President Andrzej Duda said in a message for the day that the legacy of the fighters—referred to by some as the "Cursed Soldiers" and by others as the "Enduring Soldiers"—calls on contemporary Poles to "defend the country's sovereignty and security with equal determination."
He also urged his compatriots to protect "the truth about national history and universal values."
"It is these values that bind us as a national community, uniting past, present and future generations of Poles—loving the Republic, consciously serving it, and actively working for the common good," Duda said in his message.
The president has previously said that the post-WWII fighters "paid for their steadfastness with imprisonment, torture, death and condemnation to oblivion."
The office of Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that "the National Remembrance Day of the Cursed Soldiers" honours "heroes who fought for a free Poland after World War II."
"We pay tribute to them for their steadfastness, courage and sacrifice," it added in a social media post.
The Polish Prime Minister's Office has previously said that the "Cursed Soldiers" fought against the communist dictatorship after the end of WWII and that many of them "were thrown into prisons, where they were tortured and murdered."
After Poland's official underground army (AK) of World War II disbanded, thousands of Poles continued to fight in other formations as the Soviet Red Army extended its grip across the country.
The “Cursed Soldiers” faced a brutal crackdown by Poland’s communist authorities and were a taboo subject during the country’s decades under communist rule.
The fighters were largely stamped out by 1948, although one, Józef Franczak, was gunned down as late as 1963.
An official day of remembrance for the fighters was introduced in 2011, more than two decades after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
March 1 was selected as a poignant date for the day of remembrance, as on this day in 1951, seven prominent members of a postwar resistance force called Freedom and Independence were executed in Warsaw.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, gov.pl