Mały Powstaniec
Mały Powstaniec (the Little Insurrectionist) is a statue in commemoration of the child soldiers who fought and died during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. It is located on Podwale Street, Warsaw, Poland, next to the ramparts of Warsaw's Old Town.
Mały Powstaniec | |
 | |
| 52°14′59″N 21°0′34″E | |
| Location | Warsaw Old Town, Warsaw, Poland |
|---|---|
| Designer | Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz |
| Material | Bronze sculpture |
| Completion date | 1 October 1983 |
| Dedicated to | The child soldiers of the Warsaw Uprising |
The statue is of a young boy wearing a helmet too large for his head and holding a submachine gun. Despite being sometimes colloquially called Antek Rozpylacz, it is not representing any specific child.[1][2] The helmet and submachine gun are stylized after German equipment, which was captured during the uprising and used by the resistance fighters against the occupying forces.
Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz created the design[3] in 1946 and it was used for years for producing small statuettes, only to become the monument decades later. Polish scouts gathered the entirety of funds for the statue and it was unveiled on 1 October 1983 by Professor Jerzy Świderski – a cardiologist who during the uprising was a 14-years-old courier (pseudonym: "Lubicz") serving in the "Gustaw" regiment of the Home Army. Behind the statue is a plaque with the engraved words of "Warszawskie Dzieci" ("Varsovian Children"), a popular song from the period: "Warszawskie dzieci, pójdziemy w bój - za każdy kamień twój, stolico damy krew" ("Varsovian children, we'll head into battle—for every stone of yours, we shall give our blood").
Gallery
A general view of the statue
The statue at night
The plaque behind the statue
Copy of the statue at the Warsaw Uprising Museum
See also
References
- "Pomnik bez brązu". 2 August 2015.
- Actual Antek Rozpylacz was 21 years old during the uprising.
- "Pomnik Małego Powstańca" (in Polish). www.sztuka.net.pl. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2008-08-18.