The event was attended by the IPN’s Deputy President Prof. Karol Polejowski.
The site of the new monument, sponsored by the Institute of National Remembrance, was previously a Soviet propaganda object, which has been removed according to the Act on the prohibition of the propagation of communism or any other totalitarian system. The said object of communist propaganda, founded by the city's residents in 1945, had been erected in honor of “heroes of the Red Army fallen for the liberation of the city”.
It was not a monument but a Soviet propaganda object because it had a Russian Red Star, the symbol of a totalitarian system – communism which despised the victims and paid tribute to the perpetrators. Behind this symbol there are about 100 million victims all over the world, because Joseph Stalin murdered peoples before 1939 and after 1945. Fortunately, this monument is no longer here, said the IPN President Karol Nawrocki following its dismantling in August 2022.
The unveiling of the new monument was attended by a number of guests, including Malbork Mayor Marek Charzewski. The IPN delegation consisted of the IPN’s Deputy President Prof. Karol Polejowski, the Director of the IPN Office for the Commemoration of Struggle and Martyrdom Adam Siwek, as well as the Deputy Director of the IPN branch in Gdansk Waldemar Szulc. Veterans, uniformed services and residents of Malbork were also present.
The ceremony began with singing out the Polish anthem, followed by occasional speeches. Prof. Karol Polejowski stressed that the event complements the appeal made by the IPN President Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D. in March 2022, encouraging local governments to remove the symbols of enslavement still existing in public space, which were obelisks honoring the Red Army.
Although the Soviet Union collapsed 30 years ago, and its crimes have been thoroughly examined, there are many places in the world where we can still find monuments commemorating the Red Army, and streets or squares named after Soviet dignitaries. The IPN will continue the process of the decommunisation of public space in Poland, said Prof. Karol Polejowski.
A letter by the Speaker of the Polish Parliament Szymon Hołownia, issued to the event guests, was also read out. The following part of the ceremony included the unveiling of the monument, and the laying of flowers by official delegations.
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In March 2022, the IPN President appealed to local governments to remove from public space all names and symbols still commemorating people, organizations, events or dates symbolizing communism and German Nazism.
Let us emphasise that there can be absolutely no consent for any forms of commemorating the totalitarian communist regime and people serving it!
Thanks to the IPN’s President appeal, another stage of decommunization in Poland has begun. The statement by Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D. is being answered by a growing number of local governments that want to get rid of the remnants of totalitarian systems.
Read the statement by the President of the IPN on decommunisation of the public space: https://bit.ly/3DCf1SN