As all year, Kibice GKS Tychy, Klub Gazeta Polskiej w Tychy, local structures of Law and Justice as well as Confederations, Combatants and Political Prisoners, as well as you children and youth took part in a celebration commemorating the Cursed Soldiers. In a short ceremony flowers were placed and candles lit under the plaque commemorating the heroes of the anti-communist underground.
The celebration began with singing the Hymn of Poland. Next, the typical of the Polish paper Club, Janusz Jabłoński, recalled the silhouettes of the most celebrated soldiers of the underground of independence, specified as the captain Witold Pilecki, Danuta Kodkówna “Inka” or Henryk Flame. He besides mentioned thousands of nameless heroes who, in the tragic times of post-war Poland, gave their lives in the conflict for freedom and sovereignty of Homeland.
After the speeches, the cry “Hi and Glory to the Heroes!” was raised many times. After folding flowers, the participants were invited to visit the exhibition dedicated to the Cursed Soldiers in Tyki Mediateka and to participate in the Wolf way Run in Paprocany.
Memory of the Cursed Soldiers is not only a tribute to their courage, but also
recalling that freedom is never given erstwhile and for all – it requires sacrifice, determination and readiness to defend sovereignty. This sovereignty is frequently threatened due to the fact that only a strong state, conscious of its own value, can be truly independent. Unfortunately, besides frequently reality looks different.
The freedom and sovereignty of the state and nation besides consists of a individual sense and awareness of the freedom of its citizens. Cyprian Kamil Norwid noticed a slave mentality among Poles and considered it 1 of the top threats to the nation. According to him, actual freedom is not only a deficiency of physical shackles, but, above all, intellectual independence, dignity, and the ability to act responsibly.
Norwid emphasized that freedom is not only a gift but besides a commitment. He repeatedly criticized those who, after recovering it, inactive think like slaves—seeking masters alternatively of forming their own future. He peculiarly stigmatized passiveness, deficiency of independence, and the request for constant guidance. He besides pointed out the deficiency of respect for his own accomplishments while overestimating the achievements of another nations.
These qualities, or even disadvantages, a large part of Poles influence the strength and condition of the full country and its nation. However, there is besides a second part of society – people conscious of their own value and importance of the Homeland in which they live. These are the actual “Spirit of Freedom” – the spirit of generations of national uprisings, the National Army, the Cursed Soldiers and Solidarity. This is the part of the nation that loved the individual freedom and sovereignty of the Homeland.
Only a society where most citizens share these values and feel truly free will make us live in a strong and sovereign state.
Janusz Jabłoński
