain information about the Germans’ treatment of prisoners. He co-organised the camp’s underground resistance organisation. In 1943, threatened with exposure, he escaped from the camp. From 1943 to 1944 he served in the Second Department of the Home Army Headquarters’ Kedyw; from 1944 to 1945 he was a German prisoner of war, and subsequently served in the 2nd Polish Corps in Italy. In 1945 he returned to Poland. Arrested in 1947, he was accused of directing intelligence activities on behalf of the Polish government-in-exile. He was sentenced to death by the communist authorities of the Polish People’s Republic. He was killed in 1948. In 1990, Rotmistrz Witold Pilecki was rehabilitated by the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court. He was made a Knight of the Order of the White Eagle. He was one of the first to prepare reports on the Holocaust, later known as the Pilecki Reports. Naming the street “Rotmistrza Pileckiego” honours the memory of an outstanding Pole and patriot.

The next road was named ul. Majora “Hubala”. Major “Hubal” – Henryk Dobrzański (1897–1940) was a Polish Army cavalry major, an Olympian in equestrian sport and a “raider”, as well as one of the first partisan commanders during the Second World War. From 1920 he was a member of the Riflemen’s Teams; from 1914 he served in the Polish Legions in the 2nd Uhlan Regiment. From 1918 he served in the Polish Army. During the interwar period, he took part in fighting against Ukrainians in 1918 and in the Polish–Bolshevik War from 1919 to 1921. He was decorated with the Cross of Valour and the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Order. As deputy commander of the 110th Reserve Uhlan Regiment, he took part in the defence of Grodno against advancing Red Army units. After Warsaw’s capitulation on 27 September 1939, he and 50 of his soldiers attempted to reach France. On 1 October 1939 he fought a battle against German forces and took refuge in the Kielce region. After the complete collapse of the September Campaign, Major H. Dobrzański, under the pseudonym Hubal, organised the first partisan unit, the Independent Detachment of the Polish Army. The Hubalczycy won their first victory in a skirmish with the Germans near Cisownik. Despite orders from the leadership of the Union of Armed Struggle and the Government Delegation for Poland to dissolve the units, H. Dobrzański refused to obey. His superiors’ position was prompted by the fact that, because of the local population’s cooperation with “Hubal”, the Germans intensified repression against civilians in the area. In March 1940 he achieved a major victory in a skirmish near Huciska, in which a Wehrmacht infantry battalion was almost completely destroyed. A similar fate befell another German unit near Szałasy several days later. On 30 April 1940, the “Hubal” unit was surrounded by German forces. During the battle, in which the Germans used tanks, the partisan unit was dispersed and the major himself fell in combat. His body was most probably taken by the Germans to Tomaszów Mazowiecki and burned there. The “Hubal” unit dissolved itself on 25 June 1940. In 1966, Dobrzański was posthumously awarded the Gold Cross of the Virtuti Militari Order and promoted to the rank of colonel.

A street in the western part of the city was also named “Henryka Sienkiewicza”. Henryk Sienkiewicz – pseudonym Litwos (1846–1916) – was a short-story writer, novelist and journalist. He received the 1905 Nobel Prize in Literature for his body of work and was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Henryk Sienkiewicz was born on 5 May 1846 in Wola Okrzeńska in Podlasie. He came from an impoverished landowning family that settled in Warsaw in 1855. After graduating from secondary school, he studied law, philology and history at the Main School and the University of Warsaw. Henryk Sienkiewicz travelled extensively. From 1876 to 1878 he stayed in North America. In March 1878 he returned to Europe. He stopped in London and then spent a year in Paris. In 1888 Henryk Sienkiewicz travelled to Spain, and in 1890 he undertook an expedition to Africa. After the outbreak of the First World War, Henryk Sienkiewicz went to Switzerland, where he organised aid for war victims in Poland. He died on 15 November 1916 in Vevey, Switzerland. Henryk Sienkiewicz’s works include the following novels: With Fire and Sword, The Deluge, Pan Wołodyjowski, The Polaniecki Family, Quo Vadis, The Knights of the Cross, In Desert and Wilderness and many other novels and short stories. Naming the newly established street “ul. Henryka Sienkiewicza” is intended to honour an outstanding Pole and the 1905 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature.

(commissioned information)