He photographed besieged Warsaw. Julien Bryan commemorated in Wola

To mark the occasion, a letter by Poland's Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek was read out during the official unveiling ceremony. "With his insightful photojournalistic eye, the correspondent saw something that other didn't - a range of feelings and emotions of regular people. By capturing those emotions in a frame, he longed to address the conscience of potential viewers in the United States, as well as the then free Europe," the parliament speaker wrote. She also underscored the importance of the photos from September 1939 for Polish remembrance.

The commemorative plaque has been placed on the wall of the Headquarters of the Military Police at Jana Ostroroga street in Warsaw's Wola district. It was funded by the Warsaw Office for Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom. The plaque shows a text in Polish and English about Julien Bryan and Anna Kostewicz, as well as famous photographs taken by the American photojournalist. The ceremony was attended by Military Police officers, Institute of National Remembrance representatives, and members of parliament.

Bryan is considered to have been the only foreign journalist present in Warsaw during the siege of Warsaw in September 1939. He used a film and still cameras. Nearly all materials documenting fighting and tragedy of civilians on September of 1939 was made by Bryan.

On behalf of the Polish Radio, he called upon U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to help Warsaw civilians targeted by German bombers.

On September 21, 1939, advised by Warsaw authorities, Bryan used an opportunity to evacuate from the burning city, taking with him a hefty collection of materials documenting everyday life of civilians in a fighting city. His photographs, illustrating his articles, were published in December of 1939 on the covers of American magazines "Look" and "Life". In the spring of 1940, a documentary movie "Siege" premiered, and an album of the same title, with Bryan's extended coverage, reached the stores. It is estimated that the short documentary could have been seen by 40 million Americans and 200 million viewers across the world.

On September 1939, Bryan captured one of the most shocking images of the besieged Warsaw. A 14-year-old Anna Kostewicz was harvesting potatoes in a field next to Powązki Cemetery. She was shot by machine guns of a German aircraft. Julien Bryan arrived at the scene a few minutes later, assisted by two officers. At the same time, the girl's younger sister, Kazimiera, ran over there too. "The girl looked at us bewildered. I took her in my arms trying to console her. She was crying. I cried as well, and so did the two Polish officers who assisted me. What could we, or anyone else, have told this child?" - Bryan recollected years later. He returned to Poland for the first time in 1958. At the time, he met with the central figure of his photo.

Kazimiera Kostewicz died on August 28, 2020. She was buried at Powązki Cemetery.