The Polish Canadian Cultural Club of Regina has embarked on an ambitious initiative to honour the sacrifices of Polish Canadians in the First and Second World Wars.
The club has started fundraising to build a first-of-its-kind monument at Riverside Memorial Cemetery in Regina and organizers are looking for not only financial help for the build, but to ensure all Polish Canadian families in Saskatchewan know about this memorial.
“The fundraising goal we’re aiming for $16,000. This is based on budgets prior to everything happening in the Middle East and that’s what we’re striving for – a pretty basic monument,” explained Bron Nurkowski of the Polish Canadian Cultural Club.
Nurkowski says he’s been impressed with the amount of support the project has received from people all over the province and from those outside of Saskatchewan. He’s had calls from people of Polish descent from Saskatoon, St. Walburg, Preeceville, and even those from the US express interest and admiration in the project. He added he’s also had interest and support from those who are not Polish, but have close friends who are.
The monument has a tall, circular design inspired by a barrel of a gun signifying how Polish people were forced from their homes. It will have a circular steel finish at the top with a laser engraved Polish eagle, a sloped middle portion which will hold a plaque, and a Polish flag near the bottom of the monument.
“It’s for Polish veterans who fought or who were impacted by the two wars. Many of the veterans from World War Two fought for the Polish Army and were either captured, taken to Germany, or eventually made it to Canada, but the majority of them were Poles who were actually displaced,” Nurkowski said. The monument is also for displaced Poles because there are a lot of Poles that were hauled away to labour camps, not necessarily fought, but they were hauled off to Germany to farm camps (or) labour camps, and then eventually made their way to Saskatchewan, so the monument commemorates the veterans, the displaced Poles who came to Saskatchewan with basically nothing (and) made Saskatchewan their home.”
Organizers are planning to unveil the finished project in the fall of 2026 at Riverside Memorial Cemetery.
Listen to our full interview
below:
Comments