Participants and organizers of the 25th edition of the Polish Days in Suceava and the Polish Harvest Festival in Nowe Sołoniec, Romania.
Letter from the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, photo: KPRP
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Compatriots!
The Polish Days in Suceava, organized for the twenty-fifth time, are a wonderful testimony to the participation of the Polish community in the life of Romania, and at the same time an excellently used opportunity to present the achievements of your community. On the occasion of the jubilee edition of this important undertaking, I would like to congratulate and convey my words of appreciation to the activists of the Association of Poles in Romania and to all those who contribute to the success of the Suceava meetings. I am proud that you are promoting Polishness so beautifully, and I thank you very much for that. I would like to convey to you the best greetings from all my compatriots in Poland.
The Polish community in Romania has a long and rich history. Relations between our countries date back to the 14th century. It was then, during the time of King Casimir the Great, that the first Polish settlers began to arrive in Bukovina. Poles have been present here in larger groups since the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Therefore, you have every right to feel like co-hosts of the Romanian home. In 1939, there was a Polish community of 80,000 people in Romania, and even today – although due to the dramatic course of history you are no longer such a large group – the Romanian Polonia plays an important role in the social, cultural and economic development of the areas it inhabits.
I am impressed by the achievements of the Association of Poles in Romania, reactivated in 1990 and continuing – under the historical name of the Polish House – the tradition of many years of activity. I am glad that you are an officially recognized national minority in Romania, and that the president of the Association has been successfully serving as a member of parliament since 2002, representing his compatriots in the Romanian parliament. We can draw an instructive lesson and inspiration from the experiences of the Polish community in Romania and from the history of Polish-Romanian relations. This is the purpose of the scientific symposia that have accompanied the Polish Days in Suceava for years – with the participation of researchers from Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova – devoted to various aspects of our history and present day. I wish everyone gathered at this year's conference under the telling title "The Path to Solidarity. Polish-Romanian Relations Over the Centuries" fruitful discussions.
I also extend my warmest greetings to the participants of the Polonia Harvest Festival in Nowy Sołoniec - the largest village inhabited by Poles in the Romanian Bukovina. The Harvest Festival is a beautiful old Polish ritual, a celebration of joy and pride, thanksgiving for the harvest obtained with the blessing of Providence thanks to the year-round toil of farmers. In this town, where Poles have been farming for almost two centuries, it is also a great manifestation of the Polish community. I am glad that all the Polish communities from Romania meet here to boast about the fruits of their work and, together with folklore groups from Poland and neighbors representing other nationalities, share the beauty of folk culture.
I thank all Poles in Romania for cultivating their national identity, native language and tradition, for their attachment to their own roots and the faith of their ancestors, for passing on the spirit of Polishness to young generations. I highly value your achievements, especially in the sphere of culture and education. They testify to the strength and vitality of the Polish community. Once again, I congratulate you on your recent success, which was the opening of the Polish House in Moara a year ago – another centre serving the integration of the Polish community and promoting the achievements of our nation. You are good ambassadors of Polish-Romanian closeness and friendship, which has been tested in historical trials. In these troubled times, in an era of great challenges concerning our entire region of Europe, relations between our countries and nations are gaining strategic importance.
I wish you new excellent achievements that strengthen your pride in being Polish. May prosperity and abundance constantly visit your families, homes and farms. All the best!
With respect
President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda
The letter was read by Minister of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Dera.
source - Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland
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