INSPIRING LEADER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1944, Page 6

INSPIRING LEADER

HEROIC MAYOR OF WARSAW V To the Mayor and city councillors, ,as representing the citizens of Welling.ton. members of the Polish Association lot :. New Zealand yesterday afternoon presented an enlarged reproduction of [•the;last photograph taken of the late Starzynski, Mayor of Warsaw •J'ahd inspiring leader of the people of [-Warsaw In their heroic attempt to j-turn : the; Germans from their city dur4ng the* siege of September, 1939. ' I The ex-Mayor of Wellington (Mr. (Hislop) said that the idea, of the presentation arose on the occasion of a I celebration of Poland's National Day , during his term of office as Mayor, ! and hie had then expressed a desire to tfiave, some tangible symbol,of civic Ngreatness' and devotion to duty, as limagnifirerißyrfexemplified by Stefan Starzynski?: leaded Cof the heroic citizens !ofu Warsaw.;'ln the heart-of the enemy tliere was'iio -feeling of admiri ation for a man of such courage and f devotion .to his people; they had murdered him, but his record would continue for all time.

The Consul-General for Poland, Count Wodzicki, said that the* reason , why the defence of Warsaw was unique ■ and more tragic than any other was that at the; time of greatest- need in September, 1939, she stood alone, as she had'done again in August and .September of this year. What Stefani •Starzynski would like him to express! 1 at. this moment when the fate of his appeared sometimes to be [thrown on the international :,' chess-i ■ board as a mere pawn in the game of j power politics, was this: "Tell our British friends and allies that I, together with millions of other Poles,,gave my life gladly for one purpose only; the independence and integrity of Poland." In placing the photograph in the cpun- ■ cil chamber the Mayor and- councillors .were not only paying homage to a man, but perhaps erecting a monument ;to the ideals, for which he fought and died. •"■"■

The presentation was made by Mr. M.Goldfayl on behalf of the members of the Polish Association, and in reply Mr. Appletonsaid that the photograph would be given an honoured place in the Town Hall. No nation deserved better in the days.of peace than Poland, whose sons had made' so great a contribution in their homeland and in all -European theatx-es of war against the .tyranny of Nazism.