The Baszta Soldiers Memorial (; ) is a monument in Warsaw, Poland, located within the neighbourhood of Old Mokotów. It is placed in the Eye of the Sea Park near Dworkowa Street. The monument commemorates around 140 insurgents of the Warsaw Uprising, predominantly the soldiers of the Baszta Regiment Group of the Home Army, executed at the location on 27 September 1944 by the Order Police. It has a form of a concrete obelisk. It was designed by Eugeniusz Ajewski, and unveiled on 27 September 1984.
History The monument commemorates around 140 insurgents of the Warsaw Uprising, predominantly the soldiers of the Baszta Regiment Group of the Home Army, executed on 27 September 1944 at Dworkowa Street by the Order Police. The insurgents were captured as they attempted to retreat from Mokotów to Downtown through the city sewage network. They were discovered by German officers and forced to resurface on Dworkowa Street, near the headquarters of the Gendarmerie of the Order Police for the Warsaw District.Adam Borkiewicz: Powstanie warszawskie. Zarys działań natury wojskowej. Warsaw: Instytut wydawniczy PAX, 1969, p. 502. (in Polish)Lesław M. Bartelski: Mokotów 1944. Warszawa: wydawnictwo MON, 1986, pp. 595–597. ISBN 83-11-07078-4. (in Polish)
The memorial was unveiled on 27 September 1984 on the 40th anniversary of the execution, in the Eye of the Sea Park near Dworkowa Street. The sculpture was designed by Eugeniusz Ajewski, and manufactured by the Żerańska Fabryka Elementów Betoniarskich Faelbet (Faelbet Żerań Concrete Components Factory). The money for its construction was raised by the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy.Irena Grzesiuk-Olszewska: Warszawska rzeźba pomnikowa. Warsaw: Neriton, 2003, p. 153. ISBN 9788388973598. (in Polish) Aleksander Kowalewski, a soldier of the Baszta Regiment Group, and a survivor of the execution, was one of the main propagators of the memorial, and became the first person to light a grave candle near it during the unveiling ceremony.Wiesław Głębocki: Warszawskie pomniki. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo PTTK Kraj, 1990, pp. 126-127. (in Polish)
Characteristics The memorial is placed in the Eye of the Sea Park near Dworkowa Street. It is located next to the manhole cover of the sewage entrance from which Polish soldiers were forced to resurface during their capture, and near their place of execution. The sculpture is made from concrete and measures 6 meters (19.69 ft). It has a form of an obelisk, with a hexagonal pedestal, topped with three irregularly-shaped pylons, joined at the top with a hexagonal plate. They are decorated with three bronze wall sculptures, depicting the War Order of Virtuti Militari, the badge of the Baszta Regiment Group, and the Anchor symbol. The top of the pedestal is paved with stones, featuring a symbolic sewage manhole cover in its centre. Additionally, a trail of footprints painted in white paint leads from a nearby sewer manhole cover to the monument. The pedestal also bears a brass plaque with an inscription in Polish, which reads:
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