President Karol Nawrocki awarded Senior Constables Jakub Kulik and Artur Morański the Officer’s Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Both officers were injured in Saturday’s attack in Kraków, and they received the orders on Monday, 9 November.
The president’s decision
The decision was announced on Monday at around 7 p.m. by the head of the National Security Bureau (BBN), Bartosz Grodecki. The orders were awarded “for outstanding services in ensuring public order and security, and for exceptional dedication and courage”. Grodecki wrote that the heroic conduct of the officers, who stopped the attacker at risk to their lives, “inspires admiration and deserves the highest recognition”. He thanked them for their decisive intervention and wished them a swift recovery.
Orders received in person
Less than an hour later, Grodecki announced that both injured officers had received their decorations from the president’s hands. Nawrocki visited them in hospitals in Kraków.
The officers’ condition
Police Commander-in-Chief General Inspector Marek Boroń said on Monday evening, on the “Debata Gozdyry” programme on Polsat News, that the condition of the injured officers is serious but stable. He added that the officers were aware they were less well armed than the attacker, and still chose to take the risk of defending defenceless people. One of them was shot and fell, but despite his injuries he got back up and continued the fight. Boroń also said that 30 patrol crews had been dispatched to the scene, 19 of them within the first few minutes, and that more than 1,100 police officers had worked at the incident.
What the decoration is
The Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta is one of the state decorations awarded for outstanding services to the country. The president recently also awarded it posthumously to Member of Parliament Łukasz Litewka, as we reported in our article about his posthumous decoration.
