November 11th - celebrations of National Independence Day in Poland [in Polish: Narodowe Święto Niepodległości / in short: Święto Niepodległości].
The date was chosen to commemorate the restoration of the Polish state in 1918 - the creation of the Second Polish Republic in the aftermath of the World War I.
The year 1918 was momentous - Poland as a state returned to the political scene after it had been “erased from the maps” for 123 years due to the infamous Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth executed by the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia (Germany) and Habsburg Empire (Austria) at the end of the 18th century. Although the reestablishment of the Polish state was gradual and lasted a few more years after 1918 [read: Polish-Soviet war 1919-1921], the November 11th was chosen as the significant date when the marshal Józef Piłsudski [since then: Chief of State] assumed control of Poland.
The holiday was celebrated throughout the 1920s and 1930s, to be officially constituted in 1937. As an official National Day, it was celebrated only twice before the World War II.
After the war, the communist authorities of the Polish People’s Republic removed Independence Day from the calendar, officially replaced by the National Day of Poland’s Revival (Narodowe Święto Odrodzenia Polski) established on the July 22nd, though the November 11th continued to be celebrated informally.
The original date of November 11th was restored as the national holiday only after Poland had emerged from the Soviet-Influenced Communist Bloc in 1989 and is celebrated since then, for a few years being problematic in Warsaw [Polish capital city] due to riots.
Polish flags: celebrations of National Independence Day in the city of Szczecin [source]
Polish soldiers during celebrations of the National Independence Day in the city of Lublin, 2012 [source]
Reenactment: Polish Legions of the so-called Napoleonic Period - celebrations in the town of Brwinów, 2011 [source]
Reenactment: Polish Winged Hussars - symbol of the “Golden Age” of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - celebrations of the National Independence Day in the city of Gdańsk, 2013 [source]
Celebrations of the 10 years of independence in the city of Warsaw, 1928 [source]
Parade in the city of Kraków, with the Barbican in the background, 1933 [source]
Celebrations in Warsaw, 1936 [source]
Celebrations in Kraków, 1937 [source]
Parade in the city of Poznań, 1938 [source]
Last pre-war celebrations in Warsaw - less than a year before the outbreak of the World War II on the Polish territories, 1938 [source]
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