National Independence Day (Poland)

Historical reconstruction of Polish soldiers, who fought for independence in the November Uprising (1830–1831), parading along Warsaw's Royal Route
People gathered in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw to celebrate National Independence Day (2013)
Military ceremony performed on Piłsudski Square, before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Children participating in the National Independence Day celebrations in Gdańsk, 2010
A fanfare trumpeter of the Presidential Horse Guard Mounted Ceremonial Squadron of the Polish Army at the 2007 National Independence Day ceremonies.
The company commanders of each unit at the center of the square.
The parade in 2018.
A joint honor guard preparing for the mounting of the guard at the Tomb.
The Independence March, 2021

National day in Poland celebrated on 11 November to commemorate the anniversary of the restoration of Poland's sovereignty as the Second Polish Republic in 1918 from the German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires.

- National Independence Day (Poland)

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Polish Armed Forces

The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated SZ RP; popularly called Wojsko Polskie in Poland, abbreviated WP—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of the Republic of Poland.

Emblem of the Polish Territorial Defence Force
President of Poland inspecting troops during the Armed Forces Day parade in Warsaw, 2007
Polish military interventions since 1990: Gulf War, Operation Uphold Democracy, War on Terror and Operation Serval
GROM special operations unit secures a section of the port of Umm Qasr in Iraq, 2003
Polish army's Rosomak armored vehicle on patrol in Ghazni, Afghanistan, 2010
A Polish Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon during a military exercise, 2019
ORP Ślązak offshore patrol vessel in the Baltic sea, 2015
Honor Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw's Piłsudski Square

The Polish armed forces has consistently held two yearly military parades (Defilada wojskowa) on Armed Forces Day and National Independence Day.

Armistice of 11 November 1918

The armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their last remaining opponent, Germany.

Photograph taken after reaching agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. This is Ferdinand Foch's own railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne. Foch's chief of staff Maxime Weygand is second from left. Third from the left is the senior British representative, Sir Rosslyn Wemyss. Foch is second from the right. On the right is Admiral Sir George Hope.
German prisoners of war captured near Amiens in late August 1918.
Hindenburg, Kaiser Wilhelm and Ludendorff in discussion at the General Headquarters in Pszczyna Castle.
The declaration of the Republic at the Reichstag building on 9 November.
The arrival of the German armistice delegates, 1918
Foch's personal headquarters carriage, "The Compiègne Wagon" in 1918.
Painting depicting the signature of the armistice in the railway carriage. Behind the table, from right to left, General Weygand, Marshal Foch (standing) and British Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss and fourth from the left, British Naval Captain Jack Marriott. In the foreground, Matthias Erzberger, Major General Detlof von Winterfeldt (with helmet), Alfred von Oberndorff and Ernst Vanselow.
Last page of the Armistice agreement
Front page of The New York Times on 11 November 1918
American soldiers of the 64th Regiment, part of the 7th Division, celebrate the news of the Armistice.
Gravestone of Henry N. Gunther in Baltimore
Commemorations at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on 11 November 2018, in remembrance for the centenary of the end of the war.

11 November is commemorated annually in many countries under various names such as Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, Veterans Day, and in Poland, it is Independence Day.

Józef Piłsudski

Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (1918–1922) and First Marshal of Poland (from 1920).

Piłsudski as a schoolboy
Piłsudski in 1899
"Lingwood", Leytonstone, where Piłsudski stayed in 1900
Józef Piłsudski with Supreme Command of Polish Military Organisation in 1917
Piłsudski and his officers, 1915
Piłsudski. Painting by Jacek Malczewski, 1916
Ulica Mokotowska 50, Warsaw, where Piłsudski stayed 13–29 November 1918, after his release from Magdeburg
Piłsudski improvised armored car, 1919, named after Piłsudski
Statue of Piłsudski before Warsaw's Belweder Palace, Piłsudski's official residence during his years in power
Piłsudski in Poznań in 1919
In March 1920, Piłsudski was made "First Marshal of Poland".
Piłsudski (left) and Edward Rydz-Śmigły (right), 1920, during Polish-Soviet War
At Belweder Palace, Chief of State Piłsudski (left) transferred his powers to President-elect Gabriel Narutowicz (right). Two days later, the President was assassinated.
At Warsaw's Hotel Bristol, 3 July 1923, Piłsudski announced his retirement from active politics.
Piłsudski on Warsaw's Poniatowski Bridge during the May 1926 coup. At the right is General Gustaw Orlicz-Dreszer.
Belweder Palace, Warsaw, Piłsudski's official residence during his years in power
The Marshal and his second wife, Aleksandra Piłsudska, 1928
In 1933, Piłsudski paid homage at the tomb of John III Sobieski in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Battle of Vienna.
German ambassador, Hans-Adolf von Moltke, Piłsudski, Joseph Goebbels and Józef Beck, Polish Foreign minister, in Warsaw on 15 June 1934, five months after the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact
Grave of Piłsudski's mother in Vilnius, Lithuania. The huge black tombstone is inscribed: "Matka i serce syna" ("A mother and the heart of [her] son") and bears evocative lines from a poem by Słowacki.
Statue of Piłsudski on Warsaw's Piłsudski Square—one of many statuary tributes throughout Poland
Contemporary caricature of Józef Piłsudski by Jerzy Szwajcer

Later that day, which would become Poland's Independence Day, he proclaimed an independent Polish state.

