Numerous insurgents and inhabitants of Wola arrived.
Many colour-parties also participated, together with the soldiers of representative company of the Polish Army.
The honorary post by the monument could be seen thanks to the soldiers and the municipal police members.
The solemnity started with the sounds of the national anthem of the Republic of Poland.
The fragment of memories - written by one of the doctors who had worked in the Wola Hospital and luckily escaped the mass execution in Moczydło - was read by the host.
Next, Mr. Edmund Baranowski a.k.a. "Jur", the vice-chairman of the Association of the Warsaw Insurgents, the soldier of the Home Army battalion "Miotła" of the "Radosław" unit, and the participant of the battle of Wola in the year 1944, gave a speech. He shared his memories from the first day of the Uprising, speaking of great behavior of the civilians of Wola, who had been building barricades and feeding the insurgents. He also recalled insurgent powerlessness, pain and their impossibility to help the inhabitants of Wola who were being mass-murdered in this district taken by overwhelming Germans.
Afterwards, Mr. Jacek Wojciechowicz, the vice-president of Warsaw, gave a speech. First, he announced that on July 15, 2010 the Council Authorities had established the date August 5 The Inhabitants of Wola who were murdered by Germans during the Warsaw Uprising All-Warsaw Remembrance Day. Then, he shared his reflections upon the district fate:
"(...) What had happened here in Wola sixty-six years ago, was sinister forecast of the annihilation of Warsaw and death of another over one hundred and fifty thousand insurgents and civilians of Warsaw. It is hard to speak about it today with no emotions
These cruel deeds were human-made. It is hard to understand how such a nightmarish felony was possible to happen. To kill Innocent people is an unimaginable felony that is hard even to speak about".
The vice-president of Warsaw added that the initiators of the enactment of this Day were Jerzy Janowski and Janina Mańkowska, the siblings who had live in Wola during the occupation, and Marta Olejnicka, the daughter of the monument's author and performer.
The official speeches were followed by the Appeal of Memory was read. It was dedicated to the murdered inhabitants of Wola.
Thereafter, the soldiers burst of fire. The last part of the solemnity was laying wreathes and lightning candles by the monument.
Later, the children vocal band sang several occupational, partisan and insurgent songs.
The established in the year 2010 feast is the result of lingering actions of the initiative team: Jerzy Janowski, Janina Mańkowska de domo Janowska and Marta Oleśnicka. The siblings Janowski at the time of the Warsaw Uprising's outbreak were aged 12 and 10 years old respectively. They were miraculously saved from the execution in one of the Wola streets.
The actions of the above-mentioned three persons led to the positive statement of the Wola District Council (December 8, 2009) concerning the Day of August 5. The Council issued a formal letter to the President of Warsaw on December 28, 2009.
On August 5, 2010 a few other ceremonies took place in Wola.
Wreaths were laid and candles lit:
- in the 53 Karolkowa street by the plaque, in the place where girl-guides orderlies had been murdered.
- in the 40 Wolska street by the stone and commemorating plaque in the place where the Home Army soldiers of the "Parasol" battalion, "Radosław" unit, were fighting to defend the Michler estate,
- in the 52 Górczewska street, in the monument area of memory of 12 thousand inhabitants of Wola who had been murdered there,
- in the 34 Anielewicz street, by the plaque in the place where the soldiers of the Home Army battalion "Zośka" of the "Radosław" unit set 348 Jewish prisoners free from the Gęsiówka camp; the ambassador of the State of Israel also participated in this solemnity.
The content concerning the Warsaw Uprising in the Wola district and the Slaughter of Wola is to be found at our website.
You are also welcome to have a look at the interactive Map of Warsaw Uprising 1944 Memory Places There you will see several dozen of places commemorated by appropriate plaques.