Commemoration of Foreign Service Day in South Africa
16.11.2024
The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria commemorated Foreign Service Day on 16 November 2024. Consul Robert Rusiecki laid a wreath at the grave of Polish diplomat Stanisław Łepkowski.
On November 16, 1918, Marshal Józef Piłsudski sent the first foreign telegram to world leaders informing the international community about the rebirth of an independent Polish state. In memory of this event, November 16 is Foreign Service Day.
From 1941 to May 1946, Dr Stanisław Łepkowski was Consul General in Pretoria. After the war, he remained in the Union of South Africa, where he died. During World War II, Dr Łepkowski played a very important role in organizing a safe haven for Polish refugees in the Union of South Africa. The Polish government in exile in London, represented by the Polish Consul General in Pretoria, entered into negotiations with the Prime Minister of the Union, Field Marshal Jan Smuts, as a result of which an agreement was reached on the matter of Polish children and their guardians. On April 10, 1943, 500 Polish refugee children and their caregivers who had survived deportation to Siberia by the Russian NKVD and the subsequent journey from Siberia arrived at the Oudtshoorn Children's Home.
Photos: Grażyna Koonhof/Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria
