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Artists paint mural of anti-communist guerillas

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 18.07.2014 11:35
Work is nearing completion on a Warsaw mural dedicated to the 'Cursed Soldiers' who refused to lay down arms after WWII when a communist regime was installed in Poland.

Photo:
Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell

The mural is being created on a housing block on Pilecki Street, which takes its name from resistance hero Witold Pilecki, who was executed following a show trial in May 1948.

Pilecki is represented in the mural (pictured below), as well as scenes from the Polish countryside, where guerrillas went into hiding.

A monster sporting the red star of a Soviet soldier looms over the scene.

Artists Emil Gos, Michal Wegrzyn and Rafal Roskowinski are all members of the Gdansk Mural School, a collective set up in 2009 to promote mural art.

Members of the collective have recently taken part in art events in London and New York.

Witold
Witold Pilecki. Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell

The 'Cursed Soldiers' included several resistance formations that fought the communist regime following the Second World War.

Among the most prominent groupings were Freedom and Independence (WiN) and the National Armed Forces (NSZ).

The guerrillas were largely stamped out by 1948, although one fighter, Jozef Franczak, was gunned down as late as 1963.

The various forces remained a highly taboo subject until 1989, and they were branded 'fascists' by the communist authorities.

In 2011, the Polish parliament established 1 March as the 'Day of Cursed Soldiers.'

The Warsaw mural is due to completed on Sunday. (nh)

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