Concerts, film presentations, exhibitions, scientific conferences and educational programs are included in the program commemorating the 100th anniversary of joining Upper Silesia to Poland. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Silesian Institute in Opole, the Silesian Museum in Katowice and the “Niepodległa” Program Office are inviting participants to celebrate one of the greatest successes in the struggle for an independent Poland after 1918.

Commemorating the hundredth anniversary includes a series of fictionalized documentaries about women and the Silesian Uprisings and a documentary about the process of shaping Poland’s borders in Silesia. The Internet Encyclopedia of Silesian Uprisings is also being created, and a concert of popular Polish artists will take place in the Fields of Mars in the Silesian Park in Chorzów.

When announcing the ceremony, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Piotr Gliński, particularly emphasized the importance of opening the Silesian Pantheon in the basement of the Katowice cathedral.

“The Pantheon is an institution that, like many others, will remain after the celebration. I hope that the anniversary will be associated with institutions of remembrance that were created, built, transformed and modernized during these celebrations. The Pantheon refers to the memory of the Silesians, those most important people who lived, created and were related with Polishness in Silesia”, says Minister Gliński.

The hundredth anniversary of joining Upper Silesia to Poland falls on June 20. On that day, in 1922, Polish troops entered Katowice, and on July 16, the act of incorporating Silesia into the Republic of Poland was signed. These events ended the period of shaping the borders in the process of regaining independence by Poland after 123 years of partitions.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński