The main observances of the anniversary took place at the Polish Home Army Memorial in Warsaw, state news agency PAP reported.
President Andrzej Duda issued a letter to the participants, highlighting the unique role of the underground movement in the country’s defiant resistance to Nazi German and Soviet oppression.
The Polish head of state wrote: “I pay homage to everyone who created, through their service and work, the strength and authority of Underground Poland.”
Duda noted that on September 27, 1939, in Nazi German-occupied Warsaw, Poland’s military and civilian officials created a first clandestine structure, Service to Poland's Victory (SZP), that later blossomed into the "Polish Underground State."
‘Unique phenomenon’
Overseen by the Polish government-in-exile, the organisation grew to have its own “secret justice system, all levels of education, clandestine press and publications, aid organisations, and finally its own armed forces - the Home Army (AK),” the president wrote.
“It is with pride that we remind ourselves and the world of this unique phenomenon,” he added.
Duda went on to say: “I am convinced that his bond, this precious legacy of the Polish Underground State, and of many generations of Polish patriots, will enable us to meet the serious challenges of the present time.”
The president's letter was read out by his chief of staff, Paweł Szrot.
Meanwhile, the head of the state-run Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Karol Nawrocki, said at a ceremony in the southern city of Kraków that the Polish Underground State, with its wide range of services and activities, was “a world-class phenomenon,” the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl, polskieradio24.pl