(ANSA) - IMOLA - The celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Liberation from the Nazi occupation in Emilia bear the colours of the Polish flag, white and red. The town of Imola will dedicate a park to the memory of General Wladyslaw Anders and has inaugurated a monument to the soldier-bear Wojtek. This bear was the mascot of the 22nd Artillery Company of the II Polish Corps (including patriots from Abruzzo, in the Maiella Brigade): a popular figure in Poland, and even in Scotland, but still little known in Italy. Wojtek had been adopted by the Polish soldiers soon after he had lost his mother. He was brought up by them, and was then ''recruited'' and brought to Italy. At the end of WW2, when the Polish army was dismantled, he was donated to Edinburgh Zoo, where he became the main attraction.

In Scotland and Poland, they have already remembered him with a statue. Italy celebrates him with a ceremony on Sunday, April 19 at Imola, with the unveiling of the sculpture by the Bolognese artist Luigi Enzo Mattei, the laying of wreaths at the base of the monument dedicated to the Polish soldier, the naming of a garden after General Anders. The programme includes a re-enactment of liberation, with the participation of Polish students from the school of Zagan. Young Italians and Poles have already established a very close relationship, which has also led to the creation of the comic book ''How the bear Wojtek became a soldier'' designed by Anna Kret, as part of a project between the Italian and Polish schools. The volume, just re-issued under the patronage of the European Parliament and the Senate, is written in four different languages, and can even be downloaded from the internet. (ANSA).