The President of the Institute of National Remembrance Karol Nawrocki Ph.D., is going to present the laureates of the 2022 edition of the ”Witness of History “ Award with the IPN’s honorary distinction on 25 October 2022.
The “Witness of History” award for laureates from outside Poland is granted by the Institute of National Remembrance to individuals and organizations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to commemorating the history of the Polish Nation. Thanks to them, knowledge of our recent history is disseminated both in Polish communities abroad and among foreigners.
The event at the Royal Łazienki Park in Warsaw is going to take place at 12:00. This is an honorary distinction established in March 2009 by the IPN's President. It is granted to individuals and organisations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to commemorating the history of the Polish Nation and supporting the IPN in its statutory activities in the field of research and education. Live streaming of the ceremony will be availabe on IPNtv.
Associazione Italo-Polacca Nuova delle Marche/Stowarzyszenie Włosko-Polskie Nowe w Marche, Italy
The AIP Marche Association (now AIPN Marche) was established in Senigallia in the Ancona region in 1999. Zofia Bułhak-Jelska, who initiated activities aimed at helping Poles living in that area as early as in the 1960s, became its first Chairperson.The goal of the Association is to integrate Polish immigrants, raise national awareness among the local Polish community and promote Polish culture in Italy. The Association’s activities include the cultivation of the memory of the Polish II Corps in Italy through the publication of studies, the organization of exhibitions and scientific conferences, as well as anniversary ceremonies celebrating the liberation of towns and cities in the region of Marche by the army commanded by General Anders.The Association promotes and supports numerous cultural and educational initiatives. It also conducts its own educational activities for children and adults. Since 2015, the Association has been promoting a regional project, namely, the Anders School of Polish Language and Culture. Currently, thanks to the support of the organization, there are three Polish schools — in Maceratta, Perugia and Ancona.
Simon Elmer, United Kingdom
Simon Elmer is a retired British police officer fascinated with Polish history. Early in his career, he served in West London and met many Polish WWII veterans. For years, he has been organizing anniversary celebrations and the annual All Souls’ Day at the Polish War Cemetery in Newark. Regularly visiting Polish and British schools, he promotes the 1939—1947 Polish military history.
Elmer is a member of the Carpathian Lancers Association based in Poland, and in England, the Polish Airmen’s Association and 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division Association. He cooperates closely with the Polish First To Fight reenactment group, which recreates the history of the Polish Army in the West. He has designed, among other things, an exhibition devoted to the Polish Air Force in Lincolnshire (1940—1947) at the Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre, and organised visits for Polish veterans of the Battle of Britain to RAF Coningsby and Grimsby Carpathian Lancers Memorial. Moreover, he supplies the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, as well as other memory institutions, with valuable archival resources.In 2012, Elmer was awarded the Polish Pro Memoria Medal for his contribution to designing and installinga commemorative plaque to the Carpathian Lancers Regiment at their former barracks in Grimsby. In 2019, he received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, granted by the President of the the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda.
Klaus Leutner, Germany
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Klaus Leutner has been involved in documenting German crimes and restoring the memory of their victims, especially Poles. He is the initiator of Polish-German projects for schoolchildren (e.g. at the School Complex in Głowno and a Berlin high school), and the founder of the “Initiative KZ-Aussenlager Lichterfelde” association for the commemoration of the Sachsenhausen labor camp sub-branch. He is also the author of publications on the subject.While conducting research on the dramatic fate of Bronisława Czubakowska, a Polish forced laborer murdered by the Germans in 1942, Klaus Leutner discovered a mass grave in the Berlin-Altglienicke cemetery and found information about the anonymous victims of World War II buried there. Thanks to his involvement, it was confirmed that 435 people, out of the 1,370 resting there, are Poles. 18 of the Poles were representatives of the clergy.In 2018, he became an advisor to the competition jury established by the Berlin Senate to select the design of the new Altglienicke commemorative site. The project was launched in 2021.
The Polish Museum and Archives in Australia Inc.,Australia
The Polish Museum and Archives in Australia was established in 1991 (registered in 1992) on the initiative of Polish immigrants who wanted to preserve for future generations the source materials related to the life of Poles staying in Australia and the activities of Polish associations.The organization collects, preserves and provides access to historical materials and museum exhibits related to the Polish community in Australia. It publishes works on the history of Polish emigration in Australia and cooperates with similar organizations.The Polish Museum and Archives in Australia is actively looking for objects, documents and photographs that commemorate the war experience of Poles who settled in Australia, the organization of their cultural, family and social life in the new country, and the fate of post-war emigrants.
Helena Rogowska,Kazakhstan
Helena Rogowska has been the President of the “Poles” Association in Kazakhstan since 2013. She has greatly contributed to the promotion of Poland abroad and the development of international cooperation in the fieldof Polish education and culture. Her involvement has been recognized by the Embassy of Poland in Nur-Sultanon numerous occasions. She has been honored with the Gold Medal by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan for her long - term work towards tightening Polish-Kazakh cooperation.She has been committed to cultivating Polish traditions and customs in Kazakhstan as well as to the preservation and deepening of knowledge about the history and fate of Poles in exile. She collects memorabilia, maintains the archives with related documents and promotes knowledge about Polish history among the younger generation.Helena Rogowska is also involved in charity work. She organizes assistance for families of Polish descent who have found themselves in a difficult financial situation.For years, she has been promoting the history of the local Polish community on Kazakh Television. In 2021, she implemented a project of creating a mural commemorating Adolf Januszkiewicz and his contribution to Kazakh culture and building intercultural dialog.
Antoni Rojowski, Romania (posthumously)
The first Chairman of the Polish community after the Romanian Revolution. From 1953, despite unfavorable conditions, he cultivated and supported the Polish spirit in the Romanian town of Bukovina. After 1991, he contributed to the establishment of the organizational structure of the Union of Poles in Romania, the development of its activities and the cooperation with Polish authorities, organizations and institutions.He came from a family of Polish settlers, who arrived in present-day Romanian Bukovina in the 19th century. His father, Michał Rojowski, was a well-known educational movement activist during the interwar period.In March 1990, Antoni Rojowski became a member of the committee which established and registered the Union of Poles in Romania, “Dom Polski”, in Bucharest. Currently, the Union of Poles in Romania is an organization consisting of 14 local associations, with its headquarters in Suceava. Thanks to Antoni Rojowski’s efforts, the Association regained the property seized during the communist years.In 1991, Rojowski became the Chairman of the Union of Poles in Romania and held that position until his death in 1994. In recognition of his services and work for the Polish community in Bukovina, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and the then President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Wałęsa, granted him Polish citizenship in December 1993.