Katyn

„We prayed for the imminent establishment of Polish war cemeteries. How much effort, how much adversity had to be overcome during the last ten years, know only those, whom, from our hearts, we can thank today.
”

On behalf of the Katyn Families, Dr Ryszard J. Rudziński. From a speech delivered on 28 July 2000, during the opening ceremony of the Polish War Cemetery in Katyn.

The establishment of the cemetery was preceded by measurement and survey works carried out by Polish experts, geodetic and cartographic research and the exhumation of victims' remains. All works were organized and coordinated by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites (ROPWiM), headed by Andrzej Przewoźnik. The surveying and exhumation works carried out in the Katyn Forest in the years 1994 - 1995 by specialists led by Prof. Marian Głosek proved beyond doubt that the remains of Polish soldiers murdered by the NKVD in the spring of 1940 were located in the mass graves there. Precise geodetic measurements of the area made it possible to prepare the documentation necessary for those entries, who were invited to take part in the competition for the project of the spatial development project of the cemetery in Katyn.

After many years of effort and diplomatic endeavors, a document was signed in Smolensk on 25 March 1995, which allowed for the building of a Polish cemetery in Katyn. In June 1995, on the fifty-fifth anniversary of the Katyn Massacre, the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Wałęsa laid the foundation act and the foundation stone consecrated by Pope John Paul II for the construction of the Polish War Cemetery in Katyn.

The ROPWiM's open competition for the project of the spatial development of the cemeteries in Katyn, Mednoe, and Kharkiv was won by a team led by sculptor Zdzisław Pidek from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and Andrzej Sołyga from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

In the years 1998-1999, as a result of the tendering process, contractors were selected for the construction of the cemetery were selected. Groundworks and construction works were performed by the Polish companies Budimex S.A., together with its subcontractor Energotechnika Sp. z o.o. from Knurów. The consortium of Budimex S.A. and Metalodlew S.A. from Kraków handled the production of the cemetery's sculptural decor, its delivery, and assembly. The bell was made by the Janusz Felczyński i S-ka Odlewnia Dzwonów [Bell Foundry] from Przemyśl.

In April 1999, the ROPWiM received from the Russian authorities the right to dispose of the area for the construction of the cemetery and permission to build it. A month later, construction work started.

On 28 July 2000, as part of the celebrations commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre, the Polish War Cemetery in Katyn was opened and consecrated. The construction of the Katyn Cemeteries and their opening ceremonies were held under the patronage of the then Prime Minister, Prof. Jerzy Buzek.
As Andrzej Przewoźnik wrote: "This moment symbolically crowns the long and thorny road to the cemetery in the Katyn Forest. This place attracts and will attract the attention and thoughts of Poles from all over the world, united by a collective grief following the loss of their loved ones".

Based on A. Przewoźnik’s "Cmentarz w Katyniu", (in:) Katyń. Księga Cmentarna Polskiego Cmentarza Wojennego [Cemetery in Katyn, (in:) Katyn. Cemetery Book of the Polish War Cemetery], Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, Warsaw 2000.

Author: MW

„As a priest, there is one thing I want to request: to put a cross at the graveside.”

Józef Glemp

In the People's Republic of Poland, the Catholic Church supported the struggle for the truth about the Katyn Massacre. These efforts were an important part of the fight against the totalitarian regime. Churches put up commemorative plaques and held memorial services in memory of the victims of the Massacre. The Catholic Church organised exhibitions and lectures, at which it was demanded that the victims be duly commemorated, and the perpetrators punished. The first Katyn monuments were erected in cemeteries and publications about the Crime, which were forbidden due to censorship, were published in publications connected with the Church. The priests involved in these matters became victims of repression, and even paid for it with their lives.

