Material Bronze sculpture Designer Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz | Completion date 1 October 1983 | |
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Location Warsaw Old Town, Warsaw, Poland Dedicated to The child soldiers of the Warsaw Uprising Address Podwale, 00-001 Warszawa, Poland Hours Open today · Open 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hours Similar Warsaw Old Town, Warsaw Uprising Museum, Tomb of the Unknown, Sigismund's Column, Chopin Statue - Warsaw | ||
Mały Powstaniec (the "Little Insurrectionist") 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 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" ("Varsovian Children"), a popular song from the period: "Warszawskie dzieci, pójdziemy w bój - za każdy kamień twój, stolico damy krew" ("Varsovian children, we'll head into battle - for every stone of yours, we shall give our blood").