'The dying Pole'

On 18 September 1948, the Polish monument 'The Dying Pole' was unveiled on the Zeestraat in Axel. This in the presence of Colonel Zdzislaw Szydlowski and about 30 Polish soldiers. The statue was made by Cephas Stauthamer, East Zeeland Fleming by birth, commissioned by the municipality of Axel. It depicts a person's solidified moment of death. The plaque on the plinth reads: 'To Poland's sons who fought to the death on this ground for our freedom'.

The left hand, on the heart region, indicates the gravity of the personal sacrifice and the outstretched right hand, as it were, offers the sacrifice made. The bronze monument came about after a fundraising campaign among the people of Axel and is a tribute to the Polish soldiers and the fallen liberators. Every year on 4 May, Axel's annual commemoration of the dead takes place at the statue.