location: Poland
The Day of Remembrance of the "Cursed Soldiers" was established by the Polish Parliament in 2011. It is celebrated on 1 March, that is the anniversary of execution of seven officers of the organization “Wolność i Niepodległość” (“Freedom and Independence”) in a prison in Warsaw. This national day commemorates members of the independence underground who in 1945 (and partially even in 1944) started an armed struggle against the communist regime in Poland and its Soviet patrons. This particular term “cursed soldiers” shows that those, who were the most persistent defenders of the Polish right to self-determination, were until 1989 described as villains and presented in media and in school curricula as deplorable reactionaries and criminals. The fight against them was also an important component of the “founding myth” upon which the communist regime in Poland was based.