Flag of Poland

The national flag of Poland (Polish: flaga Polski) consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red.

Horizontal and vertical display of the colours of the Republic of Poland
An unofficial construction sheet of the flag with coat of arms, based on specifications in Polish law
Flag without the coat of arms
Flag with the coat of arms
Polish (white and red), papal (yellow and white) and municipal (white and blue) flags in Kraków's Grand Square during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Poland on 27 May 2006
Example of vertical alignment of Polish national colours inside the Sejm chamber
Example of indoor display of the flag of Poland (center) together with other flags: that of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (left) and the European flag (right)
Stanisław Sobieski, Grand Standard Bearer of the Polish Crown, carrying King Sigismund III's double-swallow-tailed royal banner consisting of red and white stripes emblazoned with a coat of arms combining the heraldic symbols of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and the House of Vasa (c. 1605)
A woman fastening a red-and-white cockade to a Polish insurgent's square-shaped rogatywka cap during the January Uprising of 1863–1864
The flag of Poland in 1937
The civil ensign of Poland in 1938
The flag of Poland in 1939
A white-and-red brassard worn by a Polish insurgent during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The acronym WP stands for Wojsko Polskie or Polish Armed Forces.
A frayed Polish flag during the final days of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944
Polish flag in Berlin on 2 May 1945
The largest Polish flag flying from the Freedom Mast in Warsaw, which, at 63 m, is Poland's tallest flag pole.

11 November – Independence Day.

Representative Honor Guard Regiment of the Polish Armed Forces

Honor Guard unit of the Polish Armed Forces, of regimental size.

The 1st Guards Battalion, Representative Honor Guard Regiment during the 2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade on Red Square.
An honor guard for Admiral Mike Mullen during a full honors ceremony in June 2009.
The Representative Land Force Company
The Representative Navy Company
The Representative Air Force Company
The regimental military band
An officer of the regiment exercising the command of present arms.
A fanfare trumpeter of the Presidential Mounted Squadron
Members of the battalion representing the three service branches on National Independence Day in 2012.
An honour guard representing the Polish Armed Forces in front of the Ministry of National Defence.
Polish and American Air Force honor guards at Lask Air Base in central Poland.
The regimental headquarters on Franciszka Hynka Street in Warsaw.

It performs during the annual Armed Forces Day parade on Ujazdów Avenue, during state arrival ceremonies at the Presidential Palace and alongside other honor units at the National Independence Day ceremony.

National Day of the Rebirth of Poland

Former national holiday in the former People's Republic of Poland and a fraternal anniversary in the Polish United Workers Party and all Polish communists, celebrated from 1944 to 1989.

Polish students on Plac Konstytucji during the holiday in 1952.
The 5 year anniversaries in Warsaw, 1949.
First Secretary Edward Gierek visiting workers in Zakładach.
The Podhale Rifles at the Milenium parade in 1966.
Local festivities in 1984.

The first anniversary was celebrated a year later and officially replaced the previous National Independence Day holiday on 11 November 1952.

Representative Central Band of the Polish Armed Forces

Military music unit that provides musical accompaniment for official state ceremonies in the Republic of Poland.

The band at the forecourt of the Presidential Palace.
Members of the band during the funeral ceremonies of former Prime Minister of Poland Jan Olszewski in February 2019.
The band during the Independence Day parade in 2018.
The band musicians dressed in historic uniforms.

It provides musical accompaniment for the annual National Independence Day ceremony on Piłsudski Square.

Straż Marszałkowska

Security unit that serves as the protection of the Marshal of the Sejm of the Polish Parliament.

Members of the color guard of the Straż on 1 July 2019.
Members of the guard at St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw during the funeral of Zbigniew Romaszewski.

The guard joined the National Independence Day parade at the Piłsudski Square in Warsaw for the first time on 11 November 2018, marking the centennial since the restoration of Polish independence, this was the first time it joined a national celebration in its history.

Armistice Day

Commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, at 5:45 am for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918.

Front page of The New York Times on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918
Armistice Day celebrations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 11 November 1918
Presidential couple of France and Prime Ministerial couple of Spain in the centenary commemoration of the Armistice, 2018

In Poland, National Independence Day is a public holiday, celebrated on 11 November to commemorate the anniversary of the restoration of Poland's sovereignty as the Second Polish Republic in 1918, after 123 years of partition by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg Empire.

Public holidays in Poland

Holidays in Poland are regulated by the Non-working Days Act of 18 January 1951 (Ustawa z dnia 18 stycznia 1951 o dniach wolnych od pracy; Journal of Laws 1951 No. 4, Item 28).

Shaking hands after a sports match is an example of a social norm.

November 11 - National Independence Day, Narodowe Święto Niepodległości, public holiday, established originally in 1937, disestablished in 1945, then established again in 1989