On 25 January 1925, at the request of General Władysław Sikorski, Minister of Military Affairs, the Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the construction of the Unknown Soldier's grave in Warsaw. The central point of the colonnade of the Saski Palace, which was then the office of the General Staff of the Polish Army, was chosen for its location.
The thought of paying tribute to the country's fallen unnamed soldiers was created in France after planet War I. On November 11, 1920, an unknown soldier of the French army rested under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. A akin celebration was held that same day in London. The ashes of a British soldier were deposited in Westminster Abbey.
In Poland, the first initiatives aimed at creating a akin place to commemorate the fallen were born in 1921. Among another things, the Committee of Honor of the fallen 1914–1921 and the association of the Polish Żołbny Cross took care of this. – Their members discussed what form the monument should have and where to be located – says Dr. Marek Wrzesiński, historian of the interwar period.
Mystery Board
In November 1923, at the request of president Stanisław Wojciechowski, the Provisional Organizational Committee for the Construction of the Monument of the Unknown Soldier was established. It was headed by General Tadeusz Rozwadowski, then General Inspector of Driving. However, the work of the committee was very slow. They were only accelerated by a mysterious event of December 2, 1924. On that morning, an anonymous funder laid a monument to Prince Joseph Poniatowski standing before him. Saxon Palace, a plaque with the inscription “An Unknown Soldier Declining for Homeland”. The event was made public by the media and the Warsawers began to visit the place and to place flowers and light candles there. – According to the popular belief, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a diplomat and pianist, donated the album, but after years it was found to have been funded by the Unification of Polish Associations of the Republic – says the historian.
The event mobilised a committee appointed by the president to act. On 23 December 1924, he gathered for another gathering on the construction of a memorial site in Warsaw. A period later, at a gathering on January 25, 1925, on request General Władysław Sikorski, then Minister of Military Affairs, Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the construction of the Unknown Soldier's Sepulchre in Warsaw. It was decided that it would be established in the column of the Saski Palace, which was then the office of the General Staff of the Polish Army.
Various another locations in the capital were previously considered, including on the slopes of Citadel, in Fort Legions, at Poniatowski Bridge or Krakowskie Przedmieście. “The arcades of the Saski Palace were chosen, due to the fact that there was already a commemorative album there, and the most crucial patriotic ceremonies were held in front of it, including military parades,” explains Dr. Wrzesiński.
The plan of the monument was entrusted to sculptor Stanisław Ostrowski. According to his concept, the monument was placed in 3 central arcades of the palace. It was made by a grey stone plate with the inscription “Here lies a Polish soldier who died behind the Homeland”, decorative bars with copies Order of Virtuti Military and the conflict Cross and the granite plaques placed on the pillars with the battlefields in which Poles fought.
Lviv defender
The necropolis, from which the name exhume the remains of the soldier, pointed out by a draw of lots fire champion Józef Buczkowski, bachelor of Virtuti Militari, out of 15 seats proposed by the military authorities. The destiny fell to the cemetery of the Orląts of Lviv.
On October 29, 1925, 3 nameless graves were exhumed on this necropolis: a sergeant, a corporal, and a volunteer in a matrix. The coffin with the ashes of the soldier to remainder in Warsaw was indicated by Jadwiga Zarugiewicz, Polish Armenian and Konstanty's mother, a soldier who died in the conflict of Zadworz. Turns out she picked a 14-year-old private in a mat. “From the broken bones of the left leg and skull, it should be reported that the soldier fell on the battlefield,” said “Army Poland”.
Warsaw. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Saski Square. View of the interior, at the grave worth honor and wreaths. 01.11.1927. Photo: NAC
After a farewell service in Lviv, a coffin with ashes was brought to Warsaw by a peculiar train and on 2 November was solemnly placed in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Next to it, 14 urns were inserted from the ground from another places of battles and an eternal niche was lit. Soldiers from the 36th Regiment of the Academic Legion enlisted the honour.
During planet War II, in late 1944 Saski Palace was blown up by the Germans. However, a fragment of the colonnade with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was preserved. After entering Warsaw on January 17, 1945, Polish soldiers lit a fire on it alternatively of a fire, and the first watch was enlisted by representatives of the 1st Emilia Plater Female Battalion.
After the war, the tomb was rebuilt, restoring a triarcadic fragment of the surviving colonnade and unveiled again on May 9, 1946. A 24-hour honorary post was besides introduced. – However, in the Polish People's Republic, authorities removed battle-related plaques from the times Polish-Bolshevik War, however, fresh battles during planet War II were built to commemorate – says the historian.
After 1989, copies of 4 1925 plates were mounted on the pillars of the grave. 14 fresh albums commemorating 180 most crucial battles in Polish past were besides unveiled. In the following years, the monument deposited land with Katyn mogul and fresh plaques dedicated to the memory of the soldiers cursed, the fighting of the post-war independency underground, and clashes with the militants of the Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgency Army.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is simply a pantheon of national memory. Throughout the day, soldiers of the Polish Army's Representation Regiment are worthy of full honor. In the square of Marshal Józef Piłsudski before the grave, the most crucial state and military ceremonies are held, and according to the diplomatic protocol, the visit to the grave is simply a compulsory point of visit to Warsaw of any authoritative abroad delegation.
