President Karol Nawrocki has signed a legislative initiative to designate June 28 as the Day of Anti-Communist Opposition Activists and People Persecuted for Political Reasons. He announced the initiative during Sunday’s ceremonies in Poznań commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Poznań June 1956 uprising.
President Karol Nawrocki stated:
“As the President of the Republic of Poland, I feel obliged today, and I have signed a legislative initiative so that June 28 will become the Day of Anti-Communist Opposition Activists and People Persecuted for Political Reasons in the Polish calendar.”
He made the announcement during the commemorative celebrations.
“I deeply believe that this date will unite all of Poland’s historic months – Poznań June 1956, March 1968, and December 1970. We will pay tribute to those who went on strike in June 1976 and to the great people of Solidarity in the 1980s,” he emphasized.
The president added that, looking at the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Sejm, he believes that “this day in Poland’s historical calendar will become a moment of compromise in the Polish Parliament.” He also appealed for joint efforts to ensure that veterans of the anti-communist struggle have their own commemorative day on June 28.
President Nawrocki also said that after 1945, Poland remained “nothing more than a Soviet colony, and the colonizers from Moscow wanted to take away not only our bodies but also our spirit.” However, thanks to the resistance that continued after 1945, they failed.
“Eleven years after yet another occupation of the Republic of Poland, a clear signal came from Poznań that the proud Polish nation remained devoted to dignity, freedom, and sovereignty, and that the workers of the Cegielski plant and other factories in Greater Poland and Poznań, as well as the students who joined these protests, were ready to defend what is most important to Poles: the dignity, freedom, and independence of the Republic of Poland,” the president said.
On Sunday, Poznań hosted the international commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of the Poznań June 1956 uprising. The ceremonies were also attended by Albanian President Bajram Begaj, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs, and Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok.
On June 28, 1956, workers at the Cegielski Works in Poznań – then officially named the Stalin Works – launched a general strike and organized a street demonstration that was brutally suppressed by the militia and the military. According to research by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), at least 58 people were killed in the clashes, and several hundred others were injured.