Pilgrimage to Poland – Day 2 – Royal Route

After our stop to see the memorials for Joseph Pilsudski and Frederick Chopin, we continued by bus along the Royal Route, the historical path that connects major landmarks in Warsaw.

All translations were performed through Google Translate.

The statue below represents the heroes who died while defending the capital of Poland during World War II. The sculpture depicts Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory, symbolizing the bravery and strength of the Polish people.  [Reference]

The monument shown below is the Warsaw Uprising Monument. It commemorates the thousands of Poles who fought against Nazi Germany during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. 

Irena Sendlerowa (1910-2008) was a Polish social worker who, during World War II, led a network of volunteers to rescue over 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. The plaque below translates to “
Irena Sendlerowa (1910-2008) Honorary Citizen of the Capital City of Warsaw, Honorary Citizen of the State of Israel, prisoner of Pawiak, Righteous Among the Nations, patron of many schools in Poland and abroad. As an employee of the Social Welfare Department of the Warsaw City Council, appointed in 1942 by the Council for Aid to Jews “Żegota” as head of the children’s department, she contributed to the saving of many lives.”

Post-publication note – A friend send me a link to a Facebook page with the wonderful story of Irena Sendlerowa. I will leave the link here.

This plaque located just outside the Museum of the History of Polish Jews translates to “To the heroes who fell in the Polish-Hellenic struggle in their great war for the honor and freedom of the body and spirit of the Jewish people. For the liberation of Poland and the redemption of man. The liberation of the remains of the Jews of Poland, the Polish Jews.”

Jan Karski (born Jan Kozielewski, 1914–2000) was a Polish World War II resistance fighter and diplomat who is known for his efforts to inform the Allied powers about the atrocities of the Holocaust. He is honored as a “Righteous Among the Nations” and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.  He wrote the book Story of a Secret State which told the story of these atrocities. [Reference 1 and Reference 2] The text on the side of the statue translates as “JAN KARSKI (KOZIELEWSKI) 1914-2000 Emissary of the Polish Underground State. Professor at Georgetown University in Washington, 03 Righteous Among the Nations, Awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Man Who Wanted to Stop the Holocaust. WARSAW 2012”

Also, meet Agnieskza (Agnes) Witkowska, our Tour Director. Thank you, Agnes, for your history lessons, insights, stories, and friendship during our pilgrimage.

The monument shown in the picture is the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. It commemorates the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, a major act of Jewish resistance during World War II. 

Here is the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

This monument commemorates the victims of the Soviet invasion of Poland during World War II and subsequent repressions. It was unveiled on 17 September 1995, on the 56th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of 1939. It was erected in honour of Poles killed and murdered in the East, in particular those deported to labour camps in Siberia (after the Soviet invasion of Poland) and the victims of the Katyn massacre.  The statue shows a pile of religious symbols (Catholic and Orthodox crosses as well as Jewish and Muslim symbols) on a railway flatcar, which is set on tracks. Each railway sleeper displays the names of places from which Polish citizens were deported for use as forced labourers in the USSR, and the names of the camps, collective farms, exile villages and various outposts of the gulag that were their destinations, including the mass murder sites used by the Soviet NKVD. [Reference]

This statue stands directly across the street from the American Embassy in Warsaw to honor Ronald Reagan’s role in supporting Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity movement and the eventual fall of communism in the country. The president is depicted as when giving the “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” speech on 12 June 1987 in West Berlin. [Reference]

The House Under the Giants is one of the most characteristic and symbolic buildings in Warsaw. Its façade is decorated with imposing figures of giants, which gave the tenement its common name. [Reference]

The fake palm tree in Warsaw, officially titled “Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue,” is a 15-meter tall artificial tree created by artist Joanna Rajkowska in 2002. The work was intended by Rajkowska to draw attention to “the absence of the Jewish community in Poland” by highlighting and challenging “the invisibility of the street’s name.” The project was thus intended as a social experiment, an anti-monument that metaphorically brings the “vanished Jews back into the landscape of contemporary Poland”. [Reference]

Whew! That was a lot to see. But, our day is just beginning. We have a lot more to experience on Day 2. I will continue in my next post.

Mark