Valruzia

[Aethan]

Valruzia marks one hundred years since its revolution

The nation celebrates its "century of freedom" among remembrance and joy

April 5724

---

One hundred years ago this month, Chief of the Defence Staff Marcel Szumski ordered Valruzia's military to stand down and stop firing on its own citizens after the year before, the murder of student Robert Obrzut ignited the spirits of the Valruzians, leading to massive protests and unrest throughout the country. The directive, issued on April 14, 5624, effectively ended the Morawski regime and, with it, one of the darkest chapters in the country's history. To mark the centenary, the government has organized a programme of commemorative events across all five voivodeships and spanning several weeks. Chancellor-President Gawel Sandów will preside over the central ceremonies in Nowogard, though the commemorations are explicitly designed to be a national affair by reaching cities, towns and communities that lived through the upheaval first-hand.

For the events of the centenary, several heads of state and government are expected in Nowogard for the central ceremonies on April 22, among them senior representatives of the Bianjie leadership, Empress Carolina of Ananto of Kalistan, and Emperor William XI and Empress Victoria of Luthori accompanied by their Prime Minister Jay Parkford, among others. The government of Valruzia is expected to award Empress Carolina the Valruzian Medal of Civil Merit as representative of the "Kalistani people", in recognition of Kalistan's solidarity back at the time when they announce the intention to take in Valruzian refugees that needed to flee in order to avoid the violence. "While we, of course, praise and recognize those who stayed and fought for their freedom and their country, we also recognize that it takes courage to leave everything you know behind and start a new life far away from your home country in order to protect your family, and Kalistan offered that possibility to the many Valruzians that decided to do so. And we thank them for that, because as we always say "Valruzia never forgets". And we will not". said Chancellor–President Sandów in the morning ceremony.

Rehearsal of the flight show

Nowogard then will host the most prominent events of the commemorative calendar following Sandów's initial remarks. On April 22, the date on which Szczepan Morawski was arrested by the military a century ago, a solemn ceremony will take place in front of the Sejm, the same building that was devastated by the explosion of June 29, 5623. Chancellor-President Sandów will deliver the central address and will formally sign the decree awarding Marcel Szumski and the Students for Bright Future movement, which had been active against the Morawski regime even before Obrzut's arrest, a posthumous Golden Medal of Valruzia, the state's highest civilian honor, for their role during the revolution. A minute of silence will follow at noon, observed simultaneously across the country, followed by a military parade. The visiting heads of state are expected to attend the ceremony and to hold bilateral meetings with the Chancellor-President in the days surrounding the event.

The National Museum will inaugurate a permanent exhibition dedicated to the revolution, incorporating declassified police and government documents from the Morawski era, video testimonies from survivors and relatives of victims, and personal effects of families repressed by the regime The exhibition opens to the public on April 14 and will remain on display indefinitely.

On the evening of April 22, a torchlit march will depart from the university district — where Obrzut's relatives, including former Chancellor Szymon Nowik first distributed leaflets bearing his face — and proceed to People's Square, concluding with fireworks over the Sejm dome. The government has encouraged citizens from across Valruzia to make the journey to Nowogard for the occasion, though it has also been at pains to stress that the commemoration is not confined to the capital.

In December 5623, as the Morawski government declared martial law and deployed the military in urban centres across Valruzia, the garrison stationed in Brzansk took the extraordinary step of openly refusing to comply. Blocking the city's entrances, the military unit announced it would resist any government attempt to enforce the crackdown — issuing the challenge Przyjdź i weź, "Come and take it", a phrase that rapidly became the rallying cry of the resistance movement nationwide, as has since then become the national motto of the Republic of Valruzia.

Now, a century later, Brzansk will hold the most symbolically charged events outside the capital. On April 24, the city will open the doors of the former military barracks where the defiance was organised, now converted into a civic memorial space. Local authorities have planned a public reading of the original communiqué issued by the garrison, followed by a community gathering in the city's central square. 

The voivodeships of Gryfit and Chynberg, though less associated with the confrontations, were not untouched by the era. Gryfit's regional capital, Gryfitów, will host a series of archival exhibitions drawing on local press records from the period, many of which were censored or destroyed by the regime and have only partially survived, and will also put a focus on the role of the national firefighters' association – whose announcement of an indefinite strike in December 5623 was among the clearest signals that the Morawski government had lost the loyalty of civil society – with a commemorative gathering planned at the association's headquarters on April 23.

Speaking at a press conference last week, Chancellor-President Sandów was explicit about the government's intentions. "The revolution of 5623 and 5624 was not a single moment" he said. "It was months of fear, courage, strikes, protests, suffering and ordinary people deciding that enough was enough. The centenary should reflect that. It should last as long as the struggle did". The government has also announced that April 22 will henceforth be a national public holiday, designated Revolution Day, formalizing what has until now been an unofficial day of remembrance observed differently across the country's voivodeships. The measure passed the Sejm last month with broad cross-party support, with only the far-right Valruzian Alliance voting against it.

But the centenary will not only be marked by remembrances. Starting today, numerous parties and ludic activities will be carried across the nation, as the centenary should not only be "a moment of sadness, but of joy and celebration too of what we won and what we must defend" said Culture Minister Eliasz Balicki. "Because they were, we are, and because we are, they will be".

Inaugural night at one of Nowogard's main squares