Szmul Zygielbojm Monument

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Szmul Zygielbojm Monument

The monument is in Warsaw at 6 Lewartowskiego Street, near Zamenhofa Street in the Muranów area of the Downtown district. It was designed by Marek Moderau and opened on 22 June 1997. The sculpture is made of light-gray granite and syenite.

It honors Szmul Zygielbojm, a 20th‑century Bund politician who, in 1943 while serving on the Polish National Council in London, killed himself to protest Allied inaction during the Holocaust.

Description: Two parts form the memorial — a short block of cracked granite on the pavement and a syenite wall behind it with silhouettes and flames. At the bottom are Polish and Yiddish inscriptions that include words from Zygielbojm’s suicide letter.

Polish inscription (bottom): “Milczeć nie mogę i żyć nie mogę, gdy giną resztki ludu żydowskiego w Polsce…” Szmul M. Zygielbojm 11 maja 1943 Londyn

Yiddish inscription (bottom): איך קען נישט שווייגן און קען נישט לעבן ווען עס קומען אום די לעצטע יידן אין פוילן… Szmul M. Zygielbojm 11 May 1943 London

English translation: “I cannot stay silent, and I cannot live, when the remains of the Jewish people are dying in Poland…” Szmul M. Zygielbojm 11 May 1943, London

The monument is part of the Memorial Route of Jewish Martyrdom and Struggle, linking sites connected to the Warsaw Ghetto and the Umschlagplatz.

In front of the sculpture is a syenite block with Polish and Hebrew inscriptions about Zygielbojm and his death as a protest against Allied indifference.

Front block Polish inscription: Szmul Zygielbojm 1895–1943, przedstawiciel Bundu w Radzie Narodowej R.P. w Londynie; na znak protestu wobec bierności rządów państw sprzymierzonych w obliczu zagłady Żydów w getcie warszawskim 12 maja 1943 odebrał sobie życie.

Front block Hebrew inscription: שמואל זיגלבוים (1895 – 1943), נציג הבונד במועצה הלאומי[ת] של ממשלת פולין הגולה בלונדון. ב-12 במאי 1943 איבד עצמו לדעת במחאה על אדישותן של ממשלות בעלות הברית להשמדת היהודים בגטו וארשה.