Nieuwsberichten Stichting Driel-Polen
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Program commemoration Saturday 22 September 2018
15.00 hrs
Commemoration at the Poland square, Kerkstraat in Driel.
Subsequently you are invited on behalf of the municipality of Overbetuwe to have a consumption at the conference centre De Oldenburg.
18.00 hrs
Polish Service in the Roman Catholic Church, Kerkstraat 27 in Driel. Next to the pastor of the local community also Polish priests will celebrate the Mass.
The mixed choir Cantorije will perform several Polish hymns. The choir will be accompanied by musicians of Promyki Krakowa from Cracow.
During the commemoration week the Information Centre: The Poles of Driel is open daily for visitors from 09.00 to 17.00 hrs.
Unveiling bust General Sosabowski, 23 September 2017, Warsaw – Żoliborz, Plac Inwalidów
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOIymDwAQ3Q
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Speech Arno Baltussen Chairman Foundation Driel-Polen during the unveiling of the General Stanisław Sosabowski bust in Żoliborz 23 September 2017
Your excellency Minister
General, members of the 6th Airborne Brigade
Mr. Major
Honourable guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
In 2006, a sculptor in the Netherlands came to us with a model of the bust of General Stanisław Sosabowski. His name was Martin Abspoel and he is amongst us this afternoon.
On television he watched the ceremony when Queen Beatrix decorated the banner of the 6th Airborne Brigade with the Order of William and posthumously awarded General Sosabowski with the Bronze Lion. He was moved by the story and the injustice done to General Sosabowski and his Brigade. He immediately decided to create a bust of the General and contacted our foundation to find where this might be placed.
We asked the veterans present at the commemoration in 2007 to evaluate what he had made. They decided unanimously that it was the general as they remembered him.
From the beginning we had the intention that the bust should get its home in Poland.
The only condition of the sculptor was a contribution to the cost of the bronze needed for the final realisation of the bust.
In 2014, President Komorowski came to the Netherlands and together with our King Willem Alexander participated in the commemorations in Driel.
During the preparations we got in touch with the Dutch Embassy in Warsaw. When we said that a bust of General Stanislaw Sosabowski has been made and explained that we wanted to give it a place in Poland they immediately agreed and committed themselves to meeting any costs involved.
As Foundation Driel-Polen we are very happy that today this bust finds its place in the heart of Poland – in Warsaw. A location which in the near future will be home to the renewed Polish Army Museum. A museum in which the story of General Sosabowski will be told in more detail than it is today.
For this reason I would like to thank the sculptor – Martin Abspoel, the Charge d’Affaries of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Poland Mr. Raphaël Varga, the major of Żolibirz Mr Bugla and Brigade General Hałupka for supporting the idea and coordinating related discussions.
As token of appreciation we would like to extend our gratitude by giving a typically Dutch present.
On the occasion of the 125th birthday and also name day of General Sosabowski on 8 May this year a tulip named after the General was baptised in Driel. One of those that had the honour to perform the official act was General Hałupka, for him probably a once in a life time experience.
For this reason we will hand over to the Mayor of Żolibirz, Mr Bugla, a box with 500 bulbs of the General Stanisław Sosabowski tulip. In the Spring of the coming year they will flourish and create a park filled with red and yellow colours – colours that – coincidental – are very close to the colours of the city of Warsaw.
The Embassy of the Netherlands has already many tulips within its gates in front of its building. The colours are the same. The bulbs we would like to hand over to Mr. Varga will create a colourful accent during spring time and remind you once more of the relationship between Poland and the Netherlands based on our relationship with General Sosabowski.
We also would like to present bulbs to Martin Abspoel, without his initiative we would not have met today.
Also Mr. Dworczyk we will present some tulips which will remind him in Spring next year his presence this afternoon.
Yesterday we presented General Hałupka with the bulbs. In Spring Warsaw and Cracow will be beautifully coloured with the General Stanisław Sosabowski tulip. I hope that in future more cities will follow and the story of General Sosabowski and his Brigade will increasingly be spread throughout the country.
In Driel these tulips will flourish in public and private gardens areas that during the war were landing areas.
This tulip is a token of our friendship and gratitude.
Thank you for your attention.
Dziękuję za uwagę
Dank voor uw aandacht
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Speech Arno Baltussen Chairman of the Foundation Driel-Polen during the ceremonial parade of the 6th Airborne Brigade and handing over the certificate of baptism of the General Stanisław Sosabowski tulip 8 May 2017 and 500 bulbs
Cracow, 22 September 2017
General Hałupka, Members of the Brigade
Dear Excellencies and Generals
Honourable guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
On the 8th of May this year it was 125 years ago that General Stanisław Sosabowski was born. A very good reason for our Foundation to organise a special event on this day.
I think the General’s parents already sensed that their son would have a great future in international relations. In the Netherlands, we celebrate birthdays, in Poland name days are very important. Since 8 May is both his birthday as well as his name day there is no need to struggle about name day or birth day. After 125 years 8 May was a day that needed to be celebrated.
In close cooperation with the Polish Embassy in the Netherlands it was decided that a tulip developed by a Dutch grower in colours that match the colours of the 6th Airborne Brigade would be very appropriate.
The colours of the General Stanisław Sosabowski tulip are red and the top of the leaves are yellow.
These are also the colours of the Warsaw flag.
The process of growing a tulip in a way that enables the production of a large number takes at least 25 years. We can conclude that it was a very well-managed process that made it possible to have a tulip in the right colours available on the 8th of May this year.
General Hałupka, we had the honour of your presence during the baptism ceremony last May. Together with a representative of the Sosabowski family, Mrs. Tomczyk-Sosabowska, the charge d’Affaires of the Polish Embassy in the Netherlands, Dr. Piotr Kobza and Burgomaster van Asseldonk of the municipality of Overbetuwe you officially baptised the tulip with champagne. An event you could categorise as a once in a lifetime experience.
To remember this event as well as to confirm the relationship between your Brigade and our Foundation I would like give you the certificate that was signed on 8 May as well as 500 bulbs which I hope will spring into colour next May and in the coming years around the monument of General Sosabowski and around your barracks.