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"We want God!". 60. anniversary of defence of the Nowa Huta cross
“We want God!” sang inhabitants of Nowa Huta, who gathered at the cross on a corner of Majakowski and Marks streets on a Wednesday morning of April 27, 1960 The words of this song seem to truthfully reflect the spirit of the district inhabitants in those days, who, by not agreeing with a refusal to build a parish church, emerged as an active driving force shaping their reality.
The Nowa Huta cross is more than just a religious symbol. The same cross also symbolises a fight for man’s freedom and dignity within the system of Communist power in Poland.
In its fight for the cross, the local community manifested for the first time its subjectivity in the objective treatment of the citizens by the state. Direct consequences of that objection not only include construction of the first church in Nowa Huta – the Church of the Mother of God, the Queen of Poland (the Lord's Ark), but also construction of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the monument of the Nowa Huta Cross.The Nowa Huta Cross has become, and definitely still is, one of the most widely recognised symbols of the district, forming a part of its history and gathering around it people not only devoted to their faith, but also to universal values of man’s dignity and observance of human rights, including a respect for freedom of conscience and religion.
