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UPDATE: Polish WWII leader Władysław Sikorski remembered on death anniversary

05.07.2023 00:05
Officials and historians have paid tribute to Polish wartime leader Gen. Władysław Sikorski, who was killed in an air disaster 80 years ago.
gen. Władysław Sikorski
gen. Władysław SikorskiNAC/Datka Czesław

Sikorski, who headed the London-based Polish government-in-exile during World War II, died in an air crash near Gibraltar on July 4, 1943.

He was flying back to England after visiting Gibraltar when his Liberator plane plunged into the sea shortly after take-off, according to historians.

Officials and veterans on Tuesday honoured Sikorski during ceremonies in Gibraltar.

Jan Józef Kasprzyk, head of Poland's Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression, read a message from President Andrzej Duda, who said that Sikorski's life and "last mission" reflected "the dramatic fate of Poland and the Polish people during World War II."

Karol Nawrocki, head of Poland's state-run Institute for National Remembrance (IPN), told the ceremony that Sikorski was "a key figure in the history of 20th-century Poland" in his role as prime minister and commander-in-chief of the Polish armed forces during World War II.

Sikorski led a London-based government-in-exile set up after the German and Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939.

After the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Sikorski signed a treaty with Moscow, his erstwhile foe, to free hundreds of thousands of Polish POWs into an exile army.

In an early tribute, flowers were placed at the tomb where Sikorski is laid to rest among monarchs and national luminaries at Wawel Cathedral in the southern Polish city of Kraków.

Gen. Władysław Sikorski's final resting place is among monarchs and national luminaries at Wawel Cathedral in the southern Polish city of Kraków. Gen. Władysław Sikorski's final resting place is among monarchs and national luminaries at Wawel Cathedral in the southern Polish city of Kraków. Photo: Institute of National Remembrance/krakow.ipn.gov.pl

Sikorski was originally buried at a Polish military cemetery in Newark in central England. His remains were brought to Poland in 1993.

On Tuesday, Polish and British officials unveiled a statue honouring Sikorski at Newark Cemetery to mark the 80th anniversary of his death.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, polskieradio.pl, ipn.gov.pl