The Roman Dmowski Monument in Warsaw ( pl, Pomnik Romana Dmowskiego w Warszawie) is a bronze statue, 5 meters (16 feet) tall, of Polish politician

Roman Dmowski Roman Stanisław Dmowski (Polish: , 9 August 1864 – 2 January 1939) was a Polish politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy (abbreviated "ND": in Polish, "''Endecja''") political movement. He saw th ...

in Warsaw, on

Na Rozdrożu Square The Crossroads Square (Polish: ''Plac Na Rozdrożu'') is an urban square in Warsaw, Poland. It is located in the district of Downtown, at the crossing of Koszykowa Street, Szucha Avenue, People's Army Avenue, Ujazdów Avenue, and Wyzwolenia ...

at the intersection of Szuch and

Ujazdów Avenue Ujazdów may refer to the following places in Poland: * Ujazdów, Warsaw, a neighbourhood in Śródmieście, Warsaw ** Ujazdów Avenue in Warsaw ** Ujazdów Castle in Warsaw ** Ujazdów Park in Warsaw * Ujazdów, Włodawa County in Lublin Voivodes ...

s. It was unveiled on 10 November 2006. The statue holds a copy of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...

and carries a quotation from Dmowski's book: "I am a Pole, so I have Polish duties..." (''"Jestem Polakiem więc mam obowiązki polskie..."''). The monument has been controversial. Its construction was the result of an initiative supported by politicians

Maciej Giertych Maciej Marian Giertych (, born 24 March 1936 in Warsaw) is a Polish dendrologist and social conservative politician of the League of Polish Families (LPR). He favours state intervention in the economy. He was a member of the Sejm (between 2001 a ...

Bogusław Kowalski Bogusław Kowalski (born 23 October 1964 in Mircze) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on 25 September 2005 getting 6274 votes in Siedlce constituency, running for the League of Polish Families. See also *Members of Polish Sejm 200 ...

, and Jędrzej Dmowski. The monument, sponsored by the

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 official ...

municipal council, cost the Polish government about 500,000 zlotys. The unveiling ceremony was attended by some 200 people, including politicians

Artur Zawisza Artur Wojciech Zawisza (, born 30 March 1969) is a Polish politician. He is a member of the Libertas Poland party, of which he is the vice-president. He was born in Lublin, Poland, and graduated in literature and philosophy from the Catholic Un ...

, and

Wojciech Wierzejski Wojciech Wierzejski (; born 6 September 1976 in Biała Podlaska) is a former Polish politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Warsaw with the League of Polish Families, part of the Independence and Democracy group, and sit ...

, and by

Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

Henryk Jankowski Father Henryk Jankowski (18 December 1936, in Starogard Gdański – 12 July 2010, in Gdańsk) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, member of Solidarity movement and one of the priests supporting that movement in opposition to the communist governm ...

, who

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

the monument. The monument's location, near the offices of the

Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (''Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych'', MSZ) is the Polish government department tasked with maintaining Poland's international relations and coordinating its participation in international and regional supra-nation ...

on Szuch Avenue, relates to Dmowski's 1923 three-month tenure as Poland's minister of foreign affairs. Dmowski was the chief ideologue of Polish right-wing

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

and has been called "the father of

Polish nationalism Polish nationalism is a form of nationalism which asserts that the Poles are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Poles. Norman Davies, in the context of Polish nationalism, generally defined nationalism as "a doctrine ... to create a n ...

." He is seen as a principal figure in the restoration of Polish independence after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and was a signatory of the

. The monument has been called "one of the most controversial monuments in Warsaw" and has led to protests from organisations which see Dmowski as a

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

opponent of tolerance; conversely, it has been a rallying icon for Polish right-wing nationalists (''narodowcy''). Due to the controversies and protests, plans to raise statues or memorials to Dmowski elsewhere have generally been deferred. Prominent critics of the monument have included

Marek Edelman Marek Edelman ( yi, מאַרעק עדעלמאַן, born either 1919 in Homel or 1922 in Warsaw – October 2, 2009 in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish political and social activist and cardiologist. Edelman was the last surviving leader of the ...

, a leader of the 1943

Warsaw Ghetto uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany' ...

; literary critic and theoretician Professor

Maria Janion Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

; and historian and sociologist

Alina Cała Alina Cała (born 19 May 1953 in Warsaw) is a Polish writer, historian and sociologist. A former board member of the Jewish Historical Institute, she specialises in 19th and 20th century Polish-Jewish history, antisemitism and Jewish assimilation ...

. Its notable defenders have included historian

Jan Żaryn Jan Krzysztof Żaryn (born 13 March 1958) is a Polish historian, professor and politician, who was a Senator in the Senate of Poland from 2015 to 2019. Born in Warsaw into a family of '' inteligencja'', Żaryn studied history at the University ...

and historian and politician

Tomasz Nałęcz Tomasz Nałęcz (born 10 October 1949 in Gołymin) is a Polish historian, leftist politician, former vice-Speaker of the Sejm, a former member of the Social Democracy of Poland party (SdPl) In the past he used to be member of the communist Polish ...

