The ceremonial unveiling of a Monument to the Heroes of the Fight for Independence after 1945 and ‘Solidarity, 22 September 2024, Doylestown USA

On 22 September 2024, at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Doylestown (Pennsylvania, USA), the President of the Institute of National Remembrance Karol Nawrocki honored the Heroes of the Fight for Independence after 1945 and the heroes of the “Solidarity” Movement.

The ceremony began with a Mass, during which IPN President Karol Nawrocki presented the reasons behind the creation of the monument:

- For freedom's battle, once begun,
Bequeath’ d by bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, is ever won.

This is what this monument, dedicated to the heroes of the fight for Poland's freedom and independence after 1945, a year that was not a year of freedom, but of the enslavement of the Polish nation by the Soviets, by the communists for nearly 50 years, depicts. For those nearly 50 years, the Polish nation lived in a Soviet colony. Its people fought and suffered in the struggle for independence, which we had lost in 1939.

President Nawrocki also stressed the fact that we are present everywhere where we can see the symbol of the cross and the inscription -“Solidarity” and that we are responsible for national memory, for Poland which is, as of 1989, free and independent but which arose in the painful process of transformation.

- Our country was saved thanks to those who fought after 1945. But today, in Poland we still have to stand up for truthful national memory. We still have to fight the communist propaganda that is returning to the Polish government and to the school curriculum- he added.

Afterwards, the participants of the ceremony witnessed the blessing of the monument to the Heroes of the  Fight for Independence after 1945 and Solidarity at the Polish Cemetery in American Częstochowa.

The event was attended, among others, by the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, together with First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, and the Chairman of the Smolensk Disaster Commemoration Committee Tadeusz Antoniak.

The monument is composed of steps,  each bearing the dates of significant independence movements in Poland after 1945. The culmination of this symbolic march towards freedom was the establishment of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" in 1980, leading to the regaining of sovereignty from communist rule and Russian influence.

The successive steps of the monument are marked with the following dates:

• 1945: The end of World War II, the beginning of Soviet domination over Poland, which started a long and arduous struggle for true independence.

• 1956: The Poznań June events, a brutally suppressed workers' strike that initiated a period of Polish thaw.

• 1966: The Millennium of Poland's Baptism, a time of national awakening and resistance against the imposed communist ideology.

• 1968: The March events, student protests against censorship and repression, which led to mass crackdowns.

• 1970: December 1970, the violently suppressed workers' protests on the Coast, which dealt a blow to Gomułka's regime.

• 1976: June 1976, strikes and protests in Radom and Ursus, which led to the formation of the Workers' Defense Committee (KOR).

• 1980-1981: The rise of Solidarity, the largest social movement in history against the communist regime, which was the beginning of the end of Soviet domination in Poland.

The final step of the monument, with the inscribed word "Solidarity", commemorates the triumph of national unity and perseverance in the struggle for freedom.

The erection of the monument dedicated to the Heroes of the Fight for Independence after 1945 and ‘Solidarity’ was initiated by the Smolensk Disaster Commemoration Committee Tadeusz Antoniak, headed by Chairman Tadeusz Antoniak. The author of the project and the contractor of the commemoration is Richard Kulinski. The Institute of National Remembrance is one of the strategic investors.

This is the first monument in the United States dedicated to the Polish road to freedom after 1945 and to “Solidarity,” a movement that became a worldwide phenomenon and led to the collapse of the communist system in Central and Eastern Europe. Solidarity's ideas, based on Christian values, were a reminder that true freedom begins in the hearts of ordinary people.

A huge role in this transformation was played by the Catholic Church, which gave Poland Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski and Pope John Paul II, as well as steadfast priests who reminded of the inalienable dignity of every human being, the need to base the national community on the truth that liberates from fear, and the dignity of human labor. The monument in American Czestochowa also reminds us that, to the very end, communism was a totalitarian and criminal system, which is why the words of Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko - a martyred priest murdered by communist oppressors 40 years ago - are engraved on the side of the monument- In gratitude for the priestly ministry, the prayers for the Homeland in times of communist enslavement, and evangelical teaching on how to overcome evil with good.

On the other side we can see the words of Pope John Paul II spoken by him in the Polish Parliament on 11 June 1999: “Solidarity opened the gates of freedom in countries enslaved by a totalitarian system. It brought down the Berlin Wall and contributed to the reunification of a Europe that had been separated into two blocs since World War II. We must never erase this from our memories.