Officials, World War II veterans and residents visited sites around the city to mark the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, a heroic act of resistance in which poorly equipped Polish fighters took up arms against the country’s Nazi German invaders.
Every year on August 1, people in Warsaw, and much of Poland, stop to the sound of sirens at exactly 5 p.m. to remember "W Hour," the time when the insurgency began in the dark days of German occupation.
The 1944 Warsaw Uprising was one of the most heroic and tragic Polish battles of World War II and the largest military operation by any underground resistance movement in German-occupied Europe. Photo: NAC/Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe/Public domain
A day of ceremonies included roll calls of honour and wreath-laying as well as speeches, prayers, poetry readings and the singing of patriotic songs.
In a special tribute this year, the Polish air force marked the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising with a flypast over the city centre.
This aerial tribute featured a C-130 Hercules transport plane and four F-16 Fighting Falcon jets, according to the Polish defence ministry.
Polish, German presidents mark 80 years since Warsaw Uprising
Polish President Andrzej Duda commemorated the anniversary together with his visiting German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The two leaders met at Warsaw's Belvedere Palace, where Duda expressed his appreciation for Steinmeier's visit, highlighting its significance for Polish-German relations.
Duda said during the meeting that the 1944 revolt "remains deeply relevant to Warsaw residents and all Poles."
Duda has previously said that the Warsaw Uprising demonstrated that "the Polish people are unvanquished, that they cannot be easily subjugated, that they cannot be suppressed without resistance, that they are proud and strong, and that they are no stranger to heroism and bravery even at the price of death.”
PM pledges WWII fighters' 'sacrifice will not be in vain'
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk paid tribute to the insurgents during a ceremony at the Warsaw Uprising Museum early in the day.
He told those at the ceremony that "no other historical event and no other hero from our history unites Poles more" than the revolt eight decades ago.
During another tribute later in the day, Tusk said: "Today, we all have the duty to make a solemn pledge to the heroines and heroes of the Warsaw Uprising that their sacrifice and what Warsaw experienced 80 years ago will not be in vain ... Our most important duty is to build a Poland that is safe, strong, and will never again expose its daughters and sons to such suffering and sacrifice."
Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on the eve of the anniversary that the Warsaw Uprising was one of the bloodiest insurgencies in Poland's more than millennium-long history.
German embassy honors Polish war heroes
The German embassy in Warsaw observed the anniversary by lowering its flags to half-mast, paying tribute to both the victims and the valor of the fighters.
German Ambassador Viktor Elbling said on social media that this gesture was made "in mourning and in honor of the victims of German brutality."
He added: "We pay tribute to the bravery of the Warsaw Uprising fighters."
'I ask for forgiveness:' German president
Speaking in Warsaw on the eve of the anniversary, the German president said: "No word seems strong enough to describe this brutality. So I want to say only one sentence. But it comes straight from the heart, and I say it with all seriousness: Right here and right now, I ask for forgiveness."
While in the Polish capital for the anniversary, Steinmeier met with a group of veterans on Wednesday.
Polish lawmakers last week passed a special resolution in which they saluted "the heroes of this great uprising, both the soldiers of the Home Army and other military formations who took up arms against the German occupiers, and the civilian inhabitants of Warsaw who died, were wounded, and lost their possessions."
Officials have said that the insurgency was one of the most heroic and tragic Polish battles of World War II and the largest military operation by any underground resistance movement in German-occupied Europe.
The 1944 insurgency lasted 63 days before it was put down by better equipped and more numerous German forces.
The heroic act of resistance left the city razed to the ground and resulted in the death of some 18,000 Polish fighters and 200,000 civilians.
(gs)
Source: Polish Radio, IAR, PAP, TVP Info
Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.