Próba wysadzenia gdańskiego pomnika wdzięczności Armii Czerwonej w 1949 roku (w świetle akt Wojskowego Sądu Rejonowego w Gdańsku)

The first years after the end of WWII in Poland were a period of consolidation for communist power. Polish communists were meticulous executors of Joseph Stalin’s plans and were steadfastly assisted by the Soviet Union. The so called “monument action” consisting in erecting statues of gratitude to the Red Army in Poland was an important element of the communist propaganda. Nevertheless, it turned out that not all Poles were grateful to the Soviet soldiers and the USSR. The fact that soldiers of the Red Army devoted their lives fighting with the Nazi occupying forces was dimmed by disgraceful acts committed on the Polish population by Soviet soldiers who consistently carried out the imperial policy of Stalin. Actions undertaken against such statues of gratitude became a manner of demonstrating the objection of many Poles to the situation in the country after the war. The article examines in detail the attempt to blow up the cemetery monument of gratitude to the Red Army in Gdańsk on the basis of the files of the Military District Court.