The Nowy Sącz patriots spontaneously planted it on November 11, 1918 – the day when Poland regained independence. At the turn of October and November of 1918, the Sącz patriots managed to disarm the Austro-Hungarian forces stationing in Nowy Sącz, and to take over civil power. The conspirators were mostly members of the Polish Military Organization, but the Poles who were officers in the Austro-Hungarian Army were also among them. In the course of time, the section of the Planty Park with the Oak of Freedom became the site of patriotic meetings. The tree survived the years of the Nazi German occupation and the communist times, and in 1988 a memorial rock was placed next to it, bearing the inscription: “The Oak of Freedom – 1918”.