The remains of Poland’s presidents in exile who were buried at the Polish Airmen’s Cemetery in Newark, UK, will be brought to Poland on 12 November. “The ceremonial burial at the Temple of Divine Providence will be a symbolic closure of their forced emigration”, said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

The head of government addressed the subject of All Saints’ Day in his weekly podcast. As he said, keeping the memory of the dead of our families alive and caring for their graves is something that most of us inherit from home. ‘Visiting cemeteries reminds us of our roots and is an opportunity to tell the younger generation about them”, he said.

He pointed out that just as families care for the memory of their loved ones, the state should also commemorate people of merit to its history or culture. He pointed out that our national necropolises – Warsaw’s Powazki, Krakow’s Rakowicki Cemetery, also Vilnius’ Rasos Cemetery or Lychakiv Cemetery in Lwów (Lviv)- shape our historical memory.

The Prime Minister pointed out that there are persons of outstanding merit for Poland found themselves in exile and were buried on foreign soil after their death as the result of historical storms. He added that an example of such people are the presidents of Poland in exile.

“These custodians of Polish sovereignty brought hope to Poles scattered all over the world, but also to compatriots who opposed communism at home in various ways. Above all, however, these presidents created the institutional continuity of the independent Polish state”, the Prime Minister said.

Morawiecki pointed out Władysław Raczkiewicz, August Zaleski and Stanisław Ostrowski. Those outstanding politicians were buried at the Polish Airmen’s Cemetery in Newark.
“On 12 November, their remains will be brought back to their homeland. The ceremonial burial at the Temple of Divine Providence will be a symbolic closure of their forced emigration”, the Prime Minister said.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński