Poland honours those who helped its people in their darkest hours

Poland has honoured 18 foreign nationals for helping its citizens during some of the darkest periods in the country’s history.

Photo:Grzegorz Jakubowski/Polish President’s Office/KPRP

This year’s recipients of the Virtus et Fraternitas Medal came from seven countries and included a Japanese nurse who helped Poles in the 1920s and Norwegian resistance fighters during World War II.

The medal, whose Latin name means „virtue and brotherhood,” is a state distinction awarded to people who helped Polish citizens persecuted by the Soviet and Nazi German regimes, as well as victims of nationalist violence and other crimes against humanity in the 20th century.

Michał Owczarek 

Radio Poland