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Giswil, kapliczka polska, 1944-1945, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish shrine in Giswil
Giswil, kapliczka polska, 1944-1945, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish shrine in Giswil
Giswil, kapliczka polska, 1944-1945, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish shrine in Giswil
Giswil, kapliczka polska, 1944-1945, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish shrine in Giswil
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ID: POL-001350-P

Polish shrine in Giswil

ID: POL-001350-P

Polish shrine in Giswil

Variants of the name:
Polenkapelle

The small village of Giswil, at the foot of the Alpine Bruenig Pass, was home to one of the internment camps of Polish soldiers from the 2nd Foot Rifle Division from 1940. They were employed in the area for road construction and logging, among other things. At the fork in the road and country roads at the edge of Giswil (hamlet called Grossteil) stands one of the largest roadside chapels erected by the Poles to commemorate their stay in Switzerland. According to local tradition, written down in the parish chronicle, it was to make reparation for the damage done to the Stations of the Cross in nearby Usserlinden by a drunken Polish soldier on 11 June 1944. The perpetrator was punished, but in consultation with the local parish priest, the Polish command decided to repair the damage immediately and, in addition, to erect a more impressive chapel at the new location, with an interior open to the front, for prayer during processions. The masonry work was carried out in early November 1944, within a week. One of the soldiers made a copper plate copy of the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa (hung above the altar), while the roof of the chapel was the work of local contractors. The chapel's designer is unknown. The forms of the roof with "Zakopane" finishes, other decorative elements inside, and the placement of the Polish emblem over the frontage may point to one of the artists or engineers from the Polish unit (who designed other small buildings of this type erected in Switzerland). At the end of November 1944, after a service at the chapel, the Polish internees were transferred to the Hünenberg camp. It was not until 15 April 1945 that the consecration was solemnly performed by the chaplain Major Walerian Święcicki in the presence, among others, of a company of Polish soldiers from Alpnach. Then a bell was hung, baptised personally by General Bronislaw Prug-Ketling, commander of the Polish division, with inscriptions:

AVE MARIA VON TSCHENSTOCHAU, BITTE FÜR UNS!
ERINNERUNG AN DIE POLENINTERNIERUNG 1942 - 44 / IM GROSSTHEIL

In 1947, the community residents tidied up the area around the chapel - at that time the steps to the hill and its brick enclosure and the benches in front of the chapel were built. The chapel was renovated in 1986-1988 through the efforts of the Polish community in Lucerne, which is commemorated by a metal plaque with a divisional crowned eagle and a bilingual inscription. At that time, a portrait of Pope John Paul II was also placed in the chapel. Nearby, on a large erratic boulder, a cast-iron plaque with the emblems of Poland and Switzerland, the dates 1940-1945 and the bilingual inscription "This road was built during the Second World War by Polish soldiers interned in Switzerland" was installed during the 50th anniversary celebrations in 1995.

Time of origin:
1944-1945
Bibliography:
  • Jan Zieliński, „Nasza Szwajcaria”, Warszawa 1999, s. 97.
  • Jerzy Rucki, „Szwajcarskie wędrówki, śladami polskich żołnierzy internowanych w Szwajcarii”, Warszawa 2000, s. 32-33.
  • S. Piekarski, Polskie muzy w krajobrazie Szwajcarii, t. I, Warszawa 2002, s. 112.
  • Rękopis kroniki parafialnej, z ilustracjami, archiwa parafii przy kościele w Giswil.
Author:
prof. Andrzej Pieńkos
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