Polish president awards Andrzej Poczobut Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honor

Released jour­nal­ist Andrzej Poc­zobut received the Order of the White Eagle — Poland’s high­est state hon­or. The cer­e­mo­ny took place dur­ing Con­sti­tu­tion Day cel­e­bra­tions on May 3 at the Roy­al Cas­tle in War­saw.

Andrzej Poc­zobut receives the Order of the White Eagle from Pol­ish Pres­i­dent Karol Nawroc­ki, May 3, 2026, War­saw. Pho­to: Office of the Pres­i­dent of Poland

The award was pre­sent­ed by Pol­ish Pres­i­dent Karol Nawroc­ki. He not­ed that before becom­ing pres­i­dent of Poland, he served as chair­man of the Insti­tute of Nation­al Remem­brance, so he knows well the val­ue of the words “hero­ism” and “stead­fast­ness.”

“I worked in this field for many years. I know the respon­si­bil­i­ty of speak­ing such words and do not hes­i­tate, as a his­to­ri­an and for­mer chair­man of the Insti­tute of Nation­al Remem­brance, to say that Andrzej Poc­zobut is a hero and an unyield­ing per­son. This is an unyield­ing per­son who, for the sake of Pol­ish­ness, for devo­tion to his­tor­i­cal truth, for the truth about the sol­diers of the Home Army, for the strug­gle for human rights, for democ­ra­cy under the Lukashen­ka regime, was ready to go to prison. He did not flee, he went to prison, spent years in prison, and returned as a vic­tor, as some­one who shows that the suf­fer­ing you endured often has deep mean­ing and also builds the strength of the nation­al com­mu­ni­ty,” Nawroc­ki said.

“I do not con­sid­er myself a hero,” Andrzej Poc­zobut not­ed in his speech.

“For me, the heroes are first and fore­most the sol­diers of the Home Army, the com­man­ders of the Home Army, the peo­ple in whose glo­ri­fi­ca­tion I was accused. I think of Major Maciej Kalenkiewicz ‘Kotwicz,’ Major Jan Piwnik ‘Ponury,’ and Major Zyg­munt Szendzielarz ‘Łupasz­ka.’ They defend­ed inde­pen­dence with weapons in hand until the last moment, and their mem­o­ry remains tar­nished to this day. Against this back­ground, I am just an ordi­nary per­son who lives in inde­cent times and tries to behave decent­ly. That’s all.”

The deci­sion to award Poc­zobut the Order of the White Eagle was made by Nawroc­ki on Novem­ber 11, 2025, when the coun­try cel­e­brat­ed Inde­pen­dence Day. It was announced that the award would be pre­sent­ed to the lau­re­ate “at the first oppor­tu­ni­ty.” At the cer­e­mo­ny, those present greet­ed the jour­nal­ist with pro­longed applause.

The Order of the White Eagle is Poland’s high­est state hon­or and one of the old­est Pol­ish orders, found­ed in 1705. Over the years, its recip­i­ents have includ­ed Tadeusz Koś­ciuszko, Józef Pił­sud­s­ki, Stanisław August Poni­a­tows­ki, Adam Mick­iewicz, Michał Kle­o­fas Ogińs­ki, Stanis­lau Shushke­vich (2010), and Tadeusz Kon­drusiewicz.

Andrzej Poc­zobut at the Order of the White Eagle cer­e­mo­ny, May 3, 2026, War­saw. Pho­to: Press ser­vice of Svi­at­lana Tsikhanouskaya

Belaru­sian demo­c­ra­t­ic leader Svi­at­lana Tsikhanouskaya also par­tic­i­pat­ed in the fes­tiv­i­ties at the Roy­al Cas­tle in War­saw.

“Andrzej Poc­zobut unites the Belaru­sian and Pol­ish peo­ples. He is a sym­bol of stead­fast­ness and courage. He went through tor­ture and remained true to his prin­ci­ples. Poc­zobut is a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Pol­ish minor­i­ty in Belarus, which has lived on our land for cen­turies and is an inte­gral part of our cul­ture, his­to­ry, and future. We val­ue Poc­zobut in both Poland and Belarus, and he deserves this award like no one else,” Svi­at­lana Tsikhanouskaya stat­ed on the occa­sion of Andrzej Poczobut’s award.

The day before, Pol­ish Prime Min­is­ter Don­ald Tusk invit­ed Andrzej Poc­zobut and his wife Aksana to din­ner. He announced this on X.

“On Polo­nia Day, I invit­ed Aksana and Andrzej to din­ner. We talked about Poland, about free­dom and the future,” Tusk wrote.

Jour­nal­ist Andrzej Poc­zobut and for­mer head of the Union of Poles in Belarus Andże­li­ka Borys were also appoint­ed to the Coun­cil for the Affairs of the Pol­ish Dias­po­ra and Poles Abroad under the Pres­i­dent of Poland. This appoint­ment rec­og­nizes their many years of activ­i­ty in the inter­ests of Poles liv­ing out­side the coun­try.

Andrzej Poc­zobut was released on April 28 as part of a “five for five” pris­on­er swap.