Posters Artwork Documents

Proposed monument to Wojtek, the Soldier Bear.

Model of a proposed monument to Wojtek, the Polish soldier bear. Work is in hands, and it is hoped to erect the full size monument in the latter part of 2011 (perhaps early 2022) in Edinburgh at a site to be selected. A Syrian black bear, Wojtek was acquired as a small cub by Polish troops in the Middle East in - I think - 1941. He accompanied his Polish friends to the end of the war - being enlisted in a Polish artillery transport company along the way - and was demobbed with them in 1947, at which time he retired to Edinburgh Zoo. By that time, he had become a very large, friendly bear who showed many signs of having kept company with soldiers - he liked beer, cigarettes (he ate them) and golden syrup and, even if he could not speak Polish, he could recognise the language when spoken. There are, apparently, hopes that copies of the monument will be erected in Warsaw, and at Monte Cassino (where Wojtek is said to have helped his Polish friends by passing some of the ammunition). If our Polish friends will forgive me, this is my favourite Polish hero. I hope the monument project comes to fruitioin. Best regards, JR.