A ceremony was held in Newark-on-Trent on Sunday 6 November 2022 to bid farewell to the mortal remains of the Presidents of Poland in Exile, who were laid to rest in the cemetery there. The remains of Władysław Raczkiewicz, August Zaleski and Stanisław Ostrowski will be brought to Warsaw and laid to rest on 12 November, the day after Independence Day, in the mausoleum of the Presidents of the Republic of Poland in Exile at the Temple of Divine Providence.

The mausoleum will already contain the ashes of the last President of Poland in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski, who is buried in the Pantheon of Great Poles in the temple, as well as the symbolic graves of President Kazimierz Sabbat, whose ashes are in Gunnersbury Cemetery in London, and President Edward Raczynski, who is buried in the family mausoleum in Rogalin.

The ceremonies in Newark were attended by Laurence Goff, the Mayor of Newark, Jan Dziedziczak, Government Plenipotentiary for Polonia and Poles Abroad, Wojciech Labuda, Prime Minister’s Plenipotentiary for the Protection of Places of Remembrance, Piotr Wilczek, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to London, the families of the Presidents of the Republic of Poland in Exile and the last surviving member of the Government in Exile, Tadeusz Musioł.

“The activities of the Presidents of the Second Republic of Poland in Exile were part of the long struggle to regain independence. We look back on their efforts with gratitude and welcome them back to their homeland with emotions”, wrote Polish President Andrzej Duda in a letter read out by Minister in the Chancellery of the President Andrzej Dera.

“Władysław Raczkiewicz, August Zaleski and Stanisław Ostrowski were prominent figures of the Polish resistance movement. Together with the government-in-exile and the émigré community, they played a key role in keeping the Polish spirit, activity and identity alive during one of the darkest chapters in Polish history. They fought so hard for Poland’s independence but did not live to see the moment when our country became free in 1989. Their return home after so many years will be deeply moving”, said Ambassador Piotr Wilczek.

Adrian Andrzejewski