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On June 28, 1956, Poznań, Poland witnessed the outbreak of the first general strike and street demonstrations in the Polish People’s Republic (PRL). Known as the Poznań June, the uprising was brutally suppressed by the military and the police, leaving a lasting mark on the nation’s history. While the PRL propaganda downplayed or ignored these events, today, they are recognized by historians and veterans as the Poznań revolt, rebellion, or Poznań Uprising.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Poznań June 1956, the National Day of Remembrance for the Poznań June was established on June 21, 2006. The inaugural celebrations took place in Poznań on June 28, 2006, with the participation of five presidents: Lech Kaczyński of Poland, Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic, Horst Köhler of Germany, Ivan Gašparovič of Slovakia, and László Sólyom of Hungary.
A Symbolic Tribute
During the commemorative event held on June 28, 2016, marking the 60th anniversary of the June events and the 10th anniversary of the holiday’s establishment, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the Headquarters of the Provincial Police Command in Poznań’s Jeżyce district. The plaque, designed by Robert Sobociński and initiated by the Voivode of Greater Poland, Zbigniew Hoffmann, features a bullet-riddled jacket and a fragment of Stanisław Hejmowski’s speech, a defender of the workers: “And those shots were no longer fired into the air but into people…”