Warsaw is once again faced with a mindless act of vandalism against its history. Less than a month ago, there was an audacious devastation of a site commemorating one of the executions that took place at the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising. The vandals chose as their target the plaque and part of the façade of the building standing at 27/35 Marszałkowska St. The commemorative plaques were designed by Karol Tchorek after the war. They can be found in many places in the capital.
The damage probably occurred in April. The perpetrators damaged both the plaque and a section of the wall of the block of flats in which it was embedded. The commemorative plaque and the façade are made of sandstone, a material extremely difficult to maintain. The paint used by vandals has penetrated deeply into the porous structure of the stone, which may result in the need for special (and expensive) restoration or even replacement of irreparably damaged sections. A plaque on the wall of the building commemorates the inhabitants of Śródmieście, murdered by the Germans in the first days of August 1944. After Wehrmacht troops occupied this part of the capital, people were driven out of their homes. Men were separated from women and children, and then some of them were shot in the area of 21 Marszałkowska Street and in the place of today’s MDM block at number 27/35. It was there that young scouts also died at the hands of the occupants.
The inscription on the plaque reads:
A place hallowed by the blood of Poles killed for the freedom of the fatherland. Here, on 3 4 5 August 1944, the Nazis shot about 200 Poles
According to Article 261 of the Penal Code, the destruction of memorials is a crime. Unfortunately, although the law is clear about this, practice turns out to be more complicated and the perpetrators are rarely tracked down and punished. They act quickly, very often at night and with a masked image, leaving no traces. The vandalised block of flats is protected as part of the Marshal’s Residential District. This means that any interference with the structure of the building needs to be agreed with the conservation office, including even repair work.
Fortunately, the city has taken steps to make it easier for owners and managers of historic buildings to combat this kind of damage. From January 2025, it is possible to obtain reimbursement for costs related to the removal of the consequences of devastation. Read more HERE. April’s case is not the first in the history of Tchorka’s commemorative plaques. In 2021, there was a high-profile act of mass vandalism when stickers were placed on more than a hundred such objects, changing their content. The word ‘Nazis’ was then replaced by the word ‘Germans’. The actions of the perpetrators associated with the Gazeta Polska Club were coordinated, and the whole affair aroused a nationwide debate. The glue used destroyed some of the plaques and in many cases it was necessary to sand down their entire surfaces. Despite enormous efforts, restorers were not able to remove all traces of that devastation. The cost of the restoration exceeded 100,000 zloty, but the public prosecutor’s office concluded that no destruction had taken place and dropped the case. The perpetrators went unpunished then; will it be the same this time?
Source: TBTS, polska-zbrojna.pl
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Marszałkowska 27/35 before and after the devastation. Photo: Google Maps and Mateusz M. Opasiński/TBTS
