Parade Square

Parade Square (Polish: Plac Defilad w Warszawie) is a square in downtown Warsaw. Located between ulica Świętokrzyska (Holy Cross Street) in the north, Aleje Jerozolimskie (Jerusalem Avenues) in the south, ulica Marszałkowska (Marshal's Street) in the east and the monumental Palace of Culture and Science to the west, it is one of Warsaw's central squares. It's one of the largest city squares in the world, the largest in the European Union, after the Alexanderplatz, in Berlin, Germany.

It is one of the youngest squares in Warsaw, built in the 1950s together with the Palace of Culture and Science. It was used extensively by the government of People's Republic of Poland for various propaganda parades. The biggest parade held was in 1966 to mark the milleniumn year of the Polish nation.

Parade Square held a key place in the events of 1956. After Władysław Gomułka's restoration to power, on 24 October a rally was held in the square attended by around 400,000 people. During his speech at the rally, Gomułka condemned Stalinism and announced reforms aimed at democratizing the political system. A symbol of the changes was the refusal to accept Konstantin Rokossovsky, while the microphone was given to activist Lechosław Goździk. The crowd in the square expressed support for the reforms of Polish October, but they also demanded the release from prison of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, the leader of the Catholic church in Poland. Gomułka's singing of One Hundred Years (Sto lat) became legendary.

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