Polish soldiers' activities in Enges - origins

Some 13,000 soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Rifle Division, formed in France by order of Commander-in-Chief Władysław Sikorski on 11 November 1939, evacuated to nearby Switzerland after the defeat in France on the night of 19-20 June 1940. There they were interned.

As part of their stay in labour camps, the soldiers were encouraged to work for industry or agriculture, working sometimes under very difficult conditions. Nonetheless, many of them opted for this activity because it enabled them to leave the camps and earn a token income of one franc per day. Some did farm work, others ended up in quarries, helping with construction, renovation or draining wetlands. Still others supported the Swiss army by working in industrial plants, among other things.

"Polish road" and plaque commemorating the work of the internees

The routes they built, the so-called 'Polish roads' ('Polenwege'), such as the one leading from the picturesque mountain village of Enges to Cornaux-St Blaise, are regarded as a symbol of the activities of the Polish soldiers interned in Switzerland during the Second World War.

On 15 August 1944, in the forest on the right-hand edge of the road, in the presence of the Swiss commander of the Seeland sector, General Roth, a concrete plaque was unveiled on a boulder to commemorate the presence of a contingent of around 300 Polish soldiers stationed in the Enges area, who had performed various jobs for the local community of the town during the war. The plaque bears the image of an eagle and the inscription 'Poles 1940-44'.