A Polish war memorial in Roeselare (Belgium) has been defaced with graffiti. The statue is a tribute to the 1st Polish Armored Division that liberated Roeselare in September 1944.

On September 7, 1944, after receiving information of local resistance fighter Simone Brugghe about the positions of the German soldiers, at around 5 p.m., the 9th Battalion of the 1st Polish Armored Division was tasked with capturing Roeselare from the main roads. The Polish soldiers attacked the city on two axes. The first wave of attacks cost the lives of seven Polish soldiers: Tadeusz Wloch (1), Wiktor Stanek/Wiktor Adamczyk (2), Zenon Maszynski (3), Pawel Stebel/Pawel Koziol (4), Rajmund Stawicki (5), Czeslaw Kaminski/Czeslaw Melkowski (6), and Stefan Kiedos (7).

The second wave of attackers had to cross the market square and reach the railway. Some soldiers from the 4th company reached the station square at around 11 p.m., where they came under fire from retreating Germans. The firefight lasted about ten minutes and resulted in eight Polish casualties. One of these wounded, First Sergeant Jan Kowerko (8), died on September 10 in the city hospital.

A graffiti drawing has been spray-painted on the back of the statue. Neighbors and the city are outraged : "This is utterly reprehensible. It is a blatant mockery of our values and our heritage. It shows a gross lack of respect. Such behavior cannot and will not be tolerated. We hope the perpetrators are caught quickly." The authorities will take swift action and remove the graffiti.

by M45_

5 comments

  2. Good on the city and the peeps living there to react, it’s always nice when someone remembers, I’m just happy to see a monument like that at all, I wouldn’t have known it was there otherwise lmao

  3. No sorry, im not a big fan of the country who murdered my grandparents in Wolyn. Not a big fan of russians either, but i hate ukrainians even more

  4. It’s getting cleaned up thankfully no real damage and sadly not the 1st monument getting vandalized recently.
    An investigation has been started too so hopefully we will find the culprits and they will be brought to justice.

    Apologies to the Polish people and ofcourse gratitude to the brave soldiers who liberated towns and cities in Belgium! Sincerely a Belgian.

  5. I wish there was this level of outrage associated with graffiti in LA

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