, who have emphasized Dmowski's important role in restoring Poland's independence.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, author=Rp.pl , url=http://archiwum.rp.pl/artykul/648769_Atak_na_pomnik_Dmowskiego.html , title=Atak na pomnik Dmowskiego - Archiwum Rzeczpospolitej , language=Polish , publisher=Archiwum.rp.pl , date= , accessdate=2013-09-27 {{cite book, author=Laura Ann Crago, title=Nationalism, religion, citizenship, and work in the development of the Polish working class and the Polish trade union movement, 1815-1929: a comparative study of Russian Poland's textile workers and upper Silesian miners and metalworkers, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCpYAAAAYAAJ, year=1993, publisher=Yale University, page=168 {{cite web, url=http://m.wyborcza.pl/wyborcza/1,105226,10615605,Kibice_murem_wokol_pomnika___Precz_z_zydowska_okupacja_.html , title=Dmowski zasłonięty balonami. Ale tylko w przenośni , publisher=M.wyborcza.pl , date=2011-11-09 , accessdate=2013-09-19, language=Polish {{cite web, url=http://www.zieloni2004.pl/art-1959.htm , title=Listy - List przeciw pomnikowi Romana Dmowskiego w Warszawie - Partia Zieloni 2004 , publisher=Zieloni2004.pl , date= , accessdate=2013-09-27 {{cite web, url=http://wyborcza.pl/1,75248,14059814,Roman_Dmowski_na_pomnik__Bialystok_zrobi_krok_do_tylu_.html , title=Roman Dmowski na pomnik. Białystok zrobi krok do tyłu? , publisher=Wyborcza.pl , date=2002-02-03 , accessdate=2013-09-19, language=Polish {{cite journal, last=Walicki, first=A., title=The Troubling Legacy of Roman Dmowski, journal=East European Politics & Societies, date=1 December 1999, volume=14, issue=1, pages=12–46, doi=10.1177/0888325400014001002, p.12 {{cite journal, last=Walicki, first=A., title=The Troubling Legacy of Roman Dmowski, journal=East European Politics & Societies, date=1 December 1999, volume=14, issue=1, pages=12–46, doi=10.1177/0888325400014001002, p.14 {{cite journal, last=Walicki, first=A., title=The Troubling Legacy of Roman Dmowski, journal=East European Politics & Societies, date=1 December 1999, volume=14, issue=1, pages=12–46, doi=10.1177/0888325400014001002, p.46 {{cite web, author=Wydział Kultury i Promocji dla Dzielnicy Śródmieście Urzędu m.st. Warszawy, title=Pomnik Romana Dmowskiego. Karta katalogowa - Karta ewidencji obiektu upamiętniajcego , url=http://www.srodmiescie.art.pl/files/1649262104/na_rozdrozu_plac__pomnik_r._dmowskiego_.pdf, language=Polish, accessdate=2013-09-19 {{cite web, url=http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/kraj/1,34309,3714422.html , title=Protesty powitają pomnik Dmowskiego , language=Polish , publisher=Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl , date= , accessdate=2013-09-27 {{cite web, url=http://puszka.waw.pl/pomnik_romana_dmowskiego-projekt-pl-776.html , title=Pomnik Romana Dmowskiego / pomnik / Wojciech Mendzelewski, Maria Marek-Prus, Piotr Prus , language=Polish , publisher=Puszka.waw.pl , date= , accessdate=2013-09-27 {{cite web, url=http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/dodatki/opinie_061024/opinie_a_3.html , title=Wiadomości | wiadomości tv.rp.pl, informacje, ekonomia, prawo | rp.pl , publisher=Rzeczpospolita.pl , date= , accessdate=2013-09-27 {{cite web, author=Tomasz Nałęcz , url=http://www.wprost.pl/ar/90052/Nalecz-Pomnik-dla-Dmowskiego/ , title=Nałęcz - Pomnik dla Dmowskiego - WPROST , publisher=Wprost.pl , date= , accessdate=2013-09-27 {{cite web, author=wiadomości.wp.pl , url=http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,1342,title,Odslonieto-pomnik-Romana-Dmowskiego,wid,8594333,wiadomosc.html , title=Odsłonięto pomnik Romana Dmowskiego - Wiadomości - WP.PL , publisher=Wiadomosci.wp.pl , date= , accessdate=2013-09-19, language=Polish {{cite book, author1=Jóhann Páll Árnason, author2=Natalie Doyle, title=Domains and Divisions of European History, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWHu7SQQa04C&pg=PA93, year=2010, publisher=Liverpool University Press, isbn=978-1-84631-214-4, page=93 2006 establishments in Poland 2006 sculptures Controversies in Poland Outdoor sculptures in Poland Monuments and memorials in Warsaw Polish nationalism