Fate of Jersey City monument to fallen Poles hangs in balance
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
24.07.2018 08:28
Jersey City authorities have rejected most of the signatures on a petition for a referendum on the future of a monument to fallen Polish soldiers, Poland's PAP news agency reported on Tuesday.
The Katyn Massacre monument in Jersey CityPhoto: Colin Knowles [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Jersey City verified only 3,833 of 9,471 signatures as belonging to eligible voters, PAP said.
A minimum of 6,714 valid signatures needs to be on the petition by August 2 if there is to be a referendum in which voters would have a chance to have their say on whether the Katyn monument should stay in Exchange Place or be moved to a new spot 60 metres away, according to PAP.
If a referendum is not called, taking the issue to court would be the only option left for the people who want to see the monument left in its current location, PAP reported.
The petition is the latest chapter in the ongoing saga over the monument, which started a transatlantic spat earlier this year.
The city in May said the monument would be put in storage and its home, Exchange Place, would be converted into a park.
The announcement drew fierce criticism from Poland and Polish-Americans.
Jersey City's mayor later said the monument would be moved to a "respected" place, appeasing some, but not all opponents of the monument's removal.
The monument at the centre of the row features a 10-metre-tall bronze figure of a soldier - who has been gagged and bound and impaled by a bayonetted rifle - mounted on top of a granite base containing soil from the Katyn Forest in western Russia where thousands of Poles were murdered by Soviet secret police during World War II. (vb/pk)
Source: PAP
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