In 1988 the Polish Primate, Józef Glemp visited Russia to celebrate the Millennium of Baptism of Ruthenia and during an official meeting with the Minister of Religion of the USSR Council of Ministers, Konstantin Kharchev, he raised the issue of Katyn. "I explained to him that Katyn is still a painful issue for us, so if we want to have proper relations between our countries, we have to tell the truth about this crime and revoke the claims that it is the Nazis’ doing. I told him then: As a priest, there is one thing I want to request: to put a cross at the graveside. I noticed how the minister became bewildered. "Krest you say? Tolka krest. Da! Mozhno [A cross, you say? Just a cross. Yes. You can.] You can put up a cross. It's easy, it can be done."

After his return to Poland, the primate commissioned priest Lucjan Święszkowski to erect the cross in the Katyn Forest. Thanks to Moscow's consent, it was possible to obtain the necessary permission and to deal with all the formalities. The inscription placed on it said: "In this place, a cross will be erected to commemorate the death of Polish officers". The cross, five and a half meters high, was consecrated by Primate Glemp.
The cross, transported from Warsaw in a STAR A-200 truck belonging to the Warsaw Seminary, was erected in the Katyn Forest on 1 September 1988 in the presence of representatives of the Polish Embassy in Moscow and the Orthodox clergy in Smolensk. The cross stood between the two monumental plaques, which stated in both Polish and Russian the untruthful statement: "To the victims of fascism – the Polish officers shot by the Nazis in 1941"...

It took the next two years for the Soviet authorities to admit that the USSR was to blame for the Katyn Massacre, and the next twelve until the moment when the Polish Primate, Józef Glemp could say the following words during a mass on the occasion of the consecration of the Polish War Cemetery in Katyn:

"The officers buried in these mass graves have been reborn in our memory after sixty years. The graves in which they rest are located in a proper cemetery, testifying to the memory and love of the families and all their compatriots in the next generation".
(MW)

Based on: Milena Kindziuk’s Kardynał Józef Glemp. Ostatni taki Prymas [Cardinal Józef Glemp. The Last Such Primate], Świat Książki, Warsaw 2010.

Adam Teofil Solski was born on 4 January 1895 in the village of Milatycze near Lviv. He was the son of Marian and Maria (née Wantałowicz). He had five siblings, including brother Kazimierz, a captain of the artillery in the Polish Army. He studied at the cadet school in Bełchatów and at the Higher School for Officers. During World War I, he joined the Eastern Legion and was then forcibly conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army, which he deserted. In 1915 he was wounded at Monte Sabotino. In 1916 he joined the Polish Legions. After the so-called Oath Crisis, he was a member of the Polish Auxiliary Corps. After the end of the war, he settled in Lviv.

During the battles for Lviv, he fought as a cadet in the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Polish Legions. From mid-1919 he was assigned to General Haller’s army. During the Polish-Bolshevik war, he took part in the Kyiv expedition. During the interwar period he served in the 9th Infantry Division - first in Łuków, and then in Brest. On 1 May 1923 he was promoted to the rank of captain of the Polish Army. Nine years later, he was promoted to the rank of major of the infantry in the Polish Army. In 1938 he was transferred to the 57th Infantry Regiment to Poznań, where he lived until the outbreak of World War II. For his military service, he was awarded, among others, the Cross of Valour, the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari and the Silver Cross of Merit.

After the outbreak of World War II and the Soviet aggression against Poland, he was taken prisoner in Tarnogród on 28 September 1939. Two days later, he arrived in Volochysk, the reception point for POWs, organised by the NKVD. On 5 October he was sent to the NKVD POW camp in Putyvl, and on 3 November 1939 he was transported to the Kozelsk camp, where he met his brother, Kazimierz. In Kozelsk Adam Solski became the commander of one of the blocks. His family comprising of his wife Anna née Trojanowska (called ‘Danka’ in his diaries) and his daughter Ewa, escaped from Poznań to Lviv after 1 September 1939. After the entry of the Soviet army, they managed to get to Warsaw.

Major Solski left behind one of the most detailed diaries, which he kept from the moment of entering into Soviet captivity until almost the last minutes before his execution in the Katyn Forest. The diary was found by his body on 24 April 1943 during the German exhumations and was often quoted on Radio Free Europe after the war.

