Pomnik Ofiarom Stanu Wojennego, Gdańsk

Before you is Pomnik Ofiarom Stanu Wojennego, a memorial on Targ Rakowy shaped as a reclining figure. It commemorates Antoni Browarczyk, Poland’s first person killed under martial law. Browarczyk was struck in the head by a gunshot at this spot on December seventeenth, nineteen eighty-one.

The inscription dedicates the memorial to victims of martial law and names the people of Gdańsk as its dedicators in twenty sixteen. The memorial was unveiled on December sixteenth, twenty sixteen, marking thirty-five years since martial law was imposed in Poland. Gdańsk sculptor Gennadij Jerszow created it.

The campaign to build it began with photographer Robert Kwiatek, who led the Fighting Youth Federation Association, joined by the regional Solidarity leadership, Lechia Gdańsk supporters’ group Lwy Północy, and supporter Zbigniew Wnuk. Notice the contours of the figure against the paving. This memorial keeps the violence of that December day close to the place where it happened, giving a named human presence to a national period of repression.