Wroclawians this morning woke up to the first snowfall of the winter as Polish Independence Day dawned.
11th November 1918 was one of the most joyful days of Poland's troubled history, as Jozef Pilsudski arrived in Warsaw having just been released from a German prison. World War I had ended, the Germans had been defeated and the victorious Allies had put Pilsudski in charge of establishing a Second Polish Republic. The importance of this for Poles can't be underestimated - ever since the Austrian, German and Prussian third partition of 1795 Poland had been wiped off the map as the country was absorbed by the major powers of the time.
WW1 however provided a major shift in the balance of power in Europe as three great Empires dissolved, and Poland emerged from the ashes as an independent state once more.
This year, as Polish flags flew from thousands of buildings around the city, there was extra cause for celebrations - especially for young kids - as families played in the freshly fallen snow, and more than one icy projectile went flying across the Rynek. |