Tadeusz Kościuszko’s Monument (Iron-Gate Square)
Tadeusz Kościuszko’s Monument – the hero of two nations – Polish and American, is a copy of a monument which has been in Washington since 1910. Tadeusz Kosciuszko’s character is presented in the outfit of an American general with a plan of Saratoga fortification in his hand. On the right side of the monument stands a figure of scytheman (kosynier) symbolizing the Battle of Racławice and on the left side a figure symbolizing the Battle of Saratoga, which was won by American colonists, thanks to the fortifications developed by Tadeusz Kościuszko.
The initiators’ intentions of Tadeusz Kościuszko’s commemoration expresses well, the President of the Tadeusz Kościuszko’s Monument Building Association in Warsaw Marian Marek Drozdowski’s speech. Here are its fragments delivered during the unveiling of the monument:
“Our Warsaw memorial will remind the next generations, the victorious Warsaw battle of April 17th-18th 1794 with the Russian troops, the long-term defence of the capital under the command of the Chief from July 10th to September 6th of that year and the slaughter of Praga on November 4th 1794 by Suvorov’s soldiers. It will be a reminder of the appointment by the Chief of the Light Cavalry Regiment of the Israelites, led by Berk Joselewicz. It will be a reminder of the actions of the Head of State Józef Piłsudski, who revived the Kościuszko tradition, adopted the title after him and organized the Festival of Unification of the Polish Army at Kościuszko’s sarcophagus in Wawel on October 19th 1919. It will be a reminder of the Polish-Bolshevik war of 1919-1920 with the participation of the US Air Squadron named Tadeusz Kościuszko and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. It experienced on the one hand the Nazi crimes and, on the other, the cynical political game of Stalin- Suvorov’s admirer. The memorial will remind the partisan troops bearing the name of Tadeusz Kościuszko, heroic 303 Kościuszko Squadron deserved in the Battle of Britain and the First Infantry Division of the Polish Army, his name, fighting from Lenino to Berlin.”