Freedom is not given once and for all. And it won’t stand on its own. No one will give it to us as a gift! On the contrary: history shows that he will rather want to take it from us, said President Andrzej Duda during the solemn celebration of the 84th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II at Westerplatte.
“This is what we owe to the defenders of Westerplatte. This is what must be systematically, calmly and consistently implemented over the next few years. Because freedom is not given once and for all. And it won’t stand on its own. No one will give it to us as a gift! On the contrary – history teaches that he will rather want to take away from us. That is why we must show that we are ready and must remain ready at all times,” said the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, on Friday, September 1, during the celebration of the 84th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II at the Monument to the Defenders of the Coast at Westerplatte.
“We have to be responsible. And this is today our most important patriotic duty towards the homeland and towards those who will constitute it in the future. This is our commitment to all those who in the past fought for it and died for it,” stressed the president.
The president laid flowers at the Polish Army Cemetery in Westerplatte. The host of the ceremony was the Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak.
According to tradition, the morning celebrations at Westerplatte began with the sound of alarm sirens just before 4.45, because at that time on September 1, 1939, there was a German attack on the Polish Military Transit Depot, located on the Gdańsk peninsula. (PAP)
author: Maciej Replewicz
mr/ pat/