Pomnik Obrońców Poczty Polskiej, Gdańsk

Before you rises Pomnik Obrońców Poczty Polskiej, a memorial to those who held the Polish Post Office on the first day of September nineteen thirty-nine. Its stainless-steel sculpture shows a postman collapsing as Nike, the ancient goddess of victory, offers him a rifle; letters spill from his unfastened mailbag. Follow the sweeping, wave-like metal around the figures: doves crown the composition, setting images of peace against the violence it remembers.

The post office had been Polish territory within the Free City of Danzig. German forces cut its telephone and power before launching their attack that morning. Fifty-six people were inside, including postal employees, reinforcements, and a caretaker’s family.

They resisted police, Nazi formations, armoured vehicles, artillery, explosives, and fire for roughly fifteen hours. After surrendering, nearly every defender who had not escaped was condemned to death; the executions took place on the fifth of October. The monument was unveiled here on the fortieth anniversary of the war’s outbreak, funded by the Polish Post Office and designed by Krystyna Hajdo-Kućma with Wincenty Kućma as lead designer. It gives an ordinary mailbag the weight of a battlefield memorial.