On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in modern history. Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes, killing 2,977 people from 90 nations, not including the attackers. Among the victims were six Polish citizens.

The Polish connection to 9/11 went beyond the victims. New York had a large Polish immigrant community, and Polish-born firefighters and other residents were among the people who responded to the disaster.

Official Polish sources identify six Polish citizens who died in the attacks: Dorota Kopiczko, Łukasz Milewski, Norbert Szurkowski, Anna Pietkiewicz-De Bin, Jan Maciejewski and Maria Jakubiak. Their lives had taken them from different parts of Poland to New York, where they were working and building new lives.

They became part of the nearly 3,000 people whose lives were lost that day.

Polish Immigrants Helped in the Rescue

The Polish connection was also visible among the first responders.

The New York City Fire Department lost 343 firefighters on September 11. Among those firefighters were men of Polish origin who had built their lives and careers in America. Polish firefighter Stanisław Trojanowski, who participated in the rescue operation, later recalled colleagues of Polish descent who were killed that day.

This was one of the many ways Poland's immigrant community became part of the enormous rescue effort in New York. Polish Americans and Polish immigrants were among the firefighters, emergency workers and ordinary people who found themselves trying to help in the aftermath.

A Memorial Stands in Warsaw

The memory of the Polish victims also made its way back across the Atlantic.

In Warsaw's Skaryszewski Park, near Rondo Waszyngtona, stands a monument dedicated to the Poles who died in the World Trade Center attacks. It was unveiled on September 11, 2002, exactly one year after the attacks.

Every September 11, Polish firefighters and officials gather there to honor the victims. The monument has become a reminder that the tragedy in New York was felt far beyond the United States.

For Poles, the story of 9/11 is also connected to two things: the six Polish victims and the Polish firefighters and community members who were part of New York's response: the six Polish victims who never came home and the Polish immigrants and firefighters who stood alongside their fellow New Yorkers when the city needed them most.