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World War II was a period of destruction of the Polish patriotic tradition, and tokens from the Greater Poland Uprising were the most fiercely eradicated traces of our history. Many of them have survived till the present day only because they were hidden from the Germans. Two plaques from the monument of insurgents were kept by the Regional Museum in Międzychód, another original plaque (from the year 1924) was hung in 1997 on the building of a school in Urbanów near Opalenica. Medallions, from a monument erected in the year 1926, containing the names of the fallen insurgents from the area of the poviat were saved and hidden by the inhabitants of Wągrowiec in 1939; they were brought back from oblivion as late as in 1970. Some elements of a grave from the cemetery in Rozdrażewo were also hidden from the Nazis. Inside the new building of the railway station in Krotoszyn, there is an original plaque from the year 1932, which was stored by railwayman Robakowski; the monument in this city, erected in 1959, is ornamented with the original eagle from a pre-war monument. The plaque on the insurgent monument in the cemetery in Poznań-Starołęka survived World War II because it was covered with a layer of mortar.

The commemorated places were not always completely and thoroughly destroyed by the Germans on purpose. The watching of monuments stripped of plaques and inscriptions, and deprived of their patriotic decorative motifs (like e.g. the eagles on the mass tomb in Rosk), must have been just one more depressing element of the enslavement of the native population. The devastated monument on the cemetery in Szubin was left as a “symbol of Nazi barbarism”.

The period of occupation also left testament places of executions and the graves of people murdered by Nazis only because they had fought for the freedom of their native land before. In the park at the “Sokół” shooting range in Buk, a monument was erected at the place where two Greater Poland insurgents were shot in 1939. Two participants of the Uprising fallen in 1920 and two others murdered during the occupation period were honoured with a monument in Mochy. A plaque, including the names of 28 insurgents - victims of the Nazis – can be found in the cemetery at Kąkolewska Street in Leszno.

After World War II had come to an end, it became necessary to reconstruct all the spheres of life in the country. Among the structures which required reconstruction were also the insurgent monuments, but given more urgent needs, their reconstruction went slowly. From the year 1948 onwards, a negative assessment of the Greater Poland Uprising was commonly adopted, therefore no new monuments or plaques appeared during that period. The end of the year 1956 marked the beginning of the restoration of the fight of the Greater Poland inhabitants to its rightful place in the history of the nation. From that date, consecutive commemorations could appear again and in many cases they appeared in places where structures destroyed by the Nazis had been present. This is actually the year from which, for instance, the current plaque at the place of death of F. Ratajczak comes.

From the late 1950s and early 1960s, the memories of the events which had taken place several decades ago and the care of those places which reminded people of them were fostered by Committees for the Protection of Monuments to the Struggle and Martyrdom and the Association of Soldiers Fighting for Freedom and Democracy. As part of the Association of Soldiers Fighting for Freedom and Democracy, the National Commission of Veterans of the Greater Poland Uprising, based in Poznań, was established. The commemoration of the events of the Greater Poland Uprising was one of the officially decreed activities of these organisations, however there were even problems with taking stock of the existing monuments and plaques. Work in this direction was conducted by the Western Institute, universities in Poznań and Toruń as well as the Historical Commission of the Poznań district of the Association of Soldiers Fighting for Freedom and Democracy, but their effects were not particularly impressive. According to the stock-take of the year 1965, we had 102 reconstructed monuments and plaques referring to the Uprising and 41 new commemorations. The erection of a central monument devoted to the Uprising in Poznań encountered certain problems. The concept of its erection had already appeared in 1921, the insurgent circles, authorities and ordinary citizens strived for it. During the inter-war period, the implementation of this initiative was hindered by political disputes and a certain reciprocal animosity between the Greater Poland inhabitants and the central authorities. It is perhaps worth adding that the insurgents themselves funded the plaques spontaneously to honour the memory of their colleagues fallen in the battles for independent Poland. These plaques were hung in church cloisters, where a holy mass was celebrated every year in memoriam, e.g. in the collegiate in Środa Wlkp. and in the Poznań Parish Church.

