Fort 41a "Mydlniki"
Fortress Kraków
An auxiliary infantry fort from 1895-1896, part of the IV defensive sector, which defended the western stretch of the fortress between the valleys of the Rudawa and the Prądnik; it protected the Rudawa valley from the north. It stands on a prominent hill dominating the area, at Gen. B. Wieniawy-Długoszowskiego Street, about 200 metres north-east of the Kraków Mydlniki railway station. During the Polish-Soviet War Polish communists were interned in it; in 1920 a parliamentary commission found the conditions in the fort hazardous to health and demanded that the prisoners be moved.
History
Fort 41a "Mydlniki" is an auxiliary infantry fort built in 1895-1896. It belonged to the 4th defensive sector, which covered the western section of the Kraków Fortress between the valleys of the Rudawa and the Prądnik, and the fort itself guarded the Rudawa valley from the north. It stands on a high hill overlooking the surrounding area, about 200 metres north-east of Kraków Mydlniki railway station. It is one of three infantry forts built in the fortress by 1899, alongside 49½a "Mogiła" and 50a "Lasówka". On the morning of 5 September 1939 it was manned by units under Colonel Wacław Klaczyński, which put up brief but effective resistance against the German army and withdrew from Kraków during the night.
The best-known episode in the fort's history dates from 1920. During the Polish-Bolshevik War, Polish communists were interned here, among them Józef Ciszewski and Ludwik Prentki. Their families did not know where the prisoners were being held and asked the editors of "Robotnik" for help, and the paper reported on the case. On 16 September 1920, on the initiative of Deputy Prime Minister Daszyński, a parliamentary committee was set up to investigate conditions at Mydlniki. It found that the conditions were a danger to health and that holding people without a court sentence was unlawful, and it demanded that the prisoners be moved. At the end of October the internees were taken to the Warsaw Citadel, and in the first months of 1921 some of them were released or selected for a prisoner exchange with Soviet Russia.
The fort was entered in the register of historic monuments on 8 November 2007.
Did you know?
Fort Mydlniki has a twin on the other side of the city. Fort 49½a "Mogiła", in the eastern part of Kraków, is almost identical in design and played a similar role in the defence of the fortress.