The date of 11 November 1918, being the day on which Poland regained its independence, is a symbolic date. Exactly on that day, an armistice ending the First World War was concluded in a wagon in the forest of Compiègne.
Years ago, Poles, like Ukrainians today, did not want to be a Russian colony. They dreamed of their own independent country.
On 12 February 1833, Aleksander Czekanowski was born in Krzemieniec in Volhynia. He trained as a geologist, but was not given the freedom to pursue his career as he was sent to Siberia at the age of 30 for taking part in the January Uprising.
The first Siberian fortresses were built by Polish prisoners of war who had been taken captive by Moscow authorities precisely during the war initiated by Stefan Batory.
