The unveiling of a plaque commemorating Home Army soldiers who provided assistance to insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto - Warsaw, 18 April 2023

**The ceremony took take place on 18 April on the corner of Zakroczymska and Sanguszki Street. The plaque was unveiled by Piotr Ciompa - President of the Polish Security Printing Works Board of Directors, Mateusz Szpytma, Ph.D. – Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance, and Tomasz Łabuszewski ,Ph.D. – Director of the IPN Warsaw Branch, which was the organizer of the event and the founder of the commemoration.

Fot. IPN

**

On the first day of fighting in the ghetto (19 April 1943), a briefing took place at the underground premises at 12 Marszałkowska Street, during which the Commander of the Warsaw-City Home Army District, Colonel Antoni Chruściel „Monter”, presented General Tadeusz Komorowski, Deputy Commander of the Home Army, with a plan for combat assistance to the Jewish insurgents. „Monter” reported on the completion of the preparatory phase and declared his readiness to actively enter into action to relieve the ghetto.

The actions commemorated on the plaque deserve special mention.

On 19 April 1943, soldiers of the sabotage unit of the Home Army Praga Sapper Battalion, commanded by Capt. Józef Pszenny aka „Chwacki,”attempted to blow up the ghetto wall on Bonifraterska Street. On 23 April 1943, soldiers under the command of Major Jerzy Lewiński aka „Chuchro”, Commander of the Kedyw (Directorate of Diversion) of the Warsaw-city Home Army District, attempted to blow up one of the gates leading to the ghetto at the intersection of Okopowa and Pawia Streets. On the same day, soldiers of the Home Army Mokotów District Combat Diversion Unit, commanded by Cpl. cadet Zbigniew Stalkowski, aka „Stadnicki,” during two actions on the corner of Leszno and Orla Streets and on Bank Square, eliminated two SS posts guarding the ghetto wall. On 28 April 1943, soldiers of the Home Army Combat Diversion Unit of the Żoliborz District under the command of Lieutenant Tadeusz Kern-Jędrychowski aka „Szrapnel” liquidated a German post on the corner of Konwiktorska and Zakroczymska Streets. On 15 May 1943, soldiers of Special Unit „A” of the Kedyw of the Warsaw-City Home Army District, commanded by Lieutenant Stanislaw Janusz Sosabowski aka „Stasinek,” liquidated two German police officers on the corner of Bonifraterska and Muranowska Street, and threw grenades at the SS barracks.

The above initiative, was not only the fulfillment of the Institutes statutory tasks, which include the commemoration of distinguished historical figures, key places and events in the history of the struggle and martyrdom of the Polish nation, but also the fulfillment of a moral obligation that contemporaries have to those who risked their lives in the struggle for a fully free and sovereign Poland.

gim, source: IPN