After the war, it was more important to commemorate the fight against the Nazis and 15 years had to pass before this issue could again be discussed at the level of the provincial instance of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PUWP). A great deal of work was put into the finalisation of the design - selected as a result of a contest, as the decision-makers did not like some of the details. The work took longer than planned which resulted in a situation where only the foundation act was laid during the 45th anniversary of the Uprising, the 17-metre core element of the monument was built in the year 1964 and the stone cladding and brown bas-reliefs were ready the following year.

The monument was unveiled on 19 September 1965. Its architect was Alfred Wiśniewski (1916-2011) – a professor at the Higher Arts School in Gdańsk, a Greater Poland citizen by origin (born in Rogoźno) and the son of an insurgent. He managed to combine modern form, functional properties and the requirements of the prevailing propaganda and also to skilfully balance abstract and realistic elements. It was also very good that the monument received sufficient space – about 0.6 ha. The solution for the monument was accepted by general society. Traditionally, official ceremonies organised every year in December take place in front of it. Fortunately there are no suggestions to change the appearance or “modernise” the monument - although “Drzymała's caravan” and the “activity of Marcin Kasprzak among the workers” were regarded as parts of the insurgent tradition. Also, the symbolic figures of an officer with a sword and a private with a rifle, which are deprived of any “class” undertones, met with a good reception.

A characteristic feature of the Communist era, especially the period after 1968, was the commemoration of the Greater Poland insurgents together with officers from the times of World War II (according to the nomenclature of that period, these were the “freedom and democracy fighters”). Examples of such solutions include the monuments in Zbąszyń (1969), Szkaradowo near Jutrosin (1969), Pępowo (1971), Opalenica (1977) and Kobylin (1979).

At the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990, the issue of the national remembrance sites stopped being an element of the state propaganda and, in turn, gained a new status as the sites were now to serve the purpose of the preservation of local tradition. The task of taking care of the existing commemorations was delegated to the lowest level, that is, the local government which is the true host of the given area. The conditions for the rebuilding of the monuments, which had not yet been reconstructed after their destruction during the Nazi occupation, were created. And so in the year 1990, an obelisk in Pogorzela was erected, and one year previously, an insurgent monument in Międzychód was unveiled (in 2002, it was provided with additional plaques containing the names of the fallen insurgents). In the year 1992, the monument in Gębice near Mogilno was rebuilt, and in the year 1999, the same happened with the monuments in Terespotockie near Opalenica and Zaniemyśl. Freedom Monuments were reconstructed in 1993 in Szamocin and in the year 2018 in Chodzież. A new monument, in the area of the place where the previous one had been destroyed, was unveiled in 2004 in Opalenica. In 2016, a reconstructed pre-war monument was located in Brzoza near Bydgoszcz in place of the previous one.

The existing monuments, plaques and tombs have been renovated and subjected to modernisation. In general, the original form of the monument is meticulously preserved while the elements which were destroyed are reconstructed. Sometimes they are complemented with new elements (such as the replica of the pre-war figure of an insurgent placed in 2014 on the tomb in Buk). Sometimes, however, the monuments receive new forms, which are in no way similar to their original shapes; this was the case, for instance, with the graves of Łukasz Kulik in Łowyń near Międzychód (1996) and Andrzej Kaczmarek in Borek near Jutrosin (2003), which look like other contemporary creations of local stone-cutters.

The resolving of the issue of commemorations in Międzychód also deserves particular recognition. The monument in front of the Town and Municipality Office was originally dedicated to the Greater Poland insurgents and victims of World War II. After reconstruction of the pre-war monument at Dworcowa Street, the existing monument now refers only to the victims from the years 1939-1945.

