On March 23, we celebrate Hungarian-Polish Friendship Day. The idea of this holiday was born during a joint meeting of the presidents of Poland and Hungary: Lech Kaczyński and László Sólyom. The Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship was established in 2007 by the Sejm and the Hungarian Parliament.
March 23 is Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day. Today, together with our Polish friends, we commemorate this age-old friendship, which is rooted both in our historical ties and in our shared values and beliefs. “A Pole, a Hungarian, two nephews, and to the saber, and to the glass”
– wrote Hungarian President Katalin Novak.
Marek Kuchciński, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, pointed out that Poland and Hungary are still linked by “a bridge built on centuries of support and solidarity”.
Today we celebrate Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day, established by President Lech Kaczyński. Unlike attacks and appearances, we are still connected by a bridge built on centuries of support and solidarity.
Funeral of Hungarian soldiers
On the Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day in Kobyłka near Warsaw, three Hungarian soldiers who died in 1944 fighting against the Red Army were buried.
In a letter to the participants of the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak stressed that one of the manifestations of close ties between the two nations is the care of the graves of Polish and Hungarian soldiers.
The Polish-Hungarian friendship develops on a strong historical basis – we are connected by past, present and future, we are connected by the memory of our heroic soldiers
– He wrote.
After the funeral service in the Basilica of St. Trinity in Kobyłka near Warsaw, Vice-President of the Institute of National Remembrance dr hab. Karol Polejowski said that the Hungarian troops stationed in the Polish territories occupied by the Third Reich during World War II treated Poles not as enemies, but as friends, and this meant they met the friendliness of the local population. He recalled that already in 1939 the government in Budapest strongly rejected the possibility of cooperation with the Germans, which would be aimed at Poland.
“Poland are friends” – this is the motto that guided the Hungarian soldiers and their commander General Béla Lengyel near Warsaw in 1944
– emphasized Dr. Polejowski.
He added that the testimony of the attitude of the Hungarians was the transfer of weapons to the armed forces of the Home Army and humanitarian aid to the civilian population.
They committed no crimes and kept their honor. Today we say goodbye to three of the tens of thousands who were stationed near Warsaw. Thus, the Polish state fulfills its legal duty to bury the dead, but also the Christian one, because we will bury three unknown Hungarian soldiers on consecrated ground, as they deserve
– said the vice president of the Institute of National Remembrance.
Three exhumed Hungarian soldiers rest on the training ground between Wesoła and Zielonka, in the so-called Kępa Olbrychtowska. The grave was marked with a birch cross with a plaque reading “Three Hungarian soldiers of 1944 rest here.” The grave was cared for by local residents and in recent years by the costs of the Center for Youth Sociotherapy of Captain Jerzy Bartnik in Zielonka. Renata Wojdyga, the director of the center, said at the ceremony in Kobyłka that caring for the grave of Hungarian soldiers was a “living history lesson” for young people. She quoted Bronisław Włodarczak’s memoir “From Zielonka to Berlin”, which described the presence of Hungarians in the Wołomin district, including three soldiers who were later buried at the training ground at Zielonka.
At the ceremony at the cemetery in Kobyłka, Hungarian ambassador Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovács said that the nature of the ties between the two nations was best described by Teofil Łapiński, a Polish participant in the Hungarian uprising of 1848.
It’s love and business. It means that we don’t have to explain anything to each other, because we understand each other perfectly. We must cultivate this love, and if you look at the map of Central Europe, you can see that we share common interests. These soldiers gave their lives for freedom, just as many Poles gave their lives for the freedom of Hungary
said the Hungarian ambassador. She expressed the hope that one day she would take part in a similar ceremony when her grandfather’s remains were found. She also thanked the local residents who took care of the grave of the fallen Hungarians.
Colonel László Töll, director of the Institute and Museum of Military History in Budapest, said Hungary and Poland are united by caring for their soldiers’ graves scattered across the continent.
By caring for these graves, we honor our history. It’s our duty
he stressed.
He added that Poland is a country where the graves of Hungarian soldiers are treated with special respect.
The three Hungarian soldiers who will be buried in this cemetery will rest as if they were in their own country. That’s how they come home
said Colonel Toll.
At the cemetery in Kobyłka, the soldiers were buried in the quarters of the soldiers who died in the 1920 war with the Bolsheviks. The funeral was organized by the Office for the Commemoration of Struggle and Martyrdom of the Institute of National Remembrance, together with representatives of Hungary, including the Ministry of National Defense, which confirmed, based on its archives, that three of the fallen served in the armed forces. country struggle. forces. The excavation work was commissioned by the Bureau for the Commemoration of Struggle and Martyrdom. The excavation took place in the presence of Hungarian army officers. According to archaeologists and Hungarian observers, it has been established that the remains of three soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division of the 2nd Reserve Corps of the Hungarian Army, who died fighting with the Red Army around September 10, 1944, have been excavated by the German and Hungarian defenses in this section, the Soviet troops reached the Vistula line, where they stopped for several months, refusing to help the insurgents fighting in Warsaw.
The War Graves and Cemeteries Act gives the right to a grave for every fallen soldier. In addition, the Institute of National Remembrance fulfills the obligations arising from the agreement of October 24, 2013 between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on the graves of soldiers and civilian victims of wars and memorial sites dedicated to them
– recalled the Institute of National Remembrance in a communiqué dedicated to the funeral ceremony.
wkt/PAP
Source: wPolityce