Memorial Run in Camp Butmir

Although the war ended in the West, as a result of the occupation of Poland by the Red Army, and the annexation of half of its pre-war territory by the Soviet Union, thousands of soldiers did not lay down their arms. The post-war conspiracy for independence, often called anti-communist insurrection, was the largest form of the resistance of the Polish society against the regime. In 1945 – i.e. at the time of the largest underground movement – directly 200 thousand underground fighters operated in it; from among these 20 thousand fought in the partisan units, and the other thousands of people provided assistance by ensuring food-supply, shelter and communication. Over twenty thousand students need to be added to this, who were active in the underground youth organisations. The community of the “Cursed Soldiers" numbered in the whole, half a million people.

Józef Franczak fell among the last victims in October, 1963. In order to pay tribute to his memory, the distance of the present run to be covered was 1963 meters. All nations were represented at the event, among them the Austrian contingent, Major General Martin Dörfer, Commander of EUFOR, and also the 22nd Rotation of the HDF EUFOR Contingent (EUFOR-22 HUNCON) and the Hungarian soldiers in individual positions, led by Brig.-Gen. Gábor Horváth, the Chief-of-Staff of EUFOR. Following the opening and commemorative speech of Lt.-Col. Jaroslaw Bondalski, the more than 140 soldiers started at the same time in their memorial T-shirts from the building of the Polish National Support Element. After the completion of the distance each participant was awarded a memorial medal related to the event.