Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz-Piasecka receives highest Polish order

President Andrzej Duda awarded Zofia Stefania Posmysz-Piasecka with the highest Polish order "to honour illustrious merit in preserving the memory about the Holocaust and martyrdom of Poles, prisoners of German concentration camps during the World War Two, and for passing on the testimony of truth about the annihilation through artistic and creative work".

The president reminded that "Ms Zofia Posmysz is someone who survived in an extraordinary way the horrors of captivity, imprisonment in a concentration and death camp".

"I would like to sincerely thank you on behalf of the Republic of Poland for sharing for so many years your testimony, a very specific testimony, deeply human one" - said President Duda. "Free from hatred, focused on humans, on their essence, on the way we understand the world and how we perceive this world" - he added. "Your testimony is an extremely valuable Polish legacy of that time, seen through the eyes of a Polish woman" - Mr Duda underscored.

Zofia Posmysz-Piasecka, writer and screenwriter, is a former prisoner of Auschwitz, Ravensbrueck and Neustadt-Glewe concentration camps (from 1942 until liberation). She survived Nazi medical experiments and death march. After the war she devoted herself to literature and education. She became a journalist, on a mission to share the testimony of truth about the camps and the Holocaust.

The Order of the White Eagle is Poland's highest order awarded to both civilians and the military for their merits. It is awarded to the most distinguished Poles and the highest-ranking representatives of foreign countries. The order is granted by the President of Poland. It's attached to a blue ribbon slung over the left shoulder to the right side. The star of the Order, once embroidered, is worn on the left side of the chest.