The Polish Post Office was the scene of some of the most dramatic events of the
first days of World War II. At daybreak on 1 September 1939, German troops
attacked the Polish Postal Administration that had its base here, in what was
then the free city of Gdańsk. For 15 hours the postal workers resisted the
onslaught, but they were finally overwhelmed. On 5 October more than 30 of them
were executed by Nazi soldiers at the Zaspa Cemetery. Their heroism is
commemorated in the Post Office Museum and by a monument depicting an injured
postal worker atop scattered mail, handing over his rifle to Nike, Greek goddess
of victory. It was designed by Wincenty Kućma in 1979 and bears an epitaph
written by Maria and Zygfryd Korpalski in 1979.