View source for Kotwica

{{Short description|WWII Polish resistance emblem}}
{{Other uses}}
{{title language|pl}}
{{Infobox emblem
|name             = Kotwica
|image            = Kotwica jako symbol Polski Walczącej.svg
|alt              = 
|image_width      = 
|caption          = 
|year_adopted     = 1942
|until            =  
|motto            = {{Plainlist|
* {{lang|pl|pomścimy Wawer}}
* {{lang|pl|Polska walcząca}}
}} 
|badge            = Letters [[P]] and [[W]] forming an [[anchor]]
|other_elements   = 
|earlier_versions = 
|use              = [[Home Army]]
|designer         = [[Anna Smoleńska]]
|notes            = 
}}

[[File:Uprising kotwica.jpg|thumb|150px|On a monument to the [[Warsaw Uprising]] at the {{lang|pl|Banku Polskiego|italic=no}} in Warsaw]]

The '''{{lang|pl|kotwica}}''' ({{IPAc-pl|k|o|t|'|f|i|c|a}}; [[Polish language|Polish]] for '[[anchor]]') was an emblem of the [[Polish Underground State]] and {{lang|pl|[[Armia Krajowa]]|italic=no}} (AK; {{resize|{{abbr|tr.|translated}}}} 'Home Army') used during [[World War II]]. It was created in 1942 by members of the [[Wawer]] minor sabotage unit within the AK, as an easily usable emblem for the struggle to regain the country's independence. The initial meaning of the initialism ''PW'' was {{lang|pl|pomścimy Wawer}} (We shall avenge Wawer), in reference to the 1939 [[Wawer massacre]], which was considered to be one of the first large scale massacres of Polish civilians by German troops in occupied Poland.

At first, Polish scouts from sabotage units painted the whole phrase upon walls. However, it was soon abbreviated to PW, which came to symbolise the phrase {{lang|pl|Polska walcząca}} (fighting Poland). In early 1942, the AK organised a contest to design an emblem to represent the resistance movement, and the winning design by [[Anna Smoleńska]], a member of the [[Gray Ranks]] who herself participated in minor sabotage operations, combined the letters P and W into the {{lang|pl|kotwica}}.<ref name="P-W">{{cite web | url=http://www.kotwica-walczaca.waw.pl/ | title=Znak Polski Walczącej | publisher=Związek Powstańców Warszawskich | work=Andrzej Gładkowski, Wydawnictwo fundacji „Warszawa walczy 1939 – 1945” | date=2008 | access-date=7 July 2013 | author=Andrzej Gładkowski | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815002840/http://kotwica-walczaca.waw.pl/ | archive-date=15 August 2013 }}</ref> Smoleńska was arrested by the [[Gestapo]] in November 1942, and died in [[Auschwitz]] in March 1943,<ref name="Szarota">{{cite web | url=http://www.info-pc.home.pl/Whatfor/baza/historia_kotwicy.htm | title=Historia Kotwicy Polski Walczącej | work=with historical photographs | date=2013 | access-date=7 July 2013 | author=Tomasz Szarota | author-link=Tomasz Szarota | archive-date=21 November 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121202932/http://www.info-pc.home.pl/Whatfor/baza/historia_kotwicy.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> at the age of 23.<ref name="Cyra">{{cite web | url=http://projektpilecki.pl/index.php/52-tworczyni-symbolu-polski-walczacej-70-lat-temu-zginela-w-kl-auschwitz | title=Anna Smoleńska, twórczyni znaku Polski Walczącej | publisher=Auschwitz Memento | date=2012 | access-date=7 July 2013 | author=Adam Cyra | author-link=Adam Cyra }}</ref>

==History==
The {{lang|pl|kotwica}} was first painted on walls in [[Warsaw]] on 20 March 1942 by [[Szare Szeregi|Polish boy scouts]], as a [[psychological warfare]] tactic against the occupying Germans. On 27 June, it was used for a new form of minor sabotage: in order to commemorate the [[name-day|day of the patron saint]] for President [[Władysław Raczkiewicz]] and commander-in-chief [[Władysław Sikorski]], members of the AK stamped several hundred copies of the German propaganda newspaper {{lang|pl|[[Nowy Kurier Warszawski]]}} with the {{lang|pl|kotwica}}. This would become an annual event during the occupation: only 500 papers  were defaced in the first year, but this the number grew to 7,000 the year after.

