Andrzej Duda made the gesture on the morning of Friday, November 11, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The president laid wreaths at the monuments to Polish leaders who had been instrumental in Poland's reemergence as an independent state in 1918, officials told reporters.
These Fathers of Independence include Wincenty Witos, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Roman Dmowski, Ignacy Daszyński and Wojciech Korfanty, whose memorials line the Warsaw Royal Route, and Marshal Józef Piłsudski, whose monument stands near the capital’s Belweder Palace.
After laying flowers at these monuments, Duda handed out Independence Day honours at a ceremony in Belweder, officials said.
Among those awarded for distinguished service to the nation was the noted theologian and philosopher, Dominican Father Jacek Salij, who received the Order of the White Eagle, reporters were told.
The president told the gathering: “Independence is not given once and for all. Independence needs to be cultivated. We need to keep sovereignty in our minds. We must think about sovereignty to remain sovereign.”
Later on Friday morning, the Polish president, alongside First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, and the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and his wife, attended a Holy Mass for the Homeland at Warsaw’s Temple of Divine Providence.
At noon on Friday, Andrzej Duda and Agata Kornhauser-Duda, Poland’s top government officials, and the Lithuanian first couple, were set to take part in the main observance of Poland’s Independence Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw’s Piłsudski Square.
Both Duda and Nausėda were expected to deliver speeches during the event, officials said.
“President Duda will likely stress the high price that must sometimes be paid for independence, like the price Poland paid in 1918 and later years; and he will pay tribute to Ukraine, which is fighting for its independence at the moment,” stated Duda’s chief of staff, Paweł Szrot.
After the event, the Polish president was due to lay flowers at a monument to Marshal Piłsudski in the square named after Poland’s independence hero, reporters were told.
Poland regained independence on November 11, 1918, the day World War I ended, after 123 years of partition by Russia, Austria and Prussia.
One of the highlights of this year's festivities will be the opening of a new Mausoleum of the Polish Presidents-in-Exile.
Friday is day 261 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, prezydent.pl