One name in marble.
One child’s therapy funded.

One thousand names engraved in marble at the Church of St Maximilian Maria Kolbe in Kraków. Each one funds a child’s therapy.

Inscribe a nameAbout the Wall
Visualization of the finished Wall of Remembrance: the wall beside the altar covered with engraved marble stones.The finished Wall
The wall beside the altar today, before the Wall of Remembrance is set in it.Today
Drag the line to compare the wall today with the finished Wall of Remembrance (visualization).

966 of 1,000 places remain

October 15, 2026 the deadline

Kraków (Mistrzejowice) the parish church

Why we are doing this

Our ancestors left with a suitcase and a language no one around them spoke. They built parishes, businesses and families in a country that was not yet theirs, and they raised children who stayed Polish and stayed Catholic. Most of them were never written down anywhere.

This wall writes them down. In marble, alphabetically, permanently, in the church Karol Wojtyła consecrated as Pope John Paul II in 1983.

And it does something they would have understood. Every gift goes to the Order of Malta’s centre in Kraków, which for twenty years has given therapy to children with autism, genetic conditions and physical disabilities.

A word from the parish priest

Fr Andrzej Kopicz, Prelate, parish priest of the Church of St Maximilian Maria Kolbe in Kraków.

The film is loaded from YouTube only when you press play.

The Wall of Remembrance

The Wall of Remembrance is built from marble panels set with the eight-pointed cross of the Order of Malta. Names are engraved alphabetically, so families searching for their own will find their neighbours from the old country beside them.

It stands inside a working parish, not a museum, in a quiet place kept for prayer.

The sanctuary of the Church of St Maximilian Maria Kolbe, with the crucifix above the altar.
The Church of St Maximilian Maria Kolbe from outside, a 1976 design by Józef Dutkiewicz.
The sanctuary where the Wall will stand, and the parish church in Kraków (Mistrzejowice).

Forms of tribute

$1,000 One name
One name engraved in marble. An entry in the 2026 Digital Book of Gratitude.
$1,776 Two names, the 1776 tribute
Two names, for the year America declared independence. Honour a couple, two brothers, a mother and her son.

Every gift is tax-deductible in the United States. Only 1,000 places will ever exist.

Inscribe a name

Where the money goes

Every gift goes to the centre run by the Order of Malta in Kraków. For twenty years it has provided therapy to children with autism, genetic conditions and physical disabilities, at no cost to their families.

A name for someone who is gone.
Real help for a child who is here.

Honorary patronage

The Wall of Remembrance is held under the honorary patronage of

  • Elżbieta Burtan

    Head of Kraków County

  • President of the City of Kraków

  • Krzysztof Jan Klęczar

    Voivode of Lesser Poland

Names on the Wall

These are the names added to the Wall so far. They do not represent where each stone is placed on the Wall.
Stones belonging to one family are shown together. Within each section, names are listed alphabetically.

Organizations on the Wall

  • COPERNICUS FOUNDATION CHICAGO, IL 1971
  • POLISH HERITAGE CENTER PANNA MARIA, TX 2011
    FOUNDER BISHOP JOHN W. YANTA 1931–2022

Families on the Wall

  • BOSAK BOGUSŁAW BARBARA Z D. KOCHANEK
    BOSAK-PUCEK DIANNA DANIEL
    BOSAK-KOIS ALINA MATEUSZ
    DANIEL BOSAK CHICAGO, IL 1992
  • CIOROMSKI WOJCIECH GRAŻYNA Z D. KOWALSKA
    CHRISTINE HUBERT CHICAGO, IL 1952
  • KPT. STANISŁAW KARPIEL, WP LOS ANGELES, CA 1958
    VERONIKA KARPIEL Z D. ZSOLNAY LOS ANGELES, CA 1958
  • KAWULA TADEUSZ KRYSTYNA Z D. BANDAS
    ZUZANNA KAROLINA OLA
    CHICAGO, IL 1986 1997
  • KOCHANEK WŁADYSŁAW GENOWEFA
    Z D. POLICHT CHICAGO, IL 1968 1965
  • LASAK PIOTR BARBARA Z D. TORBA
    SEBASTIAN VERONICA DAVID
    PARK RIDGE, IL CHICAGO, IL 1999 1999
  • NIZIOŁ ROBERT ANNA Z D. MAJEWSKA
    MELANIE VICTORIA SOPHIA
    UPPER SADDLE RIVER NJ 1993

Individuals on the Wall

  • KONSTANTY CYBULSKI WHEELING, WV 1913
  • KAROL DOLEGA CHICAGO, IL 2000
  • MARIOLA GÓRSKA NEW YORK, NY 1979
  • HASZLAKIEWICZ ZBIGNIEW MARIAN CHICAGO, IL 1951
  • ADAM LARWA DETROIT, MI 1913
  • MARIA LORYŚ Z D. MIRECKI CHICAGO, IL 1951
  • JÓZEF MAKAREWICZ ELMIRA, MI 1903
  • MARQUART ZBIGNIEW ARTUR CHICAGO, IL 1951
  • MAŁGORZATA POMIANEK-GRIGORIAN ATLANTA, GA 1993
  • TRZOS ANDRZEJ MARIAN CHICAGO, IL 1978
  • WÓJCIK EUGENIUSZ WINCENTY DETROIT, MI 1909

Friends of Poland on the Wall

  • CARL AND RENÉE LANDEGGER FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST 1997

Vanessa O’Brien, chair of the Wall Committee.

“This is the kind of opportunity that comes once in a lifetime and the best spiritual return on investment.”

Vanessa O’Brien, DM Chair of the Wall Committee

A Polish-American explorer who has stood on the highest points on Earth and returned to a simpler question: where did we come from.

Organisers and partners

An initiative of

  • St Maximilian Maria Kolbe Parish

    Kraków (Mistrzejowice)

  • The Foundation of the Polish Knights of the Order of Malta

    Kraków

  • The Copernicus Foundation

    Chicago

A thousand names.
One of them is waiting for you to remember it.

Names for the engraving must reach us by October 15, 2026.

Inscribe a name

Ways to connect

Email
vanessaapkmusa@gmail.com