The Rodacy Bohaterom (Compatriots to Heroes) initiative was established in 2009 as a result of a meeting between the Odra-Niemen Association team and Colonel Veronika Sebastianowicz - President of the Association of Home Army Soldiers in Belarus. Currently, the operation is not limited to organizing collections and donating gifts to veterans, but includes a wide range of activities, such as historical education, taking care of Polish cemeteries in the Borderlands, extensive cooperation with the veterans’ community in Poland and abroad.

Successive - the third - edition of the Compatriots to Heroes campaign was carried out from January to June 2023, with the support of the Polish National Foundation. During this period, every two or three weeks trips were organized to Lithuania, Latvia, Romania as well as war-ravaged Ukraine, during which packages containing food, household goods, cleaning supplies, medical supplies or warm clothes were delivered to our Compatriots. More than 120 schools and educational institutions and almost 200 entities such as state institutions, private companies and non-governmental organizations were involved in the campaign.

„Since the beginning of its operations, the Polish National Foundation has been actively involved in socio-cultural projects in the Eastern Borderlands of the Republic. They serve to cultivate Polishness and develop national consciousness among Poles living in what is now Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and now also Ukraine. We must remember that the Borderlands are home to several million people who, despite the trauma of communism and the passing of several decades, still feel Polish. That’s why, together with the Odra-Niemen Association, we have been bringing aid to Poles living in the Borderlands for years. I would like to thank all the volunteers, caregivers and educators from more than a hundred facilities in the Mazovia region who have been involved in the joint project of the Odra-Niemen Association and the Polish National Foundation”

— said Michal Góras, Vice President of the Board of the Polish National Foundation.

Since 2018, the Polish National Foundation has been actively involved in socio-cultural projects in the Borderlands of the Republic, home to several million people who, despite the trauma of communism and the passage of decades, still feel Polish. During the Compatriots to Heroes initiative, it is possible to meet and talk with Poles living in Lithuania, as well as to convey the assurance that the memory of the Eastern Borderlands of Poland is being cherished in Poland.

The PNF’s activities serve to cultivate Polishness and develop national awareness among Poles living in what is now Lithuania, Latvia and now also Ukraine. Carrying out assistance to Poles in the Eastern Borderlands is of great value for building unity and a sense of Polish identity. Bringing aid to Poles living in those areas is also vitally important in the context of the current difficult political situation and the armed conflict caused by Russia. From the very beginning, the „Compatriots to the Heroes” campaign was planned as aid not only during the first days or weeks of the war, but as a deliberate long-term effort. Aid - often the only one that reaches many areas - is still being brought to the victims of the Russian onslaught, especially to our Compatriots - the Kresovia.

Tłum. K.J.