Mały Powstaniec

The Little Insurgent Mały Powstaniec
Coordinates	52°14′59″N 21°0′34″E / 52.24972°N 21.00944°E / 52.24972; 21.00944Coordinates: 52°14′59″N 21°0′34″E / 52.24972°N 21.00944°E / 52.24972; 21.00944
Location	Warsaw Old Town, Warsaw, Poland
Designer	Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz
Material	Bronze sculpture
Completion date	1 October 1983
Dedicated to	The child soldiers of the Warsaw Uprising

Mały Powstaniec (the "Little Insurgent") is a statue in commemoration of the child soldiers who fought and died during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. It is located on Podwale Street, next to the ramparts of Warsaw’s Old Town.

The statue is of a young boy wearing a helmet too large for his head and holding a submachine gun. It is reputed to be of a fighter who went by the pseudonym of "Antek", and was killed on 8 August 1944 at the age of 13. The helmet and submachine gun are stylized after German equipment, which was captured during the uprising and used by the resistance fighters against the occupying forces.

Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz^[1] created the design for the monument in 1946, which was later used to make smaller copies of its present state. The statue was unveiled on October 1, 1983 by Professor Jerzy Świderski – a cardiologist who was a courier for the resistance during the uprising (pseudonym: "Lubicz") serving in the Gustaw regiment of the Armia Krajowa. Behind the statue is a plaque with the engraved words of "Warszawskie Dzieci" ("Warsaw Children"), a popular song from the period: "Warszawskie dzieci, pójdziemy w bój - za każdy kamień twój, stolico damy krew" ("We're the children of Warsaw, going into battle - for every stone of yours, we will give our blood").

References