Commemoration of the Liberation of Roeselare by the Soldiers of General Maczek's 1st Armoured Division
07.09.2025
On 7 September 2025, Roeselare hosted a ceremony commemorating the city's liberation by the soldiers of General Stanisław Maczek's 1st Armoured Division.
The event was attended by Katarzyna Skórzyńska, Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Republic of Poland to the Kingdom of Belgium, and Colonel Janusz Sroka, Defence, Military, Naval and Air Attaché. Together with Mr Kris Declercq, Mayor of Roeselare, representatives of the municipal authorities, associations preserving the memory of Poland’s liberators, and local residents, they paid tribute to the Polish soldiers.
The visit to Roeselare also provided an opportunity to visit “Bunker 44” — the first permanent exhibition dedicated to Poland’s liberators of Belgium, opened last year on the 80th anniversary of the country’s liberation. During the visit to the Bunker, Chargé d’affaires a.i. Katarzyna Skórzyńska met with descendants of the Polish soldiers who liberated Flanders, including Ms Hedwige Ruszkowski, daughter of Franciszek Ruszkowski — a soldier of General Maczek’s 1st Armoured Division who settled in Roeselare after the war and whose portrait is on permanent display.
