Warsaw falls silent for the 82nd anniversary of the 1944 Uprising as sirens mark the 'W' Hour

The city halts at the 'W' Hour

Punctually at 17:00 on 1 August 2026, air-raid sirens sounded across Warsaw and church bells rang out, bringing the Polish capital to a standstill for one minute. Cars, trams, buses and metro trains halted. Drivers stepped out of their vehicles and pedestrians stopped on pavements, squares and bridges to observe a minute of silence. Emergency services joined the tribute, with firefighters, police officers and paramedics activating the sirens on their own vehicles. Volunteers from the Warsaw Uprising Museum distributed white-and-red rosettes bearing the symbol of Fighting Poland, which many Varsovians wore pinned to their clothing.

Rondo Dmowskiego and Plac Zamkowy

At Rondo Dmowskiego, a crowd so large it blocked tram and bus traffic along Jerozolimskie Avenue gathered before the hour. At 17:00, flares bathed the roundabout in white-and-red smoke, joined by tyre smoke from motorcyclists who meet there annually. Participants held national flags, many with the anchor emblem of Fighting Poland, and banners bearing the images of insurgents including Second Lieutenant Witold Janiszewski 'Withal', Colonel Henryk Leliwa-Roycewicz 'Leliwa' and General Janusz Brochwicz-Lewiński 'Gryf'. At Plac Zamkowy, residents formed a giant living symbol of Fighting Poland. On the Vistula, a flotilla of boats passed under Poniatowski Bridge and laid a wreath at the spot where the ship Bajka was sunk, honouring those who lost their lives on the river and its banks during the uprising.

Aerial tributes and the March

Pilots from the Warsaw and Polish Aero Clubs created a smoke symbol of Fighting Poland in the sky above the Poniatowski and Świętokrzyski bridges. A plane towing a banner reading 'Pamiętamy 1944' ('We Remember 1944') also flew over the city. At 15:00, the Warsaw Uprising March set off from Rondo Dmowskiego, proceeding along Jerozolimskie Avenue, Nowy Świat, Krakowskie Przedmieście and Miodowa Street to reach Plac Krasińskich. Participants carried white-and-red flags and Fighting Poland symbols, with motorcyclists and figures including Robert Bąkiewicz and Janusz Kowalski among the crowd.

Ceremonies and political voices

Earlier, a ceremony took place at the Monument to the Polish Underground State and Home Army. Attendees included veterans' representatives, parliamentarians, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, soldiers of the Polish Army, uniformed services, scouts and residents. A letter from President Karol Nawrocki was read aloud.

For me, as President of the Republic and also as a historian and a Pole, it is a great honour to pay tribute to the generation that in the hardest hour remained faithful to Poland.

Nawrocki described the Uprising as an act of courage and a state act, noting that alongside soldiers stood thousands of Warsaw residents: medical orderlies, messengers, scouts, clergy, doctors, railway workers, firefighters, women, children and the elderly. Senate Speaker Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, also present, said the Uprising must be spoken of in three dimensions: the barricade uprising of young intelligentsia, the cellar uprising that was hell for civilians, and the uprising shaped in the cabinets of dictators deciding the fate of Varsovians.

On matters of security we must be united; that is what the insurgents are calling for today as well.

The Wola massacre and a European tribute

President Nawrocki laid flowers at the plaque commemorating the Wola massacre and delivered a speech expressing outrage that none of the commanders who ordered the murder of over 50,000 Poles, including women and children, faced justice after 1945, with some even pursuing local-government careers in Germany. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola published a photograph with 94-year-old insurgent Jan Antoni Witkowski, pseudonym 'Jaś', calling him a 'European hero'.

Their courage reminds us that the Europe we enjoy today was built on the sacrifice of ordinary people who chose extraordinary courage.

The uprising in numbers

Approximately 40,000 to 50,000 insurgents took up arms on 1 August 1944. The uprising, planned for several days, lasted 63 days and ended on 2 October 1944. Around 18,000 insurgents were killed and 25,000 wounded. Civilian deaths reached approximately 180,000, with some sources citing up to 200,000. Soldiers of the 1st Polish Army, chiefly its 3rd Infantry Division, crossed the Vistula from 16 September 1944 to reach the insurgents at Czerniaków; the army's losses in the fighting for the Warsaw bridgeheads are put at 3,764, and at 4,892 killed, wounded and missing between 15 and 23 September. The evening programme included the 20th edition of the concert 'Warszawiacy Śpiewają (nie) Zakazane Piosenki' at Plac Piłsudskiego at 20:30.