In a piece published by Newsweek magazine on Thursday, Mateusz Morawiecki noted that Poland regained its independence on November 11, 1918.
"This event occurred 123 years after the First Polish Republic had ceased to exist—the result of an arrangement between Russia, Prussia, and Austria," Morawiecki said.
He added: "During that time, although Poland disappeared from the map of Europe, it never ceased to exist in the hearts of Poles. During those 123 years of subjugation, the Poles tried in various ways to assert their autonomy."
"They fought for freedom in numerous uprisings, but it was only during the First World War that the geopolitical environment provided the right conditions for rebuilding an independent and sovereign state," Morawiecki wrote.
'History is not a trap from which there is no escape'
According to Morawiecki, "there is a striking resemblance between Poland's fight for its independence in the past and Ukraine's current struggle against Russia."
He wrote: "Putin's propaganda machine is trying to prove that Ukraine does not exist as an independent state and that there is no such thing as a Ukrainian nation. In February, when Russia invaded Ukraine, nobody believed that the latter could win. Its fate, like Poland's a century before, appeared to be sealed. And yet this, too, has proved not to be the case."
He argued in his piece that "the experiences of Poland and Ukraine demonstrate that history is not a trap from which there is no escape, and that even the power of a mighty state must take seriously the power of a nation which desires freedom."
(gs)
Source: PAP, newsweek.com
