Remembrance Day

On November 8 this year, at 11 a.m., at the British Commonwealth cemetery at Cytadela took place a wreath-laying ceremony on the occasion of Remembrance Day, falling on November 11 and celebrated in all the countries of the British Commonwealth. The ambassadors of these countries laid flowers at cemeteries in Cracow, Gdańsk and Poznań.

For many years Remembrance Day has been celebrated on the second Sunday of November. Initially, it used to be called a Day of Laying Down the Arms and was solemnly celebrated on the anniversary of the end of the First World War, that is on November 11 (1918). It is a commonly accepted custom that at 11 a.m. on that particular day in Great Britain one pays tribute to the memory of the dead soldiers. After the Second World War, one has celebrated the memory of soldiers killed in both world wars. Flower-laying ceremonies take place on the territory of Great Britain, and also in the countries of the British Commonwealth and at cemeteries of the Commonwealth soldiers all over the world. This day is often called the "Poppy Day" which refers to the tradition of placing symbolic wreaths made of poppy flowers on graves of soldiers, which, in turn, was to commemorate the poppies from the fields of Flanders - the place of bloody fights of the Commonwealth soldiers during the First World War.

This time the Poznań ceremony was attended by Her Excellency Australian Ambassador in Poland, Ms Margaret Adamson. During the ceremony, she was accompanied by the Defense Attaché of the British Embassy - Group Captain, Mitch Mitchell and the British Honorary Consul, Włodek Walkowiak. The ceremony was also attended by the delegations of combatants who fought in battles in Western Europe and representatives of the Provincial, Marshal's and the City of Poznań Offices. The artistic setting of the ceremony (trumpeter, drums, guard of honor) was ensured by the Poznań Garrison Command.