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18.08.2020

The Institute of National Remembrance paid tribute to the heroes of the Battle of Warsaw, 1920 – Ossów, Radzymin, 15-16 August 2020

15 August 2020 marked the centenary of the victorious Battle of Warsaw, which saved Polish independence and prevented the spread of communism to the West. The 100th anniversary was celebrated in Ossów and Radzymin - where the decisive battles took place. The President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Jarosław Szarek, Ph.D. also took part in the ceremony.

 

 

 

The President of the Institute of National Remembrance participated in a special Holy Mass in front of the Chapel of Our Lady of Victory at the Cemetery of the Heroes of 1920 in Ossów, concelebrated by the President of the Polish Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki and the ordinary of the Warsaw-Praga diocese, Bishop Romuald Kamiński. Archbishop Gądecki thanked the fallen heroes for saving Poland and Europe, appealed for prayers for them and expressed the hope that the example of their love of freedom and their motherland will make us all appreciate and desire peace.

 

This very special event was attended by representatives of state and local authorities, including the Speaker of the Seym Elżbieta Witek, Deputy Speaker of the Seym Małgorzata Gosiewska, Marshal Senior Antoni Macierewicz, Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Dera, Head of the Office for Veterans and Victims of Oppression Jan Józef Kasprzyk,  Adam Struzik, Marshal of the Masovian Voivodeship, and numerous pilgrims.

 

During the service, crowns were placed on the image of Mary of Częstochowa and the Child, located in the chapel. The ceremony ended with the memorial roll call of the Fallen and the laying of wreaths at the Cemetery of the Heroes of 1920 in Ossów.

Thanks to the efforts of the Institute of National Remembrance, the Masovian Voivode and Wołomin County, the cemetery, where 8 mass graves and one individual grave are located, has been renovated. In agreement with the conservator of monuments, the IPN’s Office of Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom renovated the tombstones on all of the mass graves.

 

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On Sunday, 16 August, the President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Jarosław Szarek, participated in the anniversary celebrations in Radzymin along with official guests, including the Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak.

 

 

 

The celebrations began with the roll call of the Fallen at the Radzymin Cemetery of the Fallen Heroes of 1920, from where a rosary procession with the image of Our Lady of Grace set off to the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II.

The celebrations in Radzymin were accompanied by flypasts of Iskra planes and F-16 fighters.

 

 

On Saturday, 15 August, at the parish cemetery in Sadowne, the Deputy Director of the IPN’s Office for Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom Joanna Piskorz, together with the commune administrator Waldemar Cyran, and the designer and contractor, unveiled the war grave of the Unknown Polish Army Soldier killed by the Bolsheviks in 1920. The Office for Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom took part in the restoration of the grave this year. It was consecrated by the priest of the local parish, Fr. Antoni Kunicki. At the end of the ceremony, delegations of state and local government authorities laid flowers at the grave.

As part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw of 1920 in Węgrów, Joanna Piskorz, the Deputy Director of the Office for Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom together with the Mayor of Węgrów, Paweł Marchela, unveiled the tombstone of the soldiers of the Polish Army who died during the Polish –Bolshevik war which has been renovated by the Institute of National Remembrance.

 

 


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