Dr Karol Nawrocki, President of the Institute of National Remembrance, opened the exhibition „Trails of Hope: The Odyssey of Freedom” in the UK Parliament in London on 7 October 2024. The project the exhibition is part of aims to commemorate the military effort of the Polish Armed Forces during WW2 and the stories of civilians evacuated from the USSR with the Anders Army. Launched in March 2022, it has already visited dozens of cultural institutions worldwide, and that journey is far from over. Nearly 200 guests attended the ceremony.
Below is the entire text of the speech.
Excellencies, Members of Parliament, Lord Speaker, members of the military corps, Presidents of Polish organisations operating in the United Kingdom, families of the veterans, esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen,
In the spring of 1939, the system established at Versailles, the main purpose of which was the preservation of peace, was in ruins. Western states decided to apply an appeasement policy towards Hitler. This resulted in an imbalance of powers and emboldened the German dictator.
On 23 August 1939, the two criminal, totalitarian states entered into a cooperation treaty, which paved the way for war. The agreement, which went down in history as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, was signed in Moscow. Germany attacked Poland on 1 September, and Soviet Russia did so on 17 September. Poland was defeated – yet it did not give up its fight. The pact between Hitler and Stalin gave way to the German and Soviet genocide. Its victims were Poles and other nations living together in the 2nd Polish Republic. In the years 1939-41, when the Nazi-Soviet alliance was in force, both occupants exterminated the Polish elite. The Pomeranian crime and the Katyn massacre are symbols of this unimaginable terror.
The “Night of Occupation” fell over Poland, but hope for regaining freedom remained. Polish people, who, above all, valued freedom, never succumbed to totalitarianism. They soon established an underground state in the occupied country. It was subordinate to the legitimate Polish authorities – the President, the Government and the Commander-in-Chief. They first resided in Allied Paris, and from June 1940 in London.
Thousands of Polish soldiers and civilians found themselves on the “Trails of Hope”, which were to lead them to a free and independent Poland. First, they headed to France, where the Polish army was being re-established.
The Polish-British alliance was strengthened after the fall of France in 1940. As a result of the defeat of our French ally, the centre of Polish independence aspirations was shifted to the British Isles. At the invitation of the new British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, the Polish government of General Władysław Sikorski, along with 30 thousand Polish soldiers, was evacuated there from France.
London became the centre of Polish political life abroad. The United Kingdom also accepted Polish military and civilian newcomers, who settled mainly in Scotland and England.
In the summer and autumn of 1940, the Allies faced an incredibly difficult challenge. The Battle of Britain, in which the Poles and the British joined forces to stand up against the German Luftwaffe, began. Their victory set back the threat of a German invasion of the British Isles. Four Polish divisions took part in that battle. Furthermore, over 80 Polish pilots fought as part of British divisions.
As early as September 1940, the 1st Polish Corps began to be formed in Scotland, and took part in the defence of the Scottish coast. Two years later, the Polish 1st Armored Division, commanded by General Stanisław Maczek, was formed as part of the Polish Corps. The 1st Armoured Division liberated Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1940, the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, commanded by General Stanisław Sosabowski, was formed in Scotland. It took part in Operation Market Garden, which went down in history as the largest airborne landing.
The Polish-British “brotherhood of arms” was strong not only in the air and on land, but also at sea. Polish and British ships took part in such missions as the evacuation of the British forces from Dunkirk in 1940, guarding sea convoys, which transported supplies, and also supporting the landing in Normandy. The symbol of these fights is the perseverance of the ORP “Błyskawica” crew.
Polish-British cooperation included Intelligence. Before the outbreak of war, Polish cryptologists: Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski managed to break the codes of the German Enigma cipher machine. They shared their great achievement with the French and the British allies. This gave the British access to secret German military messages, and, as a result, greatly contributed to winning the war.
Among numerous battles in which our soldiers joined forces “for your freedom and ours”, commanded by three charismatic leaders General Władysław Anders, General Stanisław Sosabowski and General Stanisław Maczek, Narvik, Tobruk, Falaise, Arnhem, Monte Cassino, Ancona and Bologna are permanently engraved in the history of our countries and nations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
During the German occupation 5 million 200 thousand Polish citizens had perished. This constituted about 15% of the Polish population. Polish citizens lost their lives during the war operations, in public and secret executions, in concentration and death camps, regardless of their ethnicity. Poles, Jews and other inhabitants of Central and Eastern Europe were seen as subhumans, destined to be exterminated. Nearly 2 million Polish citizens, men, women and children, were sent to forced labour in Germany, which was also an element of the biological extermination.
After the war, there were over 250 thousand Poles living in the United Kingdom. Most of them later went back to Poland or moved to other countries. As Poland had lost its independence, and was controlled by the Soviets, those who remained in the British Isles became the custodians of the idea of a sovereign Polish Republic.
London remained the centre of Polish emigration life. After the fall of communism in Poland, the continuity of state authority after 1945 was recognised.
The second and third generations of Poles are still cultivating Polish traditions. The Institute’s “Ambassador of Polish History” medal, which will be presented this evening, is awarded for an outstanding contribution to the dissemination of Polish national and cultural heritage. The laureates are here with us today.
Glory to our Polish and British heroes, to their mutual military effort and solidarity! These values remain invariably important, especially in these troubled times.
Cover photo: Mikołaj Bujak, IPN