On 7 April 1940 Major Solski was sent to be at the disposal of the NKVD Regional Office in Smolensk. His name is listed on consignment note No. 015/2 dated 5 April 1940 under No. N 413-41-2159. On that day, he made the following note in his diary: “After the search, at 4:55 p.m. (our Polish time: 2:55 p.m.) we left the walls and barbed wire of the Kozelsk camp. We were put in prison cars. The kind of cars I have never seen in my life. [They say] that 50% of passenger rail cars in the USSR are prison cars.” It is known that major Solski left the camp with three generals: Minkiewicz, Smorawiński and Bohaterewicz, and was murdered on 9 April 1940. The last entry, dated 9 April, reads: “Five o’clock in the morning. At dawn, the day had a strange start. Leaving in a prison truck in compartments [terrible!]. [We were] brought to some forest; something like a summer resort. A detailed search was done here. My watch, showing 6:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m.), was taken away. I was asked about my wedding ring which (...). They took away my roubles, main belt, penknife.” A few minutes later major Adam Solski was murdered with a shot in the back of his head from a close distance. His brother, Kazimierz was murdered in Katyn about a week later, most probably on 17 April 1940.

On 5 October 2007, major Adam Solski was posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Polish Army.

Author: KŁ

Józef Baran-Bilewski was born on 4 March 1899 in Racławówka near Rzeszów. He was the son of Tomasz and Zofia (née Gubernat) and had six siblings. His brother Jan was a certified colonel in the Polish Army and an athlete, a four-time Polish champion.

From March 1917 until the end of World War I, Józef Baran-Bilewski served in the Austro-Hungarian Army. In 1918, he also graduated from the School for Reserve Officers in Olomouc. He took part in the battles for Lviv during the Polish-Ukrainian conflict and the Polish-Bolshevik war. He was stationed mainly in Lviv. In 1921 he graduated from the Artillery Cadet School in Poznań. In the same year, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Polish Army. A year later, he received his secondary school certificate, graduating from a gymnasium in Toruń. He completed many courses and training seminars, e.g. at the Central Military School of Gymnastics and Sport. In 1929 he was enrolled onto a three-year course at the Central Institute of Physical Education in Warsaw, where he subsequently worked as a lecturer in athletics until 1938. At the same time, he was a lecturer at the National Higher School of Machine-Building and Electrical Engineering at the Department of Mechanics. He combined a career in sports and the military. In 1922 and 1926, he won the Polish championship in the shot-put, and in 1926–1927 and in 1929 he was the Polish champion in discus throw. He was a multiple Polish record holder in both these disciplines. In 1928 he took part in the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. He was also a highly sought-after personal coach of the athletics team for the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, an author of many articles on sport and the co-author of sports textbooks. In the early 1930s he published (as a co author) a textbook on the teaching of athletics, Zasady nauczania lekkiej atletyki (Principles of Teaching Athletics), which was the first publication of its kind in Poland.

Before the outbreak of World War II, he went to the town of Volodymyr-Volynskyi, where he was assigned to the 27th Light Artillery Regiment of the Polish Army. Around 20 September 1939, he was taken prisoner by the Soviets. His wife, Maria received two letters from him from the NKVD assembly point in Shepietivka and from the NKVD camp in Kozelsk. On 15 April 1940, he was sent to be at the disposal of the NKVD Regional Office in Smolensk. His name is included in consignment note No. 029/1 dated 13 April 1940 under No. N-469-79-1927. He was murdered in Katyn between 16 and 17 April 1940. After the graves in the Katyn Forest were discovered, his body was exhumed on 13 May 1943.

Posthumously, on 5 October 2007, Captain Józef Baran-Bilewski was promoted to the rank of major of the Polish Army.

