Rafał Trzaskowski “removed Lech Kaczyński Avenue”? We remind you why

A day after the nomination of Karol Nawrocki for… candidate of Law and Justice in the presidential elections – November 25, 2024 – politicians of this party and anonymous social media users published a recording intended to compare Nawrocki's actions to those of the Civic Coalition candidate – Rafał Trzaskowski. In the video we see a Soviet monument falling over and the caption “Activities of Karol Nawrocki as the head of the Institute of National Remembrance (Institute of National Remembrance – ed.)”, and below it the dismantling of a plaque with the name of Lech Kaczyński Street and the caption “Activities of Rafał Trzaskowski as the president of Warsaw”.

The recording was published on X by, among others, PiS MP Dariusz Matecki, writing: “What's the difference? Nawrocki is dismantling the remnants of subjugation to Soviet Russia throughout the country. Trzaskowski in Warsaw removed Aleja L. Kaczyński and replaced it with Aleja Armii Ludowej, a criminal organization that introduced Stalinism after the war.”

The video also appeared, among others, on the account of PiS MP Marcin Romanowski, according to him this “a huge gap in activity between Nawrocki and Trzaskowski”. They were also posted on various anonymous accounts that said “this pretty much sums up the differences between the candidates.” One of the entries with such content on website X was viewed over 150,000 times. times.

Most commentators praised this combination and expressed support for Karol Nawrocki. “This entry should be reminded every day until the elections”; “Very accurate summary. Nothing to add, nothing to take away”; “My candidate toppled monuments of communist criminals, your candidate fought with a sign with the inscription 'Lech Kaczyński Street'” – wrote Internet users (original spelling). However, there were those who considered such a comparison to be manipulation, referring to the “removal of Lech Kaczyński Avenue” by Rafał Trzaskowski. “Weak manipulation, you can do better”; “Remember the history of decommunization of street names in Warsaw”; “Trzaskowski does not decide on the names of streets in Warsaw, only the Warsaw Council,” they commented.

Referring to these comments, we recall the full history of changing the name of the Warsaw artery from “Aleja Armii Ludowej” to “ul. Lecha Kaczyńskiego” and the return to the original name, and explain who and why made binding decisions in this matter.

To understand the history of changing the name of Aleja Armii Ludowej – a street in Warsaw's Śródmieście – you need to go back to 2016. In April of that year, the Sejm almost unanimously adopted it Act on the prohibition of propagating communism or another totalitarian system by the names of public buildings, facilities and devices, i.e. the so-called decommunization act. It imposed on local governments, among others: the obligation to change the names of streets that commemorated or propagated communism.

The changes had to be made by the beginning of September 2017. As the Warsaw Council – responsible for the naming of streets in the capital – had not introduced any corrections by this date, the topic was taken up by the then Masovian Voivode, Zdzisław Sipiera from Law and Justice. In November 2017, he issued 47 substitute orders in which he changed the names of so many streets in Warsaw. Among them was the People's Army Avenue, which decision of the voivode was to become Lech Kaczyński Street.

At the press conference at which the voivode announced his decision, he was accompanied by the then president of the Institute of National Remembrance, Jarosław Szarek, Karol Nawrocki's predecessor in this position. The Institute of National Remembrance played an important role in the process of street decommunization because, among other things, the voivode based his orders on his opinions. Including Lecha Kaczyńskiego Street IPN experts statedthat the name of the People's Army Avenue meets the criteria of the decommunization act, because the People's Army “until the end remained a formation implementing the priorities of the Soviet raison d'état and an instrument of Stalin's policy towards Poland.”

However, the voivode's decision did not please the Warsaw Council, in which the majority of councilors were then members of the Civic Coalition. One month after issuing the orders – December 20, 2017 – The councilors therefore appealed against all 47 of them to the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw. At the council session at which the decision on the complaints was voted on, the then chairman of the PO club, Jarosław Szostakowski, explained that there were legislative errors in the voivode's individual decisions, and that Sipiera himself “did not do the job reliably, but it was just a political order.”

