The Monument to Brotherhood in Arms ( pl, Pomnik Braterstwa Broni) was erected in in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Praga Praga is a district of Warsaw, Poland. It is on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter. History The historical Praga was a small settlement located at ...

district, in 1945, to commemorate the joint fight of Polish and Soviet soldiers against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. In 2011, it was temporarily taken down during the construction of an underground railway station and sent to restorers. However, when it was about to be reinstalled, a minority of Praga's residents objected, as they perceived the monument as a remnant of the

Communist era A Communist Era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of Communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist P ...

. In surveys carried out by the city council and

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the g ...

in 2012 and 2013 respectively, the majority of Warsaw's residents said they would like the monument to be returned to its original place or placed somewhere nearby. In 2015, the

Warsaw City Council Warsaw City Council, officially the Council of the Capital City of Warsaw ( pl, Rada Miasta Stołecznego Warszawy) is a unicameral governing body of the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The council was first created following the location of ...

overturned its earlier decision to return the monument and made the removal permanent. The monument was colloquially known as "the four sleepers or "the four mourners" (pomnik „czterech śpiących”, „czterech smutnych”), in reference to the figures of two Polish and two Soviet soldiers with bowed heads at the four corners of the monument.

References

Monuments and memorials in Warsaw World War II monuments and memorials in Poland 1945 sculptures Soviet military memorials and cemeteries in Poland Poland–Soviet Union relations Removed statues {{Poland-struct-stub