Monument to the Wielkopolska Rising 1918-1919
Year of unveiling
1965
Person/persons/event to whom the monument is dedicated
The monument is dedicated to the Wielkopolska Rising, which broke out in Poznań on 27 December 1918, against the German Reich. The insurgents demanded the return of the lands of the Prussian partition to the Republic of Poland. The victory of the insurgents was determined by the incorporation of the majority of the Poznań Province into the Republic of Poland.
Localization
Poznań, Wierzbięcice Street
Location in relation to the surroundings
The monument is located on the edge of the Izabela and Jarogniew Drwęski Park, in Poznań, near the Poznań Główny railway station.
Text of the inscription
To the insurgents of Wielkopolska 1918-1919.
General description
A 17-meter monument covered with grey granite. The obelisk is surrounded by a bronze sculptural element with bas-reliefs depicting: an eagle, the strike of the children of September, the Drzymała car, the figure of Marcin Kasprzak among the workers, the death of the first insurgent Franciszek Ratajczak. Next to the obelisk there is a sculpture depicting two insurgents - an officer with a sabre and a private rifleman with a gun.
Condition
Good
The circumstances of unveiling
The first ideas to commemorate the deeds of the Wielkopolska Insurgents appeared as early as 1921, but it was not until after World War II that they were implemented, thanks to the efforts of Jan Szydlak, the First Secretary of the Polish communist party (PZPR) in Poznań. In 1961 the Social Monument Construction Committee was established, headed by Franciszek Nowak, chairman of the party control committee of the PZPR Voivodeship Committee in Poznań. The monument, designed by Alfred Wiśniewski, was unveiled on 19th September 1965 by the then Polish Marshal, a member of the Political Bureau of the PZPR Central Committee Marian Spychalski (before the war he worked as an architect in the Poznań City Hall).
Later history
In 1988 the surroundings of the monument were reconstructed (according to Jerzy Nowakowski's design) - an 1800 m² roll call square was created. On 27 December 1989, on the 71st anniversary of the Wielkopolska Rising, the monument was consecrated by Archbishop Jerzy Stroba. In 2018, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the rising, the monument was restored.
Contemporary importance
Originally intended by the creators of the monument, it was to be the venue for state ceremonies and important anniversaries. However, this role is played by A. Mickiewicz Square in Poznan, with the monuments of the bard and the Poznan Rising of June '56. At the monument of the Silesian Insurgents, the celebrations of the outbreak of the victorious uprising take place every year.
Localization
Gallery
Śrem, wielkopolskie.
Polska ,63-100
