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Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East

The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East is a memorial in Warsaw, Poland, commemorating the victims of the Soviet invasion of Poland during World War II and the subsequent repressions. It was unveiled on 17 September 1995, the 56th anniversary of the 1939 Soviet invasion. The monument includes a railway flatcar and inscriptions dedicated to the victims. Its details also reference religious symbols, the Polish eagle, Gulag outposts such as Archangielsk, and NKVD mass murder sites like Katyn. The site has received additions over time, including a stone placed after Pope John Paul II prayed there in 1999.

Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East, a dark sculpture shaped like a railway flatcar covered with crosses and beam-like forms
The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East rises from short railway tracks on a cobblestone street.
July 2014 © · CC BY 2.0
Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East, a dark sculpture of crosses and wooden beams on a raised cobblestone platform, with an inscribed stone in front.
The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East rises on a cobblestone platform beneath a clear blue sky.
© · CC BY-SA 3.0
Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East stretching along a cobblestone median in Warsaw, with dark inscribed bars leading into a jagged structure.
The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East extends down a Warsaw median between city streets.
July 2018 © · CC0
The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East with crosses and Polish flags, flanked by soldiers and floral wreaths during a commemorative ceremony.
The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East stands with crosses and Polish flags during a solemn remembrance ceremony.
September 2020 © Kancelaria Sejmu / Andrzej Hrechorowicz · CC BY 2.0
Dark metal memorial sculpture with a crowned eagle emblem, a large cross, and a ribbon tied at the base.
A section of the Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East showing a crowned eagle emblem and cross in dark metal.
© · CC BY-SA 2.0

Identification

TitleMonument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East
TypeMonument

Historical context

Commemorated eventsThe Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939; repressions during the Soviet occupation of 1939–1941; subsequent repressions after the Soviet takeover of Poland in 1944–1945; and the Katyn massacre of 1940
Political contextCreated after the fall of communism in Poland, as part of a post-1989 project to commemorate events censored during the Polish People's Republic, when communist authorities suppressed information about these events and denied Soviet responsibility for the Katyn massacre

Creator

DesignerMaksymilian Biskupski

Discovery and provenance

Project presentation date1991
Main initiatorWojciech Ziembiński
FundingFinanced by the Polish government, non-governmental organizations, and private individuals
Construction start date18 August 1995
Unveiling date17 September 1995
Unveiling anniversary56th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939
Unveiling attendeesPrimate of Poland Józef Glemp; Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army Tadeusz Wilecki; President/Mayor of Warsaw Marcin Święcicki; Prime Minister of Poland Józef Oleksy; President of Poland Lech Wałęsa
CaretakersMembers of the Federation of Katyn Families and veteran organizations

Physical characteristics

Base/supportRailway platform mounted on tracks
Additional elements41 railway sleepers in front of the platform; a stone added after Pope John Paul II prayed at the site in 1999; a plaque; the Polish Cross of Valour; a Polish eagle with a rope around it; a date inscription below the eagle
HeightAbout 7 meters
Main sculptural elementRailway flatcar

Materials

MaterialBronze

Iconography and meaning

Depicted symbolsCatholic and Orthodox crosses, a Jewish matzevah, and Muslim gravestone symbols
Inscription on sleepersThe sleepers bear the names of battlefields from September 1939 in eastern Poland and of places of martyrdom, deportation, camps, collective farms, exile villages, Gulag outposts, and NKVD mass-murder sites
Inscriptions"For those fallen in the East"; "For the victims of Soviet aggression 17.IX.1939. The Polish nation 17.IX.1995"
Commemorated personsPoles who died and were murdered in the East, especially deportees to labour camps in Siberia, victims of the Katyn massacre, deported Polish forced labourers in the USSR, and deported mothers; one cross commemorates priest Stefan Niedzielak, a Katyn activist murdered in mysterious circumstances in 1989
Historical referencesSoviet invasion, Soviet aggression, deportations, Gulag outposts, NKVD mass killings, and Katyn

Location and ownership

LocationIntersection of Muranowska Street and General Władysław Anders Street, Warsaw, Poland
Annual memorial ceremonyHeld every year on 17 September

History and restoration

Papal visitsPope John Paul II prayed at the monument in 1999; Pope Benedict XVI passed by the monument in his papamobile in 2006

Other

Viewpoints shown in captionsViewed from the west; viewed from the south