Author: KŁ

Wiktor Franciszek Kaliciński was born on 18 August 1896 in Krakow. He was the son of Tadeusz and Maria (née Buratowska). During World War I, he passed his matriculation exams early and actively participated in armed fighting. In 1915 he began his medical studies in Krakow, which he continued with multiple interruptions. He was a member of those paramilitary organisations fighting for independence including the Podhale Teams (Drużyny Podhalańskie) and the Shooting Association (Związek Strzelecki). He joined the Polish Legions and took part, among others, in the battle of Krzywopłoty, where he was wounded. In 1916 before the Legions were disbanded, he left the Legions and joined the Polish Military Organisation (POW) and the Polish Army in November 1918. He took part in the Polish-Bolshevik war, and in 1921 he was ordered by the army to complete his medical degree. In 1925, he received a doctoral degree in universal medical sciences with a specialisation in pathological anatomy at the University of Warsaw. He started working at the Sanitary Training Centre (CWS) in Warsaw, which was the centre for medical training of Polish Army personnel. He held the positions of lecturer, assistant, and subsequently, the head of the pathological anatomy laboratory. He also worked at the Ujazdowski Hospital in Warsaw, where he was head of the Department of Pathology. He was involved in research on cancer cells, and in the 1930s he ran an anti-tuberculosis clinic. In 1927 he was awarded the rank of captain-doctor of the Polish Army, and in 1934 he became a major-doctor. In 1931 he was awarded the Cross of Independence and received the Gold Cross of Merit in 1937.

Kaliciński also specialised in embalming procedures for corpses. On 12 May 1935 he undertook the most important procedure of this kind in his career, as Marshal Józef Piłsudski died on that day. Kaliciński, together with Dr. Józef Laskowski, took out the Marshal’s heart and brain. Piłsudski’s brain was placed in formalin and on 21 May 1935 in the Belvedere Palace, it was given to Professor Maksymilian Rose, the director of the Polish Brain Research Institute at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. Kaliciński also performed an autopsy of the Marshal’s body and carried out embalming procedures on it.

After the outbreak of World War II, together with the entire staff of the Sanitary Training Centre, Kaliciński was evacuated to the east, where he was taken prisoner by the Soviets. He was probably sent to the NKVD camp in Kozelsk in December 1939. He became a well-known figure in the camp. Jan Zienkiewicz, a doctor who also stayed in Kozelsk, wrote in his diary (found during the exhumation in Katyn in 1943) that Kaliciński often talked about the embalming of Piłsudski’s body.

On 7–9 April 1940 Kaliciński was sent to be at the disposal of the NKVD Regional Office in Smolensk. He is listed on consignment note No. 017/2 dated 5 April 1940 under No. N 423-10-3444. He was murdered in Katyn between 9 and 11 April 1940. He had a wife and two children (a daughter, Małgorzata and son, Kajetan).

During the German exhumation in Katyn in 1943, Kaliciński was identified by a member of the Technical Committee of the Polish Red Cross, Dr. Marian Wodziński, who was an acquaintance of Kaliciński. Kaliciński was mentioned in a testimony before the military field court in Meppen by Ivan Krivozertsev, a Russian peasant living near the Katyn Forest: “I also talked to members of the Polish Red Cross. I remember one time, when a corpse was taken out, the Poles started to talk a lot among themselves when they saw his documents, and I heard them say ‘Piłsudski’. I was curious, I came closer and asked what had happened. Then they showed me the documents and said that they had found a body of Piłsudski’s personal doctor.”

On 5 October 2007, major Wiktor Kaliciński, PhD, was posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Polish Army.

Author: KŁ

„There is a woman pilot here in the camp – a brave woman. She has been through all the hardships and inconveniences of captivity with us for almost four months, holding on perfectly well.”

Major Kazimierz Szczękowski on Janina Lewandowska

„Herring and fish. A ban on singing Christmas carols. Strange nervous commotion and preparations. Transporting twenty-some people. Christmas Eve, greetings, a salad.”

Second Lieutenant of the Reserve Bronisław Wajs, [in:] Pamiętniki znalezione w Katyniu, 2nd edition, Wrocław 1990, p. 180.

