About This Location
By the Old Town defensive walls on Podwale Street stands one of Warsaw’s most moving small memorials. A child in an oversized helmet holds a submachine gun almost as big as the body. The figure looks both brave and unbearably fragile. The monument honors the children involved in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Many were part of the underground scouting movement known as the Gray Ranks. Most served as messengers, guides, and medical helpers, carrying orders and supplies through streets under fire. Some also fought, and many died. The story of the statue is also part of Warsaw’s postwar memory. Sculptor Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz created the design in 1946, soon after the war, first as a small figure. Decades later it became a full monument, unveiled on 1 October 1983. Nearby, the inscription recalls a well-known uprising song about Warsaw’s children and the price they were ready to pay for their city.