Located in Krakow's Old Town Square on the Town Hall Tower, this plaque reads:
"W TYM MIEJSCU 31X.1918 ROKU
ZOLNIERZE POLSY DOKONALI
ROZBROJENIA GARNIZONU AUSTRIACKIEGO
KOMENDANTEM WOLNEGO KRAKOWA
BYL WOWCZAS GENERAL
BOLESLAW ROJA
KRAKOW 31X.1988R"
which Google translates as:
"At this point 31 X.1918 YEAR
Polish soldiers made
DISARM garrison AUSTRIAN
The commandant FREE KRAKOW
He was then GENERAL
BOLESLAW ROJA
KRAKOW 31X.1988R"
Here the "X" in the date refers to the month of October.
Wikipedia's article on Roja (
visit link) provides more information about the matters referred to on this plaque plus some:
"Brig. Gen. Boleslaw Roja (4 April 1876 - 27 May 1940) was an officer of the Polish Legions in World War I, a general, and a politician in the Second Polish Republic, recipient of some of the highest Polish military awards including Virtuti Militari. He opposed Józef Pilsudski and his Sanacja regime in the 1920s. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939 he was arrested and murdered by the Nazis in Sachsenhausen concentration camp...
Roja was born on April 4, 1876 in the village of Brynce Zagórne near Zydaczow, Austrian Galicia to a family of forester Józef Roja and Maria née Trzcinska.[1] He graduated from the Austro-Hungarian Army Cadet School in Vienna. In 1899 he was promoted to Second Lieutenant, and served with the 36th Land Defence Regiment (k.k. Landwehr Infanterie Regiment Nr. 36) in Kolomyja. In 1905, due to poor health, he was transferred to army reserve. Roja cooperated with Austro-Hungarian intelligence. For a time, he studied law and medicine at Jagiellonian University, and work as a civil servant in Kraków.
After the outbreak of World War One, Roja joined Polish Legions. He was a close coworker of Józef Pilsudski, but after Oath crisis left the Legions and rejoined Austro-Hungarian Army. In early 1918 he served in Graz, returning to Kraków after several months. Boleslaw Roja immediately got involved in Polish patriotic activities. In late October 1918 he took over former Austrian Military Command in Kraków, and on November 1, the Regency Council, in recognition of his outstanding services, promoted him to the rank of General brygady and named him commandant of Kraków garrison. Roja’s promotion was soon confirmed by Polish Commander-in-chief, Jozef Pilsudski."