On 14 June 2025, representatives of the Military Institute of Armament Technology attended in the official celebrations of the 85th anniversary of the first transport of Poles to KL Auschwitz, which took place at the ‘Auschwitz I’ camp. The event was also attended by living witnesses, former prisoners of Auschwitz, and was honoured by the patronage of Polish President Andrzej Duda.
The ceremony was intended to commemorate 14 June 1940, when “the Germans sent a group of 728 Poles from the prison in Tarnów to Auschwitz. Among them were soldiers of the September Campaign, members of underground independence organisations, secondary school pupils, students and a small group of Polish Jews. They were given numbers from 31 to 758. Of the 728 prisoners deported, 325 survived the war, 292 died, and the fate of 111 remains unknown.” [source: Auschwitz.org].
In front of the official ceremony WITU representatives attended a Holy Mass dedicated to the victims of German Nazis, which took place at the Franciscan monastery in Harmęże, and during the official ceremony paid tribute to the victims of German Nazi concentration and extermination camps by laying flowers and lighting candle at the ‘Wall of Death’ located between Block 10 and Block 11 in the ‘Auschwitz I’ camp.
After the official ceremonies, WITU representatives took a part in a commemorative apel at the Oświęcim railway station, where speeches were given by scouts, a representative of the Association for the Preservation of the Memory of the National Army (SZPAK), Mr Marcin Kaczorowski, and a former prisoner of Auschwitz, Ms Barbara Wojnarowska-Gautier, who underlined the importance of knowing our national history and cultivating its memory, as it constitutes our national identity.
As Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński said: “A nation is like a strong tree which, when cut at its roots, sprouts new ones. This tree may go through a storm, its crown of glory may be torn off, but it still holds fast to the ground and gives hope that it will be reborn.” So we remember our roots and cherish their memory.
