Celebration of Poland’s National Independence Day

Nov 11 2015

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What a festive day! On November 11, 2015, the Top 500 Innovators, together with US-Polish Trade Council and Stanford University’s faculty, celebrated Poland’s National Independence Day in Santa Clara, California.

National Independence Day (Polish: Narodowe Święto Niepodległości) is the most important Polish national holiday celebrated on November 11th to commemorate the anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s statehood in 1918, after 123 years of subjugation by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Poland has restored its sovereignty as a result of collective multinational effort done by great patriots with exceptional leadership skills. Among them, we should mention Marshal Józef Piłsudski, who is acknowledged as the father of independent Poland, President Woodrow Wilson, who insisted on “free and independent Poland” in the Versailles treaty document, and, of course, Ignacy Paderewski, President Wilson’s friend, who became the first prime minister of the newly re-established Poland.

Poland’s Top 500 Innovators prepared a short staging about Polish and American heroes who made the dream of Poland’s independence a reality. The talented and ambitious group also prepared and served numerous skill-requiring and time-consuming dishes of deliciously looking and tasting Polish cuisine. All of that, paired with jubilant atmosphere, stimulated reflection on Poland’s history, great and happy moments of conversations, and feelings of national pride and patriotic sentiment that, at this moment, all of us shared.