Monuments and plaques are still being unveiled, and more often than not in the most prestigious locations of the given towns. Among these, there is the monument in Grabowo at the Prosna River (1999), boulders in Kcynia (2004) and Złotniki Kujawskie (2009), plaques on the market squares in Kępno (1995), Czarnków (2004) and Swarzędz (2005), in the church in Łowyń (2002), on the cemetery gate in Skoki (2003), in the school in Łomnica near Zbąszyń (2004), on the defensive wall in Sulechów (2002), on boulders next to the school in Miedzichowo (1998), on the main street crossings in Powidz (1991), Piła (1999) and Walkowice near Czarnków (2001), in the cemetery in Zielona Góra (1999) and at the railway station in Chodzież (2004). Also monuments in the form of sculptures of insurgents have appeared in Boguszyn near Śmigiel (2008), Grodzisk Wielkopolski (2013) and Wolsztyn (2014).

Local episodes from the Uprisings are also commemorated, e.g. the fact of the hanging of a flag over the city for the first time is remembered by a stone next to the water tower in Śrem (2007). Also individual participants of the Uprisings such as: Józef Raczkowski in Chodzież (2002), Gerard Pająkowski in Gniewkowo (2003), Jan Mertka in Przygodzice (2004), Jan Rzepa in Wronki (2006) and Andrzej Kopa in Trzcielin (2006) are commemorated. The memory of General Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki found a special place in Lusowo, where a memorial hall was created in a new school which was put into service in 1996. 12 years later, the memorial hall was transferred to the Museum of Greater Poland Insurgents which was established by the local government of the Tarnowo Górne Commune.

The developing interest in the history of that period resulted in the appearance of memorial sites of a new type: plaques which list the names of participants of the Uprising from a given town or parish. The first of these was a huge slab, in the cemetery in Środa Wielkopolska, established in the year 2005. Others were then erected in Buk (2008), Dopiewo (2008), Margonin (2014), Miedzichowo (2014), Opalenica (2006) and Wilkowyja (2009); there is also a stone with a plaque in Otusz (2014). The difficulties with the listing of all insurgents manifested themselves most prominently in Wiry: next to a plaque with 30 names dated 2006, it was necessary to unveil another one two years later, including another 13 insurgents. Soon after that, information appeared that some more insurgents, which would need to be commemorated, were found.

Recent years have brought one other way of commemoration of the Uprising. The developing art of large-surface murals also covers the subject of historic events, including the Greater Poland Uprising. These are usually made on social initiatives, supported with the organisational and financial aid of local communities and local governments. A particular role in these activities was played by fans of a football team - ”Lech” Poznań. Insurgent murals can be seen in Chodzież (Podgórna Street; 2017), Czerwonak (at the fire station of the Voluntary Fire Brigade; 2015), Gniezno (at two locations; 2013), Jarocin (Rzeczypospolita district; 2016), Lusowo (at the entrance to the village; 2013), Nowy Tomyśl (on Komunalna Street; 2014), Opalenica (at 5 Stycznia Street; 2015), Ostrów Wielkopolski (on Kościuszki Street; 2012), Piła (on Sikorskiego Street; 2015), Rogalinek (on a bus shelter; 2018), Rzadkowo near Piła (on the main road; 2015), Śrem (on Wojska Polskiego Street; 2016), Świebodzin (on the Municipal Office; 2013) and Zdziechowa (at a bus stop; 2016). A huge painting presenting three people associated with insurgent operations in the Krotoszyn area was made in the year 2015 on the wall of a house on Zdunowska Street in that town. In the year 2017, the wall of the sports hall in Buk was ornamented with an eight-part painting related to the Uprising. The first of the murals, painted in the year 2012 in Poznań next to Teatr Polski (Polish Theatre) does not exist anymore, but it was replaced in the year 2018 by a huge composition on a tenement building at 33 Dąbrowskiego Street .

There is no doubt that the Greater Poland Uprising has currently become an important element of the regional tradition, so other forms of its commemoration should also be expected.