Legendary Solidarity leader Lech Walesa is taking part in the unveiling ceremonies of a statue of Ronald Reagan here Monday - Nov 21, 2011. U.S. President Reagan was instrumental in the contributions to the fall of Communism behind the Iron Curtain.
By Raymond Rolak
The bronze depicts Reagan standing behind a lectern while speaking and will be installed on Ujazdowskie Avenue, close to the American Embassy. The concept was suggested to sculptor Wladyslaw Dudek by retired businessman Janusz Dorosiewicz, chairman of Poland’s Ronald Reagan Foundation.
Created from private funds, the memorial was inspired by Reagan’s famed speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in 1987. Reagan demanded that the Berlin Wall be torn down and his tone was inspirational to Solidarnosc. His famous quote was, “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.”
US Ambassador to Poland Lee A. Feinstein and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski are both due to speak during Monday’s unveiling ceremony, as is Mayor of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.
The Warsaw monument is not the first Polish tribute to the late president. In 2004, near Krakow in the town square of Nowa Huta, the main square area was renamed in Reagan’s honor.
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