Prohászka László: Polish Monuments - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)
Crown which he holds protectively to his own body with the left hand. Standing next to the legionnaire, who wears the distinctive Polish soldier’s cap, is Poland’s heraldic animal, the eagle, which protects the warrior with its left wing raised above him. The monumental impression is enhanced by three steps which lead up to the memorial. An inscription reads: Erected/in 1934 / by Polish-Hungarian Reverence / in memory of the Polish legions / in the War of Independence and the World War. A smaller memorial to the fallen legionaries was put up in the park surrounding the Polish church in Kőbánya (see page 49). The Polish legions organised at the beginning of World War 1 were part of the Austro-Hungarian army, but collective memory retained them as the beginning of a Polish national army. The first regiment was formed from Pilsudski’s riflemen. Józef Pitsudski (1867-1935) invested all his formidable energies into the formation of an independent Polish army since he saw it as the absolute precondition of the creation of an independent Polish state. Thanks to the charismatic power of his personality, he became the political leader of the Polish state which was reinstated by the peace treaty after the war. When he died on 12 May 1935, the news of his death aroused sincere sympathy in Hungary. A symbolic bier was set up in the Matthias Church in Buda castle and the mourning ceremony was attended by the highest- ranking Hungarian state officials. In the same year Vince utca in District XII was re-named Pilsudski utca. A year later (on 24 May 1936) a Pilsudski memorial was unveiled in front of the house on the corner Böszörményi út and Pilsudski utca. Set in a red marble plaque, it featured a sizeable bronze medal showing the marshal’s right profile. Next to the relief was the inscribed name of the general and his dates of birth and death: PILSUDSKI (1867-1935). The arms of the Polish nation carved from limestone and sunk in the stone wall to the right of the marble plaque were also part of the memorial. The whole composition was designed by Dezső Antal, while the bronze 36
