The Warsaw councilor 'reported' the socialist realist palace to the prosecutor's office

Warsaw - The Warsaw councilor from the national-conservative Law and Justice party wants the prosecutor's office to investigate whether the administration of the city's dominant building - the socialist-realist Palace of Culture and Science - does not violate the ban on promoting communism. A thorn in his side is the statue of a man holding a book with the inscription Marx, Engels, Lenin. Gazeta Wyborcza writes about it on its website.
    The stone man in clothing typical of workers looks down from the sill on the outer facade of the Palace of Culture and Science. The surname of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin has "disappeared" from the cover of the book bearing the names of the classics of communist ideology after 1956.
    "There is no doubt that displaying such a statue in a public place fulfills the essence of a criminal act," claims councilor Maciej Maciejowski from Law and Justice. Public promotion of totalitarian regimes carries a penalty of up to two years in prison in Poland.
    Joanna Motylewska from the marketing department of the Palace of Culture and Science reminded that it is a monument, and therefore "one cannot just erase various inscriptions". The building has been under heritage protection since February 2007.
    "I know it is a monument. I could still have some understanding for Engels, for Marx ... But Lenin is simply a common mass murderer," says councilor Maciejowski. He wants all socialist-realist decorations and statues to be removed from the palace, which Stalin "donated" to the Poles in the 1950s, and for the Warsaw landmark to reflect the style of American skyscrapers from the 1920s. If that is not possible, according to Maciejewski, Lenin's name should be removed from the statue, or an explanatory plaque should appear next to it indicating who he was.
    The newspaper Rzeczpospolita wrote today that the Palace of Culture and Science is being discussed as a possible new headquarters for the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which investigates the crimes of Nazism and communism.