PhotoPOSTcard: Krakow’s New Ryszard Kuklinski Monument

Krakow Ryszard Kuklinski monument

Last Updated on 10/13/20 by Rose Palmer

As I walked out of Krakow’s Glowny Train Station, I passed an interesting monument and sculpture. Later, I learned that it had just recently been erected this past June to honor the controversial Polish Cold War hero Ryszard Kuklinski. Colonel Kuklinski worked as a NATO spy for ten years passing top secret Warsaw Pact documents to the CIA during the height of the Cold War. Interestingly, it is only fairly recently that his actions have been accepted in a positive light in Poland. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Kuklinski was initially deemed a traitor by the Polish government. The square in which the monument was erected is named after Jan Nowak-Jeziorański who was a World War II hero that spent his life fighting for an independent Poland.

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Rose