Nine Years Have Passed Since the Monument Was Dismantled. Why Has the Site Where Gross-Rosen Subcamp Prisoners Were Forced to Work Still Not Been Commemorated?

In March 2017, a monument commemorating the site where prisoners of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp subcamp were forced to work disappeared from the area near Staroszkolna Street in Bolesławiec. We reported at the time that the monument had been dismantled and removed from a place that holds particular historical significance for many residents.

It was explained at the time that the land was privately owned and that the monument itself was to undergo renovation. Nine years have passed since then. To this day, the monument has returned neither to its original location nor to another prominent place in the city’s public space.

City councillors took an interest in the matter. In 2019, an interpellation on the issue was submitted, among others, by Mirosław Sakowski. In its response, the city office indicated that the landowner would renovate the monument. However, no specific date or concept for reinstalling it was presented. The monument is currently being stored on the premises of the Municipal Housing Management Facility.

Today, on February 24, 2026, there is no permanent marker or fixed information plaque at the site of the former forced-labor facility. People interested in the city’s history point out that the absence of any visible commemoration means that, to passers-by, the site is indistinguishable from other areas nearby.

Questions are being directed to the city authorities, including Mayor Piotr Roman. Why, over nearly a decade, has no solution been developed that would allow the site of the former forced-labor facility to be appropriately marked? Did the city try to erect the monument, take over the initiative, or propose an alternative form of commemoration—for example, a plaque or a small historical installation?

Anniversary ceremonies and patriotic events are regularly held in Bolesławiec’s public spaces. This makes the absence of a permanent memorial at a site connected with the tragic history of World War II all the more noticeable.

Residents continue to ask the same question: after all these years, will the city finally take concrete action so that the memory of forced laborers and the victims of the war is visible and enduring in Bolesławiec?

Here is the response from the Mayor of Bolesławiec:

This period was not a time of inaction—it was a time of putting the facts in order. Until recently, the location of the AL Bunzlau I labor camp was incorrectly identified. Thanks to the efforts of the City Office, we obtained aerial photographs and other archival documents, which clearly show that the labor camp was located elsewhere than previously claimed. It was precisely this fundamental discrepancy—between the established narrative and the new source materials—that meant we did not decide to hastily mark the site and perpetuate an error in the public space, because in the case of such a dramatic history, every plaque and every stone becomes a lasting message for future generations.

The real answer is this: we begin with the facts, and only then move on to symbols. Our goal is to create a lasting form of commemoration based on sources. We intend to contact the Institute of National Remembrance again, so that the new form of commemoration can be unequivocally verified and serve as a basis for further action. In the future, we plan to create an information plaque that is accurate in its content and based exclusively on verified archival materials, rather than on repeatedly reproduced accounts

Piotr Roman, Mayor of Bolesławiec