Opposition supporters join march celebrating 1,000th anniversary of kingdom of Poland

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Supporters of Poland’s main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), today gathered for a march in Warsaw to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the coronation of the first Polish king, Bolesław the Brave.

Among those taking part in the event – which also marked the 500th anniversary of the Germanic duchy of Prussia becoming a fief of Poland – were the party’s chairman Jarosław Kaczyński and Karol Nawrocki, the PiS-backed candidate in next month’s presidential elections.

Poland’s main ruling party, the centrist Civic Platform (PO), is encouraging its supporters to attend a separate event later this month to celebrate the anniversary of Bolesław’s coronation.

A large crowd gathered this afternoon in the capital, with participants waving Poland’s white-and-red national flag. The event also saw an attempt to break the world record for most people taking part in a display of the polonaise, a traditional Polish dance.

While the event was not formally organised by PiS, the party had encouraged people to attend. At the end of March, Kaczyński “called on all patriots to participate in the march”, which he said would honour “the will, sovereignty and strength of the Polish spirit”.

“Today we must take advantage of the opportunity that Karol Nawrocki gives us in May’s [presidential] election,” senior PiS politician Przemysław Czarnek told broadcaster wPolsce24 during the event. “Together, let us move forward.”

In the year 1025, Bolesław, already the duke of Poland, was crowned as the country’s first king in Gniezno Cathedral. The exact date of the coronation is disputed, but it is believed to have taken place around Easter.

Five hundred years later, in 1525, Albert of Prussia, the grand master of the Teutonic Knights, paid formal homage and swore allegiance to the king of Poland, Sigismund I.

Speaking to the crowd at today’s march, Nawrocki, a historian who is the head of the state Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), declared that the “thousand years of the [Polish] crown shouts to us today that Poles will never accept micromania, they will never accept national amnesia”.

“We cannot accept our freedom being taken away, our sovereignty being taken away,” he continued, quoted by broadcaster Polsat. “We know that Poland is a great cause. Long live free, independent Poland.”

PiS and Nawrocki have portrayed themselves as defenders of Poland’s sovereignty, which they claim is under threat from foreign forces, in particular Germany. They accuse the current government, a coalition led by PO Prime Minister Donald Tusk, of failing to defend Polish interests.

Earlier on Saturday, before the PiS-backed march took place, Tusk published a video on social media inviting Poles to a separate celebration on 26 April to mark “1,000 years of pride”.

That event, held under the patronage of the prime minister’s office and sponsored by a range of state-owned firms, will also be attended by Rafał Trzaskowski, PO’s presidential candidate and Nawrocki’s main rival.

As often happens at such events in Poland, vastly different estimates of attendance at today’s march were issued by sources from different sides of the political spectrum.

PiS deputy leader Patryk Jaki, who was part of the organising committee of the march, wrote on social media that “around 100,000 Poles” were taking part.

However, the municipal authorities of Warsaw – where Trzaskowski himself is mayor – estimated attendance at just 20,000, reports the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Mateusz Skwarczek / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.