Forbidden remembrance
Poznań June has led to political changes in October 1956, and this first mass social protest against the communist regime paved the way to the full independence regained by Poland.
Owing to foreign witnesses of the Poznań Black Thursday events, the information concerning these events reached the West and showed the true colors of socialist democracy to the public opinion. At the same time, after the October transformations in Poland, a decision to draw a "curtain of silence' over the Poznań events was taken very quickly. For the next 25 years the communist authorities blocked any information on these bloody events. Historians were denied any source research, and the censorship effectively eliminated any mentions of June 1956. The most active participants of these events have been persecuted for years.
The memory of June 1956 was cherished by the families of participants of these events and among the residents of Poznań. Graves of the fallen, buried at night and under guard of Security officers, were treated with respect and remembrance. Behind the curtain of silence, the legend of the Poznań Black Thursday began to emerge based on memories and oral transmissions.
A breakthrough in the struggle for remembrance of June 1956 took place after August 1980 events. One of the first initiatives of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity" establishing itself in Poznań was to erect a monument commemorating Poznań June 1956.