Parachute Tower in Katowice

The Parachute Tower stands in Tadeusz Kościuszko Park in Katowice. It is the only surviving parachute tower in Poland, now 35 metres tall and entered in the heritage register. Today it is a monument dedicated to the defenders of Katowice who were killed or murdered by the Germans in 1939.

What the tower was for

The tower was built in 1937 on the initiative of the Silesian Voivodeship District of the Anti-Aircraft and Anti-Gas Defence League, and opened in June 1938. Next to it, a LOPP parachuting centre trained jumpers. Fundraising was difficult, and the owner of the Wujek mine, whose workings lay beneath the park, feared mining damage. According to the technical documentation the tower was 62 metres tall, of which the steel structure was 50 metres. A staircase and a two-person lift led to the top, where a rotating platform was used for jumps.

September 1939 and the dispute over what happened

In the first days of the war the tower served as an observation and reporting post of the 73rd Infantry Regiment. It is known that on 4 September 1939 fire was opened from its platform on Wehrmacht soldiers entering Katowice. The course of events has been described differently in the literature. From the 1950s the version from Kazimierz Gołba's book, describing a many-hour defence of the tower by Silesian scouts, was widespread. Research based on German archives, including by historians of the Institute of National Remembrance, points to much shorter fighting, with the shooting said to have ended after a shot from a German anti-tank gun.

Neither the number nor the names of the defenders have been established. After the war witnesses spoke of scouts, but no other evidence of this has been found, and there is also information about secondary-school pupils. The bodies of the defenders most probably lie, together with the remains of other defenders of Katowice, in the cemetery in Ligota.

After the war

In the 1940s the German authorities of Katowice decided to demolish the tower. In the 1950s it was rebuilt on a smaller scale, and parachute training was carried out for only a short time. The Katowice district of the Polish Scouting Association bears the name of the Heroes of the Parachute Tower.

Practical information

• Address: Tadeusz Kościuszko Park in Katowice, in the area of ul. Kościuszki, ul. Górnośląska and ul. Piękna.
• The tower stands in an open park, and access to it depends on the manager's current rules, so it is worth checking before your visit.
• The tower is part of the grounds of Tadeusz Kościuszko Park.