‘We are now, since 5.45, returning fire!’ No other sentence is as prominent as this one for the outbreak of the Second World War, which cost between 50 and 70 million people their lives. This quote marks the beginning of the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. A day earlier, an SS commando had already carried out a perfidious plan: on Hitler’s orders, the men attacked the radio station in Gliwice, but were passed off as hostile Polish soldiers. This staging was a success and provided the regime with a fictitious pretext and propaganda for the upcoming invasion.
But it is not only the dramatic history that gives the building its significance. The wooden transmission mast in Gliwice, as the place is called in present-day Poland, on which the attack was carried out, still stands today. Since the end of the war, the 111-metre-high tower has held the record for the world’s largest wooden structure. It is made of durable larch wood, connected with thousands of high-quality brass screws. Despite the stable construction, the battens have to be regularly processed.
After the war, the tower was used for radio experiments, including the use of jammers. For a short time, a regional radio station even broadcast programmes from there again. To this day, the wooden mast is still functional and transmits communication waves at around 50 different frequencies. A museum has also been built on the site, displaying the original equipment and commemorating the terrible events that took place here. The memorial is open all year round and admission is free.
Museum website: http://muzeum.gliwice.pl/en
Photo: Radio mast. Credits: Pixabay/Hans.
