National Day of Remembrance of the Cursed Soldiers
On March 1st, Poland commemorates the „Cursed Soldiers”, members of the post WW2 anti-communist underground who continued their struggle for independence when Poland fell under Soviet domination after the Yalta Agreement.These soldiers came largely from the Polish Underground State and the wartime Home Army. After Germany was defeated, they refused to recognise the communist authorities installed by the Soviets. Instead, they organised resistance structures such as the Freedom and Independence Association (WiN) and continued underground operations against the new regime.
Some of the important figures considered „Cursed Soldiers” are:
• Witold Pilecki – A Home Army officer who voluntarily entered Auschwitz to gather intelligence on German crimes. After the war, he was arrested by the communist authorities, tortured, and executed in 1948 following a staged trial.
• Łukasz Ciepliński – President of the IV Main Board of WiN. Arrested, brutally interrogated, and executed on March 1, 1951, in Warsaw’s Mokotów Prison. His death date is now commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance of the Cursed Soldiers.
• Hieronim Dekutowski (“Zapora”) – A cichociemny (special operations paratrooper) and commander of anti-communist partisan units. Arrested and executed after severe torture.
• Zygmunt Szendzielarz (“Łupaszka”) – Commander of the 5th Vilnius Brigade of the Home Army, who continued armed resistance in northeastern Poland after the war. Executed in 1951.
Remembering Poland’s „Cursed Soldiers”
IPN research estimates that up to 200,000 people were involved in various forms of post-war underground resistance, with several thousand paying with their lives. Many were buried in unmarked graves, including at Warsaw’s Powązki Military Cemetery, where IPN-led exhumation works have helped identify victims decades later.
For decades under communist rule, they were portrayed as “bandits.” Today, thanks to archival research, forensic investigations, and educational initiatives conducted by IPN, their stories are being restored to public memory.
The „Cursed Soldiers” remain one of the most complex and least known chapters of Poland’s 20th-century history, a symbol of resistance, sacrifice, and the tragic fate of a nation denied full sovereignty after WW2.
????More on the “Cursed Soldiers” in the collected content section on our website:
This article was posted on X by IPN here: https://x.com/ipngovpl_eng/status/2027643078178189500
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