Warsaw – Tchorek Plaques (Solidarności Avenue)

Tchorek Plaques are memorials around Warsaw which commemorate those who died and were injured in the city during the Second World War. The text on them reads “a place sanctified by the blood of Poles who died for the freedom of their homeland” and there’s further information which explains their relevance. They’re an important reminder of the city’s past and there are literally hundreds of them around the city.

The memorial in the above photo marks where on 11 October 1943, forty Poles were shot on the street on the orders of the Austrian Franz Kutschera. He had taken up his new role as SS and Police Leader on 22 September 1943, but his evil meant that the Kedyw, a section of the Polish Home Army, assassinated him on 1 February 1944. The Germans killed 400 innocent Polish people, chosen at random, in retaliation for the murder.

Located just a few metres away is this memorial, placed on the remainder of a building which once stood here. This memorial also marks killings ordered by Kutschera, with thirty Poles being shot here on 26 October 1943. At the time, this was also the intersection with Rymarska Street, but the road layout has changed and this street no longer exists.

Rymarska Street, on the right, before the Second World War.