The Warsaw administrative court began to consider complaints, but did not suspend the execution of the challenged orders. That's why in March 2018 at the former Armii Ludowej Avenue new boards were hung with a new name – “Lech Kaczyński Street”.

Two months after the plates were changed – in May 2018 – The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw issued a judgment on decommunization. Regarding Lech Kaczyńskiego Street, he ruled that voivode Zdzisław Sipiera issued his orders in significant violation of the law because “he did not demonstrate why the current names (…) propagate the communist system.” The judge explained that “the voivode's explanations are very laconic, and the opinion issued by the Institute of National Remembrance is not binding on the voivode.” He recalled that the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance obliges the institute to be particularly diligent in examining historical knowledge, which was lacking in this case.

Voivode Zdzisław Sipiera filed a cassation appeal against this judgment to the Supreme Administrative Court. This one though in its December 2018 ruling upheld the Provincial Administrative Court's judgmentand thus it became legally valid. Supreme Administrative Court judges too they statedthat the IPN's letter was not sufficient to change the street names. “The preparation of the IPN's opinion in this case was inappropriate and largely contributed to the fact that the voivode's orders were correctly recognized by the court of first instance as defective,” the judge said in his justification.

The Warsaw Council and President Rafał Trzaskowski reacted very quickly. The Supreme Administrative Court issued its judgment on December 7, 2018, and five days later Warsaw councilors adopted a resolution on the network of public primary schools, to which the so-called autocorrect President Rafał Trzaskowski. It contained a proposal to change the names of 52 streets, including Lecha Kaczyńskiego Street to Aleja Armii Ludowej (The Warsaw Council somehow changed the names of five other streets – ed.). The head of the KO councilors' club, Jarosław Szostakowski, explained then that such a move “is dictated by last week's judgments of the Supreme Administrative Court.”

He confirmed this interpretation in December 2018 in an interview with Konkret24 Patryk Wachowiec, legal analyst from the Civic Development Forum. He explained that “The Council of Warsaw, like any other local government or central government body, could not fail to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court, because it is legally binding.“. The lawyer added that the Supreme Administrative Court's judgment overturned the voivode's ordinance, so even without the resolution, the streets would return to their previous names. – There is no requirement for the local government body to take any other legal measures – Wachowiec explained then.

READ MORE IN KONKRET24: Word against word. Who changed the names of Warsaw streets?

Changing the name of “Lech Kaczyński Street” to “Aleja Armii Ludowej” was not an independent decision of Rafał Trzaskowski. The Warsaw Council – and, thanks to the amendment, also the mayor of the capital – complied with the final court judgment in this case. Two months after this move by councilors – in February 2019 – another one was started replacement of boards and restoring the name of Armii Ludowej Avenue, which the street bears to this day.

However, this was not the end of the discussion about commemorating Lech Kaczyński, president of Warsaw in 2002-2005, by naming one of the capital's streets after him. President Rafał Trzaskowski since then he declared several timesthat he supports this step, but is unable to convince the Warsaw Council to accept this idea. In his opinion, one of the streets near the Warsaw Uprising Museum should be named after the former president (not People's Army Avenue, because the museum is in a different district), to the construction of which Lech Kaczyński contributed greatly.

READ MORE: Rafał Trzaskowski: “I have said many times that I am a supporter of Lech Kaczyński Street”

In August 2020, Trzaskowski announced that he would try to convince the majority of the capital's councilors of the need to build Lecha Kaczyńskiego Street, and then submit an application to the council in this regard. Coming in December 2020 however, he informedthat despite talks, there is no consent from KO councilors to such a change. A month later, this information was confirmed by the chairman of the KO councilors' club, Jarosław Szostakowski appealed to the president of the capital“that as long as Law and Justice is in power in Poland, he should not submit such a request.”

After PiS lost the parliamentary elections, in February 2024, Rafał Trzaskowski was asked again about the initiative to change the name of the street. The president repeatedthat “street names are the competence of the Warsaw Council” and reminded that “the councilors this term had a different opinion than me.” – I don't know what it will be like in the next term. I haven't changed my mind, he declared. The term of office of the new Warsaw Council and the next term of office of the president of the capital began on May 7, 2024.