“Hello, Poland! (Applause.) One of our great allies.
(…) in the mmoments of great upheaval and uncertainty, that knowing what you stand for is most important, and knowing who stands with you makes all the difference.
The people of Poland know that. You know that. In fact, you know — you know it better than anyone here in Poland. Because that’s what solidarity means.
Through partition and oppression, when the beautiful city was destroyed after the Warsaw Uprising, during decades under the iron fist of communist rule, Poland endured because you stood together.
(…)
And Ukraine – Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia,”
– said US President Joe Biden
President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda in his speech referred to the history of the Royal Castle in Warsaw:
“It is a symbol of the Second Republic of Poland, which was demolished and burnt down during the Second World War before the eyes of the entire world. Later, under German occupation, it lay in ruins. It was here that the Warsaw insurgents died fighting the hated occupier. And then, after the Second World War, when we found ourselves in the Soviet sphere of influence, after decades of efforts, it was rebuilt by the whole nation, so that it could stand again and become a symbol of a reborn Poland.
I say this because today we see a Ukraine in flames. We see cities in flames, we hear the terrible news of Russian terror, we see people killed, murdered, we see housing estates destroyed – images closely resembling those of the Second World War. Something that should never happen again in Europe is now a terrible experience of our neighbours. Because Russia wants to become an empire again, to fulfil its ambition to enslave other nations. There is no consent to this from us, there is no consent from the free world!
Drawing on the Polish experience in post-war reconstruction of Poland and the “Warsaw Recommendation on Recovery and Reconstruction of Cultural Heritage ” developed in 2018., the National Institute of Cultural Heritage supports cultural institutions in Ukraine in the inventory of cultural heritage losses and the preparation of reconstruction of monuments in line with internationally accepted principles.
The Warsaw Recommendation translated, among others, into Ukrainian, is available for download here
See also the UNESCO workshop session : ” Warsaw Recommendation – Introduction to Heritage Recovery” online recording on TV NID
Within the framework of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, the Support Center for Culture in Ukraine operates – it is a unit established by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage as the primary coordinator of governmental assistance to the cultural sector in Ukraine. The Institute’s experience and long-standing Polish-Ukrainian cooperation have provided the basis for organising productive support for Ukraine’s cultural heritage since the first day of the war.
The Center coordinates (domestic and foreign) initiatives to save Ukraine’s cultural resources and conducts information and education activities on Ukrainian cultural heritage, particularly on the threats and losses caused by warfare. It cooperates with Polish cultural institutions, museums, state archives and libraries, conservationists, and other institutions. The Institute supports Ukraine in front of international institutions, particularly with regard to providing information and evidence of the deliberate destruction of Ukrainian cultural property. In cooperation with UNESCO and other international organisations, the Institute also initiates new projects to support the preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage.
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