The Polish Armed Forces being formed in the West were reinforced by the local Polish community and, to an even greater extent, by those who’d managed to escape German or Soviet captivity in September 1939 and leave the country, usually via Romania or Hungary. Soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces (which, at the height of the Second World War, numbered almost 200,000) played a crucial role on many other fronts: in the defense of Tobruk, and during the battles for Monte Cassino and at Falaise. Three years ago, when I took on the post of the president of the Institute of National Remembrance – a Polish institution dealing with recent history – I promised to duly commemorate the efforts of the Polish Armed Forces during World War II and the exile of the Polish civilian population at the time.