On 18 February 1943, General [[Stefan Rowecki]], commander of the AK, issued an order specifying that all sabotage, partisan and terrorist actions be signed with the {{lang|pl|kotwica}}. On 25 February, {{lang|pl|[[Biuletyn Informacyjny]]|italic=no}}, the official press outlet of the AK, called the {{lang|pl|kotwica}} "the sign of the underground Polish Army". The emblem gained enormous popularity and became recognised throughout the country. By the later stages of the war, most of the political and military organisations within Poland had adopted it as a symbol, even those not linked to the AK. It was painted on city walls, stamped on German [[banknote]]s and [[postage stamp]]s, and printed on the headers of underground newspapers and books. It also became one of the symbols of the [[Warsaw Uprising]], as ''PW'' is also an initialism for {{lang|pl|[[Wojsko Polskie]]|italics=no}} and {{lang|pl|[[powstanie Warszawskie]]}}.

After the war, [[Polish United Workers' Party|Poland's communist regime]] banned the {{lang|pl|kotwica}}, although it continued to be used abroad by associations of former AK members living in exile.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} Prohibition on the emblem's use was relaxed in the later years of communist rule, and in 1976 it became one of the symbols of {{lang|pl|[[Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela]]|italics=no}} (ROPCiO), an anti-communist organisation defending human rights in Poland. It was also adopted by other anti-communist political organisations, ranging from the rightist [[Confederation of Independent Poland]] (KPN) of [[Leszek Moczulski]] to [[Fighting Solidarity]], an organisation formed in response to the de-legalisation of the independent trade union [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] and government repression of opposition after [[Martial law in Poland|martial law was declared]] in 1981.

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center" heights="140" perrow="5">
File:Polish Underground Symbol on Pilot Monument.jpg|The [[Aviator Monument (Warsaw)|Aviator Monument]] in Warsaw, taken during the German occupation, with {{lang|pl|kotwica}} graffiti added by {{lang|pl|[[Szare Szeregi]]|italic=no}} member [[Jan Bytnar]]
File:Lotnika Monument in Warsaw 02.jpg|The {{lang|pl|kotwica}} that was permanently added to the Polish Pilots monument in 2010
File:Warsaw Uprising - Getto Bunker at Muranowska Street.jpg|Painted on a German bunker near Bonifraterska Street during the [[Warsaw Uprising]]
File:Flaga PPP.svg|The unofficial wartime flag of the {{lang|pl|Armia Krajowa|italic=no}} and the [[Polish Underground State]]
File:Zoska odzn bt.png|On the emblem of the {{lang|pl|Zośka}} battalion of the {{lang|pl|Armia Krajowa|italic=no}}
File:AK MIOTLA.jpg|On the emblem of the {{lang|pl|Miotła}} battalion of the {{lang|pl|Armia Krajowa|italic=no}}
File:Krzyz AK 64081946chl.jpg|On [[Armia Krajowa Cross|the cross]] of the {{lang|pl|Armia Krajowa|italic=no}}
File:Dewiza-SW.jpg|Incorporated into the [[Fighting Solidarity]] logo
File:Aleje Ujazdowskie - miejsce pamięci zamachu na Kutscherę - 04.JPG|On the back of a memorial commemorating SS Police Chief Franz Kutschera's assassination by the Polish resistance
File:Ak grupa kampinos pomnik01.jpg|On a monument in the cemetery dedicated to the [[Kampinos Group]] of the AK in [[Budy Zosine]]
File:The Observation Tower of the Warsaw Uprising Museum.JPG|On the observation tower of the [[Warsaw Uprising Museum]]
File:Warszawa2qe.jpg|On the wall next to the [[Warsaw Uprising Monument]] in [[Krasiński Square]]
File:Bielany Pomnik Armii Krajowej 001.JPG|On the AK monument in Bielany
File:Kopiec2 DSC1536.JPG|On top of Warsaw Uprising Hill
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Scouting}}
* [[Home Army]]
* [[Polish resistance movement in World War II]]
* [[Minor sabotage]] during World War II in [[Nazi-occupied Poland]]
* [[Warsaw Uprising]]
* [[Symbols of Poland]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090527023335/http://www.kotwica-walczy.waw.pl/ History of the Kotwica] (in Polish) Internet Archive. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080526145431/http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/specjal_040529/specjal_a_7.html Article about the "Small sabotage" unit] (in Polish)

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|Kotwica symbol}}
* Lesław J. Welker "Symbolika znaków Polski Walczącej", publisher Adam Marszałek {{ISBN|83-7174-498-6}}, {{ISBN|9788373220904}}
* Jan Bijata, Wawer, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 1973

{{Armia Krajowa}}

[[Category:Home Army]]
[[Category:Polish resistance during World War II]]
[[Category:National symbols of Poland]]