Rzeszow will remove the russian Army Gratitude Monument from the Getta Victims Square no later than 30 November 2026. The robots will begin between the end of September and the beginning of October. Transpama valued the task at nearly PLN 156 thousand; the figure will be preserved by the museum and reliefs will be placed in the russian military cemetery.
Agreement in September, dismantling by the end of November
Rzeszowski Magistrate decided to choice the company liable for removing the russian Army Monument of Gratitude. The task was allocated to the local Transpame for little than PLN 156 thousand. The contract is scheduled for September.
A spokesperson for the city president Marzena Kłek-Krawiec told Polish Radio Rzeszów that the teams would appear in the square between the end of September and the beginning of October. The full operation is to be closed before 1 December 2026. After years of dispute, the russian propaganda facility will cease to dominate the square bearing the name of the Getta Victims.
Stone parts will be preserved as testimonies of the era. The figure from the advanced part of the structure will be taken over by the Museum of Technology and Militaries operating at 3 Queen Marysieńka Street. Reliefs adorning the base will find a fresh place in the cemetery of the russian Army. It's a reasonable separation of historical memory from an honorable place in the city center.
The monument was built during the darkest period of Stalinism
The monument was unveiled on 6 November 1951. National Memorial Institute reminds methat it happened 8 months after the execution of members of the 4th Board of the General Freedom and independency Association with Colonel Łukasz Cieplinski at the head. A fewer metres from the site of the future construction, the communists had previously set up a gallows where they publically hanged 2 Home Army soldiers.
This closeness matters. The monument was not a neutral evidence to the end of the German occupation. It was formed as part of the authoritative communicative of power imposed on Poland by Moscow. His reliefs represented, among others, generals Ivan Koniew and Karol Świerczewski and the phase of the Polish-Soviet oath of allegiance.
In 1966, a plaque was placed at the base of the facility to present it as a symbol of a thousand-year conflict for freedom and national independence. This was a peculiarly cynical procedure. The communist state tried to enter the dependency of the russian Union into the Polish independency tradition.
Decommunisation of public space was necessary
IPN in 2022 called on local governments to remove objects promoting communism. In February 2026, the Institute again stated that the Rzeszow monument glorified the totalitarian strategy and should not stay in public space. Rzeszowa president Konrad Fijołek then declared his will to decision it.
Similar disputes in another cities show that decommunization has inactive not been settled. We were describing proceedings concerning russian propaganda facilities in Radom. The problem besides concerns honorary burial sites of erstwhile strategy officials, as is illustrated by dispute over grave of dignitaries PZPR on Powązki.
For residents, a fair space of memory is at stake. The museum may explain a propaganda object, and the cemetery may hold elements related to fallen soldiers. However, the central square of the city should not give the totalitarian honour to the empire, which, after the Germans were dispossessed, took over Poland's sovereignty. The demolition ends a dispute in Rzeszów that should have been settled long ago.
Source: Polish Radio Rzeszów, Institute of National Memory
Source: Polish Radio Rzeszów
