Kwasniewski's New Year's address tributes those who fought for freedom

On Dec. 31 Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski delivered a New Year's television address, reminiscing about "exiles, fighters for an independent country, soldiers of the First and Second World Wars, the War of 1920 against the Bolsheviks, the insurgents of Wielkopolska and the Lwow Eagles, soldiers from the Warsaw Underground during World War II, the Warsaw Uprising and the Ghetto Uprising, and the heroes who rebuilt the Polish state from nonexistence in 1918 and 1945". He also reminisced about all those who fought for independence during the Communist period, and people from the fields of culture and science who enriched Poles spiritually and brought the country fame. The President also thanked Pope John Paul II, whom he referred to as "the greatest Pole, whose life reflects the passing century." (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4) M.M.