Between 1919 and 1921, Poland, isolated in a Europe and pressured by a Britain hostile to its territorial intentions – particularly in upper Silesia – had only France to rely on for moral and material support. Recognition of the countries' shared history, a time when the two nations were united in arms, notably during the Napoleonic period, became of paramount importance for Poland. And so ceremonies marking one hundred years since the death of Napoleon were organised. Supported by dignitaries from the upper echelons of the Polish state, these ceremonies began on 5 May, 1921, and came just two days after the outbreak of the Polish anti-German uprising in Silesia, provoked by the integration of a section of the territory into Germany. The Napoleonic legend thus became a tool intended to mobilise and encourage French support for the reintegration of Upper Silesia into the Polish Republic. Moreover, only two months previously, a formal alliance between France and Poland had been signed. On 5 May, 1921, as part of the organised celebrations taking place across the country, one of the central squares in Warsaw (Plac Warecki) was named after Napoleon, and a provisional statue (created by the Polish sculptor Jan Antoni Biernacki) was erected on the site. This first statue was subsequently pulled down.
Another statue of the emperor (this time by Michal Kamienski) was later erected in the courtyard of Warsaw's military academy (rue Koszykowa) and was inaugurated in 1923 by Maréchal Foch (named just a few days before Maréchal of Poland). Until 1939, the statue featured in the photos documenting each class of graduate officers that passed out.
During the war, the statue that was completed in spring 1921 was destroyed, along with the military academy. The statue inaugurated in 1923 was subsequently found in 1945, buried under the rubble of the academy, and today is kept in the Muzeum Wojska Polskiego (Polish Army Museum).
A few years ago, the Polish branch of the Société d'entraide des membres de la Légion d'honneur, after a request presented by its members, undertook to reconstruct the monument to Napoleon I on what used to be Plac Napoleona, in Warsaw (today known as Plac Powstańców, “Uprising Square”, where the 1944 insurrection began). A plan was drawn up to create a synthesis of the two previous statues, using the 1921 location and the 1923 design. On 26 August, 2010, the project was unanimously approved by Warsaw's city council.
The ceremony, attended by Francois Barry Delongchamps, French Ambassador to Poland, took place on 5 May, 2011, marking the 190th anniversary of the emperor's death and the 90th anniversary of the inauguration of the first monument.
Andrzej Nieuważny
Ośrodek Studiów Epoki Napoleońskiej, Akademii Humanistycznej w Pułtusku
(Centre for Napoleonic studies at Pultusk Academy of Humanities) (tr. H.D.W.)