Silesian Scouts Monument

When the commander of the Polish Army retreated from the region to avoid entrapment on September 2nd 1939, Katowice was left in the hands of these strapping young volunteers - the Polish boy and girl scouts. Establishing critical defence posts throughout the city, the out-numbered, ill-equipped and inexperienced scouts repelled the advancing Germans for two days in a valiant, if ultimately suicidal effort to protect the city. This monument just off Katowice's revamped Rynek remembers and honours their martyrdom. Designed by Michał Brachmański, the bronze sculpture stands 4.5 by 4.1 metres and depicts four scouts stepping out of a broken wall with the inscription, “All that is ours to give, we shall give to Poland.”