Poland in Pakistan

An interview for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

On 11 November 1918, 102 years ago, Poland regained its independence. On this day, after his release from the Magdeburg Fortress, Józef Piłsudski took over military command from the Regency Council and, three days later, assumed supreme authority over civilian matters, to finally “as Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army [...] notify belligerent and neutral governments and nations” of the reappearance of “the reborn and independent Republic of Poland” on the map. After 123 years of captivity, Poland became a sovereign and internationally recognised state.

The MFA organised a series of expert panels and an information and promotional campaign under the slogan “UN Week” to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Organisation.

On 15 August 2020 we solemnly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw – a culminating point of the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1920) and one of the most decisive events in the history of Poland, Europe, and the world.

This year will go down in history as a time of great struggle and consequence. Our fight against the pandemic is an epic human endeavour, but we need to brace ourselves for an even more important battle in the months ahead – over the shape of our post-Covid economy.

This is not the first time that the President of Russia is attempting to revive the Stalinist vision of modern history. It was created in the communist era by combining selective interpretations of facts, half-truths and propaganda. An image alternative to reality was constructed. The totalitarian Soviet Union was presented as a country of good intentions, a defender of peace and the security of nations, a noble conqueror of the German Reich. This kind of false vision of history was imposed as binding not only in the USSR but also in other countries enslaved by Moscow following World War II. At that time, revealing the truth about the actual role of the USSR in the history of the continent, about enslaving the people of Central and Eastern Europe, about Soviet crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, was threatened with severe repression. It is surprising that today, in a free world, the Russian President is trying to promote theses which are almost a literal copy of the propaganda dating back to the era of Stalin and Brezhnev. He does so, in an article appearing in The National Interest.

Please be informed, that due to the current coronavirus outbreak from 16th March 2020, the consular section of the Embassy of Poland in Islamabad suspended accepting Schengen/national visa applications and legal matters, as well as registrations in e-Consulate system (www.e-konsulat.gov.pl ) until further notice.

Seventy five years after the end of the Second World War, we pay tribute to its victims. We remember the indomitable struggle of the Polish nation against Nazi Germany throughout the conflict in Europe, lasting from September 1939 to May 1945.

On 10 April 2010, a special TU-154M plane with the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and the First Lady Maria Kaczyńska on board took off from Warsaw to Smolensk. That day, in the Katyn War Cemetery the official delegation was to participate in an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the genocide committed on site. The aircraft carried 96 people, including members of supreme state authorities, representatives of social circles and Churches, high-ranking military commanders and the plane’s crew. All the flight passengers died in the air disaster which took place during landing at the airport near Smolensk.

Information for Poles in Pakistan.