„A well-developed religious life was a factor that immensely lifted the spirits among the POWs. In Kozelsk, we had a number of military chaplains. Since they were all in uniforms, it took some time for the authorities to realise that they were not regular officers.
Since all common prayers were strictly forbidden, religious services were held underground, catacomb-style. The priests celebrated holy masses in various nooks and crannies of the old Orthodox churches, or even somewhere in the basements, and then handed out the Host in the form of wheat bread from the camp’s food rations. The routine of evening prayer, held in the form of three minutes of silence, was preserved in all the blocks. Around 9 p.m., when a powerful voice resounded from some dark corner or from the church choir converted to a prison barrack, saying “I order a three-minute silence,” all conversations stopped and commotion died away. Everyone stayed where that voice found him. Confessions were usually taken during walks around the camp yard. If you saw an officer walking arm in arm with one of the priests, it was possible to think that he was receiving the sacrament of penance. There were many cases where people who had not been practicing Catholics before the war were now making confessions from their entire lives and received the Holy Communion. (…)
On Christmas Eve in1939 all priests, whether Roman Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, were arrested and deported. (…)
The fact that the Christmas period was chosen for a crackdown on the priests had a symbolic meaning and left a depressing impression on the prisoners of Kozelsk.”

Stanisław Swianiewicz, W cieniu Katynia, Warsaw 1990, pp. 101–102.

„7:00 p.m., Christmas Eve, we are having dinner in an hour. Now people are going to see Karol, but through the window because they aren’t allowed to go otherwise. The mood, well, usually it’s sombre what else? Most people are exchanging greetings. I’ve already visited all my close acquaintances. Since 4:30 pm they have been collecting a transport -police, gendarmes, priests, etc. General commotion. Devil knows where they’re taking them. Right now, they’re keeping them in the cinema and, naturally, doing a detailed search. I wonder what they might be looking for in these people, whom have kept for three months and already searched so many times. So, Christmas Eve for these poor people is worse than for us. Yeah, and what about all my old men, what about Stasia, when I am going to see you? I’m sending you my greetings (...) Our supper promises to be, well, I don’t know how to put it. Naturally, we have a place to sit down, a table covered with a white tablecloth (cut out from Zygmunt R.’s mattress), a miniature Christmas tree, there will be herring and fish from breakfast, tea, bread, and, of course, the Christmas wafer. We got the latter from Block II, I think. The guys are back from seeing Karol. We’re starting to prepare.
Sunday. 10:30 p.m. – (...) Yesterday’s Christmas Eve went well here. Even the atmosphere was great. We shared the Christmas wafer, we had fish, herring with onion, tea, bread. – Christmas carols, and chatted. Kisiel, the major, was with us. We talked and went to sleep.”

Second Lieutenant of the Reserve Włodzimierz Wajda, [in:] Pamiętniki znalezione w Katyniu, 2nd edition, Wrocław 1990, p. 156.

