Commemorative stamp series - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1972 - 25 Pfennig

Monument to the common struggle of Polish soldiers and German anti-fascists In the capital of the GDR Berlin, a memorial was erected in May 1972, reminiscent of the common struggle of Polish soldiers and German anti-fascists. The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic publishes a multicolored postage stamp depicting the memorial. Memorial to the Combative Battle of Polish Soldiers and German Anti-Fascists On May 14, 1972, a new memorial was inaugurated in Berlin Friedrichshain, near the cemetery of the Berlin March fallen 1848, the dead of the revolutionary struggles of December 1918, the monument of the Spanish War of Independence and the Interbrigades the "Monument to the common struggle of Polish soldiers and German anti-fascists". It recalls the great common revolutionary traditions of both peoples in the struggle against German militarism and fascism. When German fascist imperialism invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, the German Communists and anti-fascists had already brought countless victims in the fight against the preparation of the Hitlerite war, whose first victim was Poland. Many thousands had been abducted to prison, prisons and concentration camps in this struggle, or had given their lives in battle. The German anti-fascist resistance fighters were the first victims of the insane Hitler aggression of the Second World War. The Communist Party of Germany has sharply condemned the insidious attack by Hitler's Germany on Poland and called for the embrace of the occupier. The members of the Polish people, who were victims of the fascist terror after the predatory occupation of Poland, found in friars and concentration camps in their German inmates from the first day brotherly comrades. Close comradely cooperation connected them with their German, Czechoslovakian and Soviet comrades as well as with the anti-fascists of all countries occupied and terrorized by German fascism, whether they were the former fascist concentration camps Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück or Auschwitz, Treblinka and Maidanek. In Poland, German anti-fascists fought, so u. a. Josef KIEFEL, Ferdinand GREINER, Arthur HOFFMANN, on the side of the Polish partisans against the fascist occupants. The victories of the glorious Soviet army enabled the Polish patriots, with the weapon in their hands, to take part in the bloody and sacrificial struggle for the liberation of their homeland, which had been oppressed and exploited by Hitlerite fascism. In May 1943, on Soviet soil, the formation of a Polish army began, the first unit of which was the 1st Infantry Division "Tadeusz KOSCINSZKO". As part of the 1st Belorussian Front, she fought heroically for the liberation of her fatherland from her first victorious engagement with Lenino. Fighting on the side of the glorious Soviet army, Polish troops crossed the Oder. They took part in the conquest of the first northern districts of Berlin and intervened in the battles for the city center. In doing so, they emphatically expressed the fighting spirit with the Soviet troops in liberating Berlin from the criminal Hitler fascism, which had attacked their Polish homeland 4 1/2 years earlier. Many brave Polish patriots fought their lives to the point of completely destroying German fascism and militarism in order to destroy the sworn enemies of humanity in their nests in Berlin. Like the Soviet army, the bravely fighting Polish troops suffered great losses. The blood of the fallen Soviet and Polish soldiers and officers also soaked the soil of Berlin. It must never be forgotten that the Polish people, through the guilt of German fascist imperialism during the period of cruel Nazi occupation, had more than six million lives to bear. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Polish children, women and men were murdered in the German fascist concentration camps Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Treblinka, Maidanek and other torture hells. 38 percent of Polish national wealth was destroyed during the Nazi occupation. Building on the earlier experiences of struggle of Polish and German workers and the bitter experiences in the joint struggle against fascism, the will arose to overcome the consequences of the Hitler barbarism and the fascist war on the basis of genuine friendship and good cooperation, hand in hand. In the spirit of friendly agreements, cooperation developed between the Government of the People's Republic of Poland and our antifascist-democratic, socialist state. Both peoples came closer to each other. The antifascists of our countries play a significant part in this process of developing and consolidating friendship. The granite monument symbolizes the united struggle of the peoples against fascism. Powerfully projects a 14 1/2 m high shaft. A stylized, waving bronze banner announces the common struggle, sacrifice and victory in the name of the banner of the international socialist workers' movement and solidarity. A huge pedestal bears the inscription in Polish and German: "For yours and for our freedom." In the effective and impressively designed entire complex is a stele with the figures of a Soviet and a Polish soldier and a German anti-fascist and at the foot of the monument a sacrificial bowl. On the shaft are the state emblems of the People's Republic of Poland and the German Democratic Republic. The memorial and memorial was created in true socialist community work. The design and construction collective included architects and artists, sculptors and construction workers from the People's Republic of Poland and the German Democratic Republic. The granite needed for the monument came from Polish quarries. The bronze components were made by blacksmiths in the People's Republic of Poland. Experts from the GDR had u. a. the garden design and the concrete work taken over. Also in the fact of cooperation it becomes apparent how important the words of the Polish Minister Janusz WIECZOREK are, he declared: "This monument is more than a monument of granite and metal." Ludwig Einicke Committee of the anti-fascist resistance fighters in the GDR