Commemorative board to the action at Wende’s Pharmacy (55 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street)
July 1944 was a hot time for the underground soldiers preparing for the Uprising in Warsaw. Apart from weapon, soldiers needed medicines, dressings and surgical equipment for the sanitary services. Wende’s pre-war pharmacy at 55 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street during the occupancy was devoted only for the Germans and in its cellars medicaments for German field hospitals were stored. Direct neighbourhood of the SS, the Wermacht and the police made the action on the pharmacy very difficult and dangerous operation. The action performed by the battle group of the 4th troop of the 1st military company of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) Battalion “Parasol” (Umbrella) began on July 10th 1944, at 5:45 in the morning. After pharmacist’s terrorizing and neutralization, a commander Janusz Brochwicz pseudonym “Gryf” let his colleagues in. At the entrance to the pharmacy a truck was parked for transferring medicines and dressings to it. At 6:38 am the truck drove off and the soldiers scattered. The brave action was a success and the medications were priceless during the Warsaw Uprising.
At the place where Wende’s pharmacy was located, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in 2009, and the action commander General Janusz Brochwicz-Lewinski “Gryf” (1920-2017) took part in the ceremony of its unveiling.