Polish youth resistance organization, “Wawer“, was created.[1] It was part of the Szare Szeregi (the underground Polish Scouting Association), and its first act was to create a series of graffiti in Warsaw around the Christmas of 1940, commemorating the massacre.[1][2][6] Members of the AK Wawer “Small Sabotage” unit painted “Pomścimy Wawer” (“We’ll avenge Wawer”) on Warsaw walls. At first they painted the whole text, then to save time they shortened it to two letters, P and W. Later they invented Kotwica -“Anchor” – the symbol, a combination of these 2 letters, was easy and fast to paint. Next kotwica gained more meanings – Polska Walcząca (“Fighting Poland”) . It also stands for Wojsko Polskie (“Polish Army”) and Powstanie Warszawskie (“Warsaw Uprising”). Finally “Kotwica” became a patriotic symbol of defiance against the occupiers and was painted on building walls everywhere.

Courage well-lived. Polish resistance laws.

The Wawer massacre refers to the execution of 107 Polish civilians on the night of 26 to 27 December 1939 by the Nazi German occupiers of Wawer (near Warsaw), Poland. The execution was a response to the deaths of two German NCOs. 120 people were arrested and 114 shot, of which 7 survived. It is considered to be one of the first large scale massacres of Polish civilians by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland.