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Jersey City's Katyn monument to stay in place for now?

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 07.11.2018 13:29
Local authorities in the US are backing off the planned relocation of a Jersey City monument to Poles massacred by the Soviets in World War II, according to a report.
The Katyn Massacre monument in Jersey CityThe Katyn Massacre monument in Jersey CityPhoto: Colin Knowles [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

A trans-Atlantic spat erupted earlier this year over plans to remove a statue in Jersey City in the US state of New Jersey that honours the victims of a 1940 Soviet massacre of thousands of Poles in the Katyn Forest, western Russia.

The Jersey Journal reported that Mayor Steve Fulop has sent council members an email asking them to rescind a June 13 ordinance that authorised moving the monument from Exchange Place in Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from New York City.

A referendum was due to be held in December about the fate of the monument.

Public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported that Fulop has asked for the referendum to be halted.

IAR added that Fulop planned to revisit the issue of the monument’s location next year.

The Jersey Journal reported Fulop said he was worried that a petition drive used to try to reverse the council's Katyn monument ordinance would be used to stop implementation of a 1 percent business tax intended to help fund a local school district.

The relocation plans earlier this year drew fierce criticism from Poland and Polish Americans.

The monument features a 10-metre-tall bronze figure of a soldier—who has been impaled by a bayonetted rifle—mounted on top of a granite base containing soil from the Katyn Forest in western Russia.

(pk/gs)

Source: The Jersey Journal/IAR

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