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Warsaw Uprising commemorations continue on eve of anniversary

31.07.2022 19:30
A solemn Mass was held at Krasiński Square on Sunday to mark the 78th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi Germans.
Veterans of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 during a Mass celebrated in front of the Warsaw Uprising monument at Krasiński Square in Warsaw on the eve of the 78th anniversary of the insurgency.
Veterans of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 during a Mass celebrated in front of the Warsaw Uprising monument at Krasiński Square in Warsaw on the eve of the 78th anniversary of the insurgency.Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

Held in front of the monument to the Warsaw Uprising, the Mass was attended by Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski and veterans of the 1944 insurgency, among others.

The service, which started at 6:00 pm, was celebrated by field bishop of the Polish Army Wiesław Lechowicz.

Following the religious service, Polish head of state Andrzej Duda gave a speech saying that veterans of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising "raised the next generation in such a way that today Poles have brought help to those fighting for freedom in Ukraine."

Also, a Remembrance Roll Call took place after the Sunday Mass.

Earlier on Sunday, the Warsaw City Council met in the capital to award the honorary citizen titles as part of official commemorations.

The Warsaw Uprising started at 5 pm on August 1, 1944.

It lasted 63 days before being put down by better equipped and more numerous German forces.

The bloody insurgency resulted in the death of as many as 18,000 fighters and up to 180,000 civilians, according to Poland's Institute of National Remembrance.

The uprising was the largest military operation by any resistance movement in Europe against the continent's Nazi German occupiers during World War II.

At 5 pm on Moday, many cars and pedestrians in Warsaw will traditionally come to a standstill, and many drivers were expected to blast their horns in a moving minute-long salute to the fallen fighters. 

(ał)

Source: PAP