Award - Instytut Pileckiego

Virtus et Fraternitas Medals awarded | Discover the stories of heroic Ukrainians who saved their Polish neighbors during the Volhynian Massacre

On 6 July 2023, at the Belweder Palace in Warsaw, fifteen heroic Ukrainians were commemorated for saving their Polish neighbors from death at the hands of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) during the Volhynia Massacre.

We now know the names of the Virtus et Fraternitas Medal recipients

On 20 December 2022, at the Belweder Palace in Warsaw, we honored Ilona Andrássy, Trofim Daneliuk and the Skakalski family, who demonstrated courage and solidarity with the persecuted when Poland was attacked by two murderous regimes, and the Polish citizens were in grave danger.

Virtus et Franternitas Medals presented

The third edition of the Virtus et Fraternitas Medal Gala took place on 15 June 2022. This time, at the request of the Director of the Pilecki Institute, the President of the Republic of Poland bestowed medals on a total of 23 people.

The Virtus et Fraternitas Gala 2021. Meet all the recipients!

The President of Poland Andrzej Duda awarded the medals to foreigners who provided aid to Polish citizens during the 20th century, in times of both war and peace.

Walenty Jabłoński, doctor and an exile in Siberia, is dead

We are sad to learn of the death of Walenty Jabłoński, an exile in Siberia, participant of the Union of Siberian Exiles in Białystok. He was deported to a kolkhoz in Kazakhstan in 1952, where he was saved from starvation and death by Tassybaj Abdikarimow.

Virtus et Fraternitas Medal

The Virtus et Fraternitas Medal is a token of gratitude of the Republic of Poland for rescuing its citizens in times of the country’s greatest distress.

The President of the Republic of Poland decorates recipients with the Virtus et Fraternitas Medal

The Virtus et Fraternitas Medal has been bestowed for the first time in history in June 2019. The awards were given by the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, acting on a motion of the Pilecki Institute.