Poland issues silver coin honoring forces at border crisis

A 2022 Proof silver 10-zloty coin from Poland honors those who have defended the nation’s Eastern border from a crisis instigated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Original images courtesy of the National Bank of Poland.

Weeks before Poland would earn the praise of nations around the globe for assisting refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, the National Bank of Poland issued a commemorative coin for the defense of Poland’s border.

Poland issued the Proof 2022 Protection of Poland’s Eastern Border .925 fine silver 10-zloty coin on Jan. 27.

In summer 2021, Poland confronted a crisis sparked by President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, who threatened to “flood” the European Union with human traffickers, drug smugglers, and armed migrants.

Criminal groups specializing in human trafficking, coupled with the widespread distribution of tourist visas, led to the concentration at the Polish border of large groups of migrants trying to cross it.

“Armed by Lukashenko’s regime with tools for destroying barriers and objects for attacking border guards, the groups of migrants made attempts at breaking into the territory of Poland,” the bank said. “Gas and stun grenades, blinding lasers and pneumatic weapons were also used.”

Defending Poland’s border

Officers of the several Border Guard Units were deployed to actively protect the 418-kilometer-long Polish/Belarusian border, receiving support from the police and the Polish Army.

By December 2021 the Polish Border Guard officers together with police officers and soldiers had foiled some 40,000 illegal border crossing attempts, the bank said, though many of those protecting Poland’s territory were injured.

Robert Kotowicz designed the coin.

The obverse presents an image of a Polish border post.

The reverse features silhouettes of Border Guard and police officers, a Polish Army soldier and an image of a Border Guard helicopter against a fragment of Poland’s outline with a stylized northern and eastern part of the state border.

The coin weighs 14.14 grams, measures 32 millimeters in diameter, and has a mintage limit of 10,000 pieces.

Interested collectors will have to search the secondary market.
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