„In the main room – in the ruined church, that is, in the “Indian tomb” mentioned earlier, usually at nine o’clock, we would hear the order: “We begin the three-minute silence.” Then it suddenly became quiet in our “colony”. You could hear people breathing. The silence was respected by everyone, believers and non-believers, Catholics and Jews. I knew for sure that priests celebrated the Holy Mass in the “great Kozelsk”. (...) The Mass was celebrated in the greatest secrecy in one of the blocks, with guards on the outside the building. A glass was used as the chalice, and a saucer served as the paten. The host was made from flour stolen from the kitchen. As for wine, it’s a longer story, because I got a few handfuls of raisins for some trousers that a Russian soldier liked the look of. These raisins were used to make the wine. I don’t know how they made it. My job was to get raisins. Getting flour wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but it was also a large undertaking. Well, after lights-out, when we were no longer allowed to leave the barracks (at the risk of getting shot or arrested), I went to the kitchen, which was located in the centre of our skete. I banged on the door. The door was opened by a bewildered Vanka (that’s what we called our cook) and he asked if I was crazy and what brought me to the kitchen. I said my companion was sick, I needed kipyatok (boiled water), and some flour. He replied politely, which was not usual for him, and said: “Come back in half an hour, I’ll prepare something for your companion.” I came back, and he had actually prepared “something”, that is, he filled my flask with hot water and gave me a bundle with fried blinis. But he didn’t give me any flour, so I said, “Give me some flour.” “What for?” “I want to make opłatki (wafers).” I said it in Polish because I didn’t know the Russian word for it. His eyes seemed to light up, he stopped for a while, then he brought some flour without saying a word. Then he went out with me and asked that we sit on the stairs. We were looking forward, it was already snowing and there was silence everywhere, the kind you only get when it snows. He asked in Russian: “Ty Polyak?” (Are you Polish?) I replied: “And who do you think I am? Just a Pole.” He was silent for a while. His face became still, he looked ahead and spoke in a calm voice, with a beautiful accent from the eastern borderlands, and started saying in Polish: “Our Father, who art heaven,” and then: “Hail Mary, full of grace,” and then: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty...” and he finished: “Our Lady of Czestochowa, Queen of Poland, pray for us.” He roused himself from his prayers and added in Russian: “Go, now.” And then he said: “This is our secret, between us, you understand.” (...) Christ must have enjoyed the flour, the Host, the wafer which, with the sound of one word, had pulled on the deepest strings in the soul, something unique in Vanka’s – Jan’s personality. After some delicate research, I later discovered that he came from near Bobruisk, from a nobleman’s estate, from the area where my Krechowiecki Cavalry Regiment had been founded. Vanka gave me some flour one more time. I didn’t see him again after New Year’s Day. He disappeared. No one saw him. I don’t know where they took him, probably to the army. This was the story about the flour for the Host for several Holy Masses and the Christmas wafer.”

Father Zdzisław Peszkowski, Wspomnienia jeńca z Kozielska, 2nd edition, Długołęka 2000.

Baruch Steinberg – Rabbi

Baruch Steinberg was born on 17 December 1897 in Przemyślany. He was the son of Szhmai and Hendla. His family moved to Vienna when World War I broke out. From 1918, he was a member of the Polish Military Organisation and took part in the Polish-Ukrainian War and the defence of Lviv. He studied Oriental Studies at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. In 1922 he joined the Polish Army, and from 1928 onwards, he served as a chaplain in the Polish Army. As a rabbi, he served in Corps District No. 3 in Grodno, and then in Corps District No. 1 in Warsaw. He also served as a rabbi in Corps Districts No. 3 and No. 5. In 1929, he became Class I Rabbi (corresponding to the rank of captain), and soon a Class II Rabbi (in the rank of major). From 1933 he headed the Main Pastoral Office, and three years later became the Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army.

After the outbreak of World War II, he was the head of the Pastoral Ministry of Non-Catholic Confessions for the “Krakow” Army. After 17 September 1939, he was taken prisoner by the Soviets and sent to the Starobelsk POW camp. On 24 December 1939, together with ten other clergymen, he was taken to the Butyrki prison in Moscow. On 2 March 1940, he was again transferred to Starobelsk, then to Yukhnov, and from there to Kozelsk on 17 or 27 March 1940. On 11 or 12 April 1940, he was placed at the disposal of the NKVD Regional Office in Smolensk. He is listed on consignment note No. 022/3 dated 9 April 1940 under No. N 447-55-4910. He was murdered in Katyn on 13 or 14 April 1940.

Bronisław Młynarski, one of the survivors of the Starobelsk camp, wrote about Steinberg in his memoirs. On Fridays when the Sabbath began, Jews held prayers in the camp, led by rabbi Steinberg.

In 1937, rabbi Steinberg was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit and in 2018 he was posthumously awarded the Order of the White Eagle. On 5 October 2007 he was posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Polish Army.

