Andrzej Pityński

Monument of
Polish-American volunteer army 1920 in Warsaw

Andrzej Pitynski (b. 1947 in Ulanów, Poland) is a Polish-American monumental sculptor who lives and works in the US. A book of his works was published in 2008.

Work

The Partisans

In January, 2006, his Partisans (1979) was removed from the corner of Beacon and Charles streets on the Boston Common, where it had stood since 1983. Although it was originally destined for Warsaw, the work - which depicts guerrilla Polish freedom fighters in World War II - was not welcomed in communist Poland at that time. On September 6, 2006, the work was moved to the MBTA's Silver-Line World Trade Center Station on the South Boston waterfront.

Describing his "Partisans" Pitynski said, that he dedicated this monument to all "Fighters for Freedom in the World", and used Polish Partisans as an example.

I was creating 'The Partisans' in the United States, when Poland was changing, when the SB [Pol. abr. Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa - Eng., Polish secret police controlled by Communists] was murdering priests, students, and workers. I was creating this monument thinking about them all, about those thousands of the bravest Sons and Daughters of the Polish Nation, who were the first to stand up to the Soviet communism. They were betrayed by world and forgotten by God - a choice they made themselves - in the forest units of: NOW, AK, WiN, NSZ. They fought bravely with NKVD, Soviet Red Army; and with Polish traitors from the UB, KBW, MO, ORMO, [with all] 'consolidators of the people's [communist] regime. They fought because they never reconciled to give up their freedom. [They were] hunted in the forests like wild beasts, they were tortured in the UB dungeons, they were abused with the vindictive pleasure [of their oppressors], they were murdered in the MO torture houses, were buried illicitly at night in the graves that are unknown to this day. It is for THEM, that I created this symbol of the Golgotha of Polish Heroes.

Katyn Memorials

Pitynski has worked on a number of works remembering the Katyn massacre including the Katyn Memorial which stands in Exchange Place in Jersey City, New Jersey and the National Katyń memorial which stands in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

Andrzej Pitynski on monuments

A monument is an expressive symbol. A good one, looked at for even a few minutes will remain in memory for years or even for one's entire lifetime. Monuments are the milestones in a nation's history -- they will not allow other systems and governments to destroy the core values of a national culture.

— Andrzej Pitynski

References

• Wilson, Susan (2004). Boston Sights and Insights. Beacon Hill Press. ISBN 0-8070-7135-8.
• Meredith Arms, Bzdak (1999). Public Sculpture in New Jersey. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2700-7.

• The Partisans in Boston, An Epilogue, Doomed Soldiers 1944-1963, The Untold Story