The 80th anniversary of the insurgency’s start falls on August 1 and will be marked by commemorative events in Warsaw and around Poland. The Warsaw Uprising was the biggest single armed act of resistance against German occupation during the Second World War and its anniversary is an important date in Poland’s calendar.

President Andrzej Duda gave the Order of Polonia Restituta medal to the museum’s deputy director, Paweł Ukielski, “for his contribution to the cause of commemorating the truth about Poland’s most recent history.”

The Silver Cross of Merit was awarded to six people while a further seven received the Bronze Cross of Merit.

Another two people were commended “for services to keeping historical memory alive.”

The decorations ceremony also coincided with the 20th anniversary of the museum’s opening.

Duda thanked the recipients for their service and said the importance of their work was growing.

“Insurgency veterans say themselves that they feel at home in the museum, that they feel like hosts,” the president said. “That is what it’s about—that they have the sense that it’s their place, that it is not a memorial but alive, living for them.”

Between 40,000 and 50,000 Poles fought in the Warsaw Uprising, which lasted over two months despite having been planned to take just a few days. Around 18,000 insurgents were killed in the fighting and 25,000 were wounded. Civilian deaths ran to about 180,000 and the remaining half a million Varsovians were forced from their homes as the Germans razed the city to the ground.