December 1970 Monument in Szczecin, Bronze monument at Solidarity Square, Poland.
The December 1970 Monument, known as the Angel of Freedom, is a bronze figure designed by Czesław Dźwigaj. The 11-metre, 9.5-tonne angel with raised wings holds a crown of thorns forming the inscription "Grudzień 1970" and stands on a ship's bow breaking through the paving. Four slanted granite slabs around it carry commemorative plaques.
The monument recalls the December 1970 protests in Szczecin, when strikes that began in the Gdańsk shipyards spread to the city and 16 people were killed in street fighting near the former PZPR voivodeship committee. A monument was one of the 21 demands of the 1980 August strikes. The cornerstone was laid on 17 December 2003, and the monument was unveiled on 28 August 2005.
The monument's popular name, Angel of Freedom, is used locally alongside its official dedication to the victims of December 1970. The granite plaques list the names, ages and professions of the 16 people killed in Szczecin, among them the 16-year-old pupils Jadwiga Kowalczyk and Stefan Stawicki and the 59-year-old locksmith Julian Święcicki. One plaque also names the initiators, including Polish Americans from New York and St. Louis, Missouri.
The monument sits at Solidarity Square and is easy to reach on foot from the city center. Visit during daylight hours when the bronze details are clearly visible from all angles around the sculpture.
The crown of thorns held by the angel forms the stylized date of December 1970, creating a visual link between suffering and the specific moment of history. This design detail is often overlooked but represents a clever merging of symbol and date into one image.
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