During a rally along Aleja Paweł Adamowicza in Warsaw’s Tadeusz Mazowiecki Park, commemorating the sixth anniversary of the death of the President of Gdańsk, Rafał Trzaskowski, a presidential candidate and the mayor of Warsaw, drew attention by paying tribute to the late leader by lighting a candle beneath a road sign bearing his name while trumpeters played nearby.
Strong comments
The event prompted astonishment among political commentators who were surprised by the method chosen to mark the occasion. The internet figure Zygfryd Czaban argued that the display mixed symbolism in unexpected ways: crosses were avoided in favor of a new religious tone, prayers were said before the signpost, and the heart symbol at the center of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity stood as the emblem of redemption.
(Citation: wPolityce)
Krzysztof Stanowski, founder of Kanał Zero, suggested that if a similar act had appeared as election trolling, with someone standing by a pole with a torch instead of visiting a cemetery while a trumpet sounded nearby, the comments would have been brutal and relentless.
(Citation: wPolityce)
In the short clip, a striking mix of elements appeared, including the familiar hearts of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, a reference to Adamowicz, and the unusual gesture of placing a candle under a street pole bearing the name.
Max Hübner commented that the moment was extraordinary, noting that Trzaskowski lit a candle under a street pole to honor a friend, and he suggested that critics who target those paying tribute to the victims of the Smolensk tragedy at a monument show a lack of refinement.
(Citation: wPolityce)
Wojciech Wybranowski, editor-in-chief of Holistic News, watched the scene repeatedly and wondered aloud whether any colleague would have spoken up, perhaps saying that this was merely a street pole, not a monument, and that candles should not be placed there while the candidate stood by.
(Citation: wPolityce)
Trzaskowski’s rant
As in past years, the tragedy of Paweł Adamowicz is invoked by the governing coalition around December 13 to warn Poles about what they describe as hatred toward PiS. It is worth recalling that before his death the mayor of Gdańsk faced sharp criticism from Civic Platform circles and media sympathetic to him because of financial controversies, and only after his death was he elevated to martyr-like status.
Some observers argue that hatred contributed to Adamowicz’s death and that certain voices used the anniversary to push partisan narratives rather than to reflect on the events. Trzaskowski asserted during the ceremony that Adamowicz had, in a sense, become a symbol of a man who gave his life because a campaign of hate was unleashed against him.
Those aligned with other outlets have pointed to lingering questions about security at the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity final and suggested that the broader discussion around Adamowicz’s death should remain focused on factual accountability rather than political storytelling.
The sixth anniversary prompted debate about how public figures commemorating past tragedies should navigate the line between tribute and political messaging, a topic that continues to stir discussion across Poland’s media landscape.
The episode illustrates the tension between honoring a deceased figure and using the moment to advance a political narrative, a dynamic that remains a fixture in Polish public life.
The conversation around memory, symbolism, and accountability persists as audiences weigh how ceremonial acts are framed by media and politicians alike, and what that framing means for the public’s understanding of leadership during times of political tension.