„The world's conscience cries out for a testimony to the truth”

Inscription on the Katyn Memorial in London

For years, the Katyn Massacre committed by the perpetrators from the Soviet Union was an inconvenient issue for the world. During the Second World War, it was feared that the anti-German coalition would have broken up and, in the name of bringing the war to an end as soon as possible, it was decided not to take any action on the Katyn issue. This remained the case during the Nuremberg trials and during the post-war years. In Washington, London, Paris, and other capital cities, the attempts to discuss the Katyn issue were muffled.

The world was reminded of the Crime, but only for a moment in the period of the Cold War. On 18 September 1951, the United States House of Representatives established a special commission to investigate the Katyn Massacre, headed by Congressman Ray John Madden. The collected and published documents clearly identified the Soviets as the perpetrators of the murder of the Polish POWs.

For years, the Soviet Union tried to fight against the uncomfortable truth about Katyn through both diplomatic and unofficial means and was supported in this matter by the authorities of communist Poland. Such was the case regarding the initiative to build a Katyn Memorial in London, undertaken in the 1970s by the community of Polish veterans in the United Kingdom and those Brits supporting the Katyn cause. The USSR's pressure on the government of Great Britain caused the struggle for the establishment of the monument to last for five years, during which the location and concept had to be changed several times. Eventually, despite numerous protests from the embassies of the Soviet Union and of Poland, the first Katyn Memorial in Europe was unveiled at Gunnersbury Cemetery in London on 18 September 18 1976 with the attendance of the Polish President in exile, Stanisław Ostrowski. About eight thousand people participated in the ceremony. The official delegation of the British government, which forbade soldiers in uniforms to participate in the ceremony, was not present. Despite the ban, both Sir Frederick Bennett and Major of the Reserve, John Gouriet (in full uniform) took part in the ceremony. The monument, due to its shape, was described as an "accusing finger" towards the Soviet Union.

By decree of 11 November 1976, President Ostrowski awarded the War Order of Virtuti Militari (No. 14384) collectively "to the Polish soldiers killed in Katyn and other unknown places of execution, to commemorate the sacrifice of their lives, in the name of Polish Independence". Two days later, he solemnly decorated the monument in London with the Silver Cross of the War Order of Virtuti Militari.

On 1 January 1986, the Minister of Military Affairs in Exile, certified colonel Jerzy Morawicz granted the commemorative decoration – the Cross of the 1939 September Campaign to "all Polish victims of the Katyn Crime".

When, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the victims of the Katyn Massacre could be commemorated with honour and respect, their families determined the military character of future cemeteries. It was decided that the project would take into account the decorations awarded in exile.
At the request of the Katyn Families Federation, the Committee of the War Order of Virtuti Militari agreed that the colours of the decoration could be used by placing Virtuti Militari ribbons on permanent memorials to the victims of the Katyn Massacre. On 11 November 11 1996, the Silver Cross Virtuti Militari emblem was transferred from the monument in London to decorate the war cemeteries in Katyn, Kharkiv, and Mednoe, which were to be established.

After the Polish War Cemeteries had been built, the crosses became an important element, reminding the world of the soldiers’ bloodshed and the truth about the Katyn Massacre, which could not be extinguished.

Author: MW

(WARNING – material contains disturbing scenes)

On April 13, 1943, Nazi Germany announced the discovery of the place where the bodies of Polish officers murdered by the NKVD on the order of the highest state authorities of the Soviet Union were buried near Smolensk. The decision to do so was purely propagandist. The disclosure of the Katyn Massacre was supposed to lead to a rift between the Western Allies and the USSR. Following their defeat at Stalingrad, it was also supposed to show the German soldiers what surrendering to the Soviets could lead to. With this in mind, the German propaganda machine used all methods and means available to them at that time: the press, radio, newsreels, gramophone records, exhibitions, meetings with the inhabitants of cities and workers, and so on.

