Pomnik Poległych Stoczniowców 1970

The monument

Pomnik Poległych Stoczniowców 1970 is the name of the memorial for the fallen shipyard workers from 1970 in the city of Gdańsk ( Danzig ) in Poland . Colloquially it is also called the Three Crosses Monument (“Pomnik Trzech Krzyży”). The monument was unveiled on December 16, 1980 near Gate 2 of the Gdańsk Shipyard ( Lenin Shipyard ) .

It commemorates the 42 or more people who were killed on the Baltic coast during the December 1970 uprising and was the first memorial to the victims of communist oppression to be erected in a communist country.

history

Protesters carry the shot Zbyszek Godlewski in Gdynia ( Gdynia )

December 1970 uprising

During the workers' uprising from December 14 to 22, 1970 in what was then the People's Republic of Poland , there were strikes , mass rallies and demonstrations in Gdynia , Danzig and Stettin . The unrest was triggered by sudden and drastic price increases for food and everyday items. In particular, just before Christmas, consumer goods prices were increased by up to 38%. First there were strikes in the Gdańsk shipyards. There were also demonstrations all over Poland. The country was temporarily on the brink of civil war. The authorities responded with a massive deployment of police and military , in the course of which 45 people officially lost their lives. In fact, the number of victims was about twice as high. More than a thousand people were injured in the operations.

August strikes and erection of the monument in 1980

The August strikes of 1980 , which led to the approval of free trade unions and Solidarność , are expressly in the tradition of the events of 1970. The erection of a memorial to the victims of December 1970 was one of the 21 demands of the 1980 strikes . Two weeks before the government signed the demands, the first wooden cross was erected in front of the main gate of the shipyard.

All over Poland money was raised for the erection of the monument. During the unveiling on the square in front of the Gdańsk shipyard on December 16, 1980, the Lacrimosa (later part of the Polish Requiem ) by Krzysztof Penderecki , which was commissioned by Solidarność for this event , was heard for the first time in front of 100,000 people .

The monument, along with other structures commemorating the August strikes of 1980, was entered in the list of architectural monuments of Poland on December 6, 1999 under the number A-1206.

The European Solidarność Center (ECS) has been located behind the monument since August 2014

Design of the monument

The monument was designed by: Bogdan Pietruszka, Wiesław Szyślak, Wojciech Mokwiński and Jacek Krenz. It consists of three crosses, each 42 meters high and weighing 36 tons. A two-ton anchor hangs on each of the crosses. In the lower part of the monument there are reliefs depicting scenes from the life of the shipyard workers. A board quotes Psalm 29 and an excerpt from the poem You who have done wrong (“Który skrzywdziłeś”) by Czesław Miłosz . The names of those killed in 1970 are also listed.

Further memorials for the December uprising in 1970

In three other cities in northern Poland, four more memorials commemorate the victims of 1970. While provisional crosses were erected in 1970 and 1980, other monuments could only be erected after the collapse of socialist rule.

monument	place	Remarks	built	Altitude location
Pomnik Ofiar Grudnia 1970	Elbląg ( Elblag )	Cross and text in front of a blasted concrete block, inaugurated in August 1981.	-1981	approx. 6 m (location)54.159073 19.402132
Pomnik Ofiar Grudnia 1970	Gdynia , al. Solidarności ( Gdynia )	The memorial shows the year 1970 with a "fallen" 7. It also reminds of convicted strikers.	1993-2003	? m (location)54.528041 18.517877
Pomnik Ofiar Grudnia 1970	Gdynia , al. Piłsudskiego ( Gdynia )	Also "uskrzydlonego krzyża" ( winged cross ), a cross with a crossbar consisting of 23 individual crosses. Memorial stones for 19 victims, inaugurated 23 years after the December uprising.	1993	? m (location)54.509201 18.538607
Pomnik Ofiar Grudnia 1970	Szczecin ( Stettin )	Also called "Aniołem Wolności" ( Angel of Freedom ). Laying of the foundation stone in December 2003, inauguration on the 25th anniversary of the August Agreement.	2003-2005	11 m (location)53.428473 14.558371