PLANS to honour a Polish-born war hero with a memorial in his adopted Scottish city have received a huge financial boost.
The Polish Government, through its Consul General in Edinburgh, has pledged £18,000 to the General Stanislaw Maczek Trust.
The trust plans to commission a life-size image of General Maczek seated on a bench and cast in bronze to be placed in the courtyard at the entrance to the City of Edinburgh Council Chambers.
The General, who made Edinburgh his home for the last 50 years of his life, was Commander of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and tasked to defend Scotland’s east coast from potential invasion.
Read more: Polish general takes his seat in history outside City Chambers
He played a key role in the Battle of Normandy preventing the retreat of thousands of German soldiers and with his men liberated parts of France, Belgium and Holland.
When the Second World War ended he was unable to return to his home in Poland and worked and lived in his adopted city of Edinburgh with his wife and family.
After the collapse of the Communist regime in Poland, the head of Chancellery of President Lech Walesa came to Edinburgh and decorated General Maczek with the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest decoration awarded to the most distinguished Poles and to heads of state.
When the General died in 1994 aged 102, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie represented the UK Government at his funeral and heard for the first time about his achievements.
Read more: Polish general takes his seat in history outside City Chambers
Further investigation led Lord Fraser to launch a campaign for a permanent memorial to General Maczek and his men.
Before his death, Lord Fraser had chosen the Polish artist and sculptor Bronislaw Krzysztof to create the memorial and launched a public funding appeal.
The project was put on hold for a time but revived by family and friends of Lord Fraser and last month the Trust secured a permanent site for the bench, just off the Royal Mile.
The financial support promised by the Polish Government takes the fund raising efforts to just under £70,000, with £15,000 still to go.
Trustee Katie Fraser said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this significant donation from the Polish Government. This support will enable us to commission the sculptor to begin work on the bench while we continue with a final push to secure the rest of the funding for the project and the installation.
“Lord Fraser felt very strongly that a memorial to General Maczek and his men was long overdue and the planned location for the bench within yards of the city’s central war memorial and very close to Parliament House and law courts seems doubly fitting.”
Read more: Polish general takes his seat in history outside City Chambers
Ireneusz Truszkowski, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh, said: “It is fitting that we should give our support to such a worthy memorial and we congratulate the Trustees on their efforts so far.
"It would be wonderful if we were able to see General Maczek and Polish soldiers recognised in Scotland in the same year that Poland celebrates its 100th anniversary of regaining independence.”
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