photo: solidarnosc.org.plA Monument to the Victims of Communism in the years 1918-1989 was unveiled in Lodz, central Poland, Saturday.
President Kaczynski - who could not attend personally due to continued ill health - said in a special statement that the monument will be for future generations, "an important sign of national remembrance and also a warning against totalitarian ideologies and systems.”
The monument depicts an eagle rising above fractured rocks, holding broken bars in its grip and is in memory of inhabitants of the eastern borderlands who were the victims of the Soviet invasion of 1919-20. It also in memory of the 22,000 victims of the 1940 Katyn massacre, the victims of the pacification of the workers' protests on the Baltic coast in December 1970 and the activists of the Solidarity movement who were imprisoned and persecuted during martial law in 1981.
The unveiling ceremony was attended by representatives of government and veterans. Presidential Kaczynski was represented by deputy chief of his office, Jacek Sasin. The minister read out a from the letter the president, in which he pointed out that the ceremony took place on the eve of the 28 anniversary of the introduction of martial law in Poland.
"Today we remember not only the victims of martial law, but also all Poles who have suffered in the twentieth century from repression and persecution," wrote the president.
“The history of [communist] Poland is marked by recurrent protests, starting from the workers’ revolt in Poznan in 1956 to the Solidarity movement.” President Kaczyński stressed in his letter that Poles must not forget the courage of all those who risked their future, their health and in many cases their life in the defence of country’s independence.
The memorial stands outside building which served as Gestapo headquarters during World Two and later, during the first post-war decade, as the seat of the provincial Public Security Bureau which was responsible for the repressions and terror during the communist period.
The foundation stone for the memorial was laid on 17 September 2008, the 69th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. About one tenth of the cost of the memorial was covered from public donations. (pg/mk)