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Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers Three majestic crosses with anchors - symbols of hope - have been erected to commemorate the bloody victims of the workers' strikes in December 1970. The demand relative to erecting this monument at the shipyard's gates was one of the most important postulates of the shipyard workers who went on strike in August 1980. The crosses are 42 m high and weigh 140 tons. All official delegations visiting Gdańsk lay flowers at the foot of this monument. |
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Monument to the Defenders of the Coast An immense monument to the Defenders of the Coast commemorates the Polish soldiers who, in autumn of 1939, made a heroic effort to fight with the superior forces of Hitler's well-equipped army. Close to the monument we can also see historic structures related to the heroic defence of this post in 1939, the tombs of heroic soldiers and the T-34 tank belonging to the Polish Armoured Brigade named after the Westerplatte Heroes. |
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Monument to Those Who Fell for the Polish Character of Gdańsk A monument commemorating those who fell in a fight for the Polish character of the city in the period from the Gdańsk massacre (1308) until the end of II World War. It was erected in 1969, on the square at Podwale Staromiejskie Street. The monument symbolising an axe stuck in the ground was erected according to a design prepared by Wawrzyniec Samp and Wiesław Pietroń. |
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Jan III Sobieski Monument A monument commemorating King Jan III Sobieski, which may well be regarded as one of the most interesting monuments in Poland. It commemorates the triumphs of the Polish army, whose history symbolises the difficult and complicated history of the Polish Republic. |
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Monument to the Defenders of the Polish Post On the first day of World War II a group of 50 employees of the post office under the command of Konrad Guderski fought for 14 hours and resisted fierce attacks from German forces. Hitler's soldiers were not able to take control of the building despite their great superiority in numbers and the support of howitzers and armoured vehicles. The heroic defenders gave up only when threatened that the building would be soaked in petrol and burnt to the ground. |
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The Cemetery of the Lost Cemeteries Monument The Cemetery of the Lost Cemeteries Monument commemorates the Gdańsk necropolis which was destroyed by the war and due to the post-war ideology. A small strip of land near the Corpus Christi Church reminds us of the former citizens of Gdańsk whose life and toil shaped the city's rich history. |
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The Kindertransport Monument The monument commemorates the transports of Jewish children from Germany and other territories occupied by Germany to the United Kingdom, whose government agreed to admit an unlimited number of children. By September 1, 1939, when the final transport arrived, over 10,000 children had been taken, including some 100 from Gdańsk. The bronze monument depicts five children of different ages standing on a platform right before the train leaves. The first monument commemorating the Kindertransport effort was erected in London in 2006 on the initiative of the Jewish Care organisation under the auspices of Prince Charles. The monument stands near Liverpool Street Station, which was the destination of the Kindertransports and depicts a group of Jewish children with hand luggage and a train rail which symbolises the journey into the unknown. The second Kindertransport Monument was unveiled in autumn 2008 by the Friedrichstrasse train station in Berlin. The Monument’s name is Züge in das Leben - Züge in den Tod (Trains to Life – Trains to Death) and depicts two groups of children on train tracks: a smaller group which was saved thanks to the Kindertransports and a larger group which went to the Nazi death camps. The Gdańsk monument completes the entire cycle. The artist’s concept is that the children in the Gdańsk Monument are the same figures as those who get off the train at Liverpool Street Station in London. In Gdańsk, the primary subject is departure, saying goodbye to your birthplace and parting – most usually forever – with your families. The bronze monument was designed by Frank Meisler, a sculptor born in Gdańsk who was himself one of the children of the Kindertransports. It was at the train station in Gdańsk that he saw his parents for the last time. The sculpture is very emotional; it depicts five children of different ages waiting for the train with their modest luggage. |
