Another edition of the international educational programme "Zwiastun" addressed to NATO soldiers stationed in Poland

Soldiers of the NATO Combat Battalion Group stationed in Poland will this time have the opportunity to learn about Poland’s cultural diversity. Ensuring a positive image of Poland in the international arena is the primary task of the Polish National Foundation (PFN). To date, nearly 2,000 soldiers from the USA, the UK, Croatia and Romania have had the opportunity to learn about Poland’s history, culture and national heritage.

As part of the next edition of the programme, the PFN has organised educational tours to places that are relevant from the perspective of Polish history and at the same time indicative of Poland’s multiculturalism. NATO officers and soldiers will visit, among others, the Sibir Memorial Museum, the Great Synagogue, the Icon Monastery and Museum in Suprasl, and the Mosque in Bohoniki.

Since the beginning of the Zwiastun programme, soldiers have taken part in ceremonies marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, including at the Gloria Victis monument, on the Warsaw Uprising Mound and by participating in the ‘Living Sign for the Warsaw Uprising’ action at the “W” hour. This year, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw, they also visited sites related to the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War, including Radzymin, Kiełpin and Ossów.

The programme implemented by the PFN since 2017 has taken on an on-going character and similar initiatives are being planned, as well as the inclusion of more overseas units where NATO soldiers are stationed. Recently, officers and soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army have additionally been included in the project.

The recent events related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have verified and expanded the objectives of the Zwiastun programme. NATO soldiers supported volunteers and representatives of the Polish National Foundation in handing over Christmas parcels to victims of the war in Ukraine as part of another PFN project, ‘Paczka na Kresy’ (Parcel to the Borderlands), and also visited facilities providing assistance to children, victims of the war in Ukraine.

Zwiastun is a pioneering project of the Polish National Foundation carried out in cooperation with the NATO Combat Battalion Group, which includes the Americans, the British, the Croats and the Romanians. The aim of the project is to promote the image of the Republic of Poland, support activities in the field of knowledge and patriotic attitudes, and build positive awareness of Poland, among NATO soldiers.

As part of the framework of the project, educational trips were organised to places that are relevant to the history of our country. The soldiers visited, among others, in Warsaw:- The Warsaw Uprising Museum, the Museum of the Polish Army and the Royal Castle, the Powązki Military Cemetery, the Museum of Bl. Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko, General Kukliński Memorial Chamber, Museum of Polish Soldiers Under Siege, Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszyński; Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Oświęcim, Wawel Castle, Home Army Museum in Kraków, Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo, Riese Complex in the Sowie Mountains, Panorama Racławicka in Wrocław, Osówka Underground Town - a place of forced labour of prisoners of a branch of the Gross Rosen camp, Naval Museum and ORP Błyskawica in Gdynia, World War II Museum in Gdańsk, Castle in Książ and many others. They took part in sporting events, such as the Independence Run or the Tropem Wilczym (Wolf’s Footrace) Remembrance Run for Cursed Soldiers.

From the beginning of the project, the soldiers participated in ceremonies related to the anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, e.g. at the Gloria Victis monument, at the Warsaw Uprising Mound and by participating in the „Live Sign for the Warsaw Uprising” action at the “W” hour. This year, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw, they also visited places connected with the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920, including Radzymin, Kiełpin and Ossów.

Since the project began, it has been attended by more than 2,500 soldiers stationed at the NATO base in Bemowo Piska. At each subsequent iteration of the programme, the soldiers are accompanied by PFN vice-president Cezary Andrzej Jurkiewicz.

The project has taken on an on-going character, and similar initiatives are being planned to include other foreign units where NATO soldiers are stationed.

Tłum. K.J.