The exhumation works carried out by the Germans and the Technical Committee of the Polish Red Cross in the Katyn Forest were accompanied by excursions. They were specially organized for visitors, who were transported by buses from Smolensk to see the exhumation site. Politicians, scientists, writers, journalists and commercial delegates from Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Italy and many others were all brought to Katyn with the sole aim show the world "the enormity of Jewish-Bolshevik crimes".

It is estimated that the Katyn mass graves were visited by more than 30 thousand people (mainly soldiers from Germany and other Axis powers serving on the eastern front). The Germans even encouraged the visitors to take "souvenirs" with them, i.e. buttons, military decorations, fragments of uniforms, or objects found by the exhumed bodies...
The German propaganda film Im Wald von Katyn (English: In the Katyn Forest) was made in the spring of 1943 by Fritz Hippler, known for directing the extremely anti-Semitic film, The Eternal Jew. The Katyn movie was screened as a newsreel in Germany and in other countries, including occupied Poland.
The first frames of the black-and-white film show the idyllic transdnistrian landscape, which conceals the truth about the Soviet Crime. Viewers see first exhumation works carried out in the Katyn Forest: mass graves with the bodies of Polish officers, Soviet prisoners of war excavating the corpses, and the examination of their remains – including that of General Smorawiński.
The film features members of the International Medical Committee established by Germany and the Technical Committee of the Polish Red Cross, including PRC Secretary General Kazimierz Skarżyński. The film shows also Polish soldiers brought to Katyn from German POW camps for propaganda purposes and Leon Kozłowski (who was the Polish Prime Minister in 1934-1935). The journalists' conversation with Parfen Kiselev, a Russian peasant and one of the witnesses of the Katyn Massacre, was also filmed.
The film culminates in a scene recorded on 16 April 1943, during which a funeral mass is held over mass graves by canon Stanisław Jasiński. Kazimierz Skarżyński (visible in the film, standing next to the canon) remembered this moment as follows: “Father Jasiński, terribly pale and about to faint, wore liturgical robes and prayed for the dead; sprinkled the graves with holy water and dusted some soil brought from Poland. We kneeled and prayed with him while the Germans and a group of Russians looked on at us in silence. As soon as the priest fulfilled his duty, he got up, but immediately fainted.”

WARNING – the film contains disturbing scenes

„[He was] a man of deep knowledge, manners and intelligence. He longed for a strong Poland, based on new ideological foundations.”

pilot Jan Rodziewicz, a prisoner of Kozelsk who escaped execution, on General Bohaterewicz.

Bronisław Bohaterewicz was born on 26 (27) February 1870 near Grodno. He was descended from the nobility. He was the son of Kazimierz and Maria (née Kowalicka). At the age of 19, he joined the Imperial Russian army, graduating from the Vilnius Infantry School in 1913. During World War I, he was promoted to the rank of major. He was wounded on the eastern front in November 1914 and remained in German captivity until the end of the armed conflict.

After the war he joined the newly created Polish Army but was not formally accepted with his rank of major from the Russian Imperial Army until June 1919. In June 1920 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. From that time, he commanded the Niemen Infantry Brigade and the Central Lithuania Auxiliary Brigade. In May 1922, he was promoted to the rank of colonel in the Polish Army. In the 1920s, he commanded, among others, the 20th Infantry Division in Słonim and the 18th Infantry Division in Łomża. In February 1927 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and retired a few months later. As a military settler, he settled permanently in the Grodno county. He had a wife and two children. He received many awards for his military service, including the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari, the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Gold and Silver Cross of Merit and (four times) the Cross of Valour.

After the Soviet aggression against Poland, General Bohaterewicz was arrested by the NKVD on 25 September 1939 in Tieshen and taken to the NKVD POW camp in Putyvl. On 3 November 1939 he arrived at the Kozelsk camp. On 7 April 1940, he was sent to be at the disposal of the NKVD Regional Office in Smolensk. His name is included on consignment note No. 015/2 dated 5 April 1940 under No. N-411-7-1139. He was probably shot on 9 April 1940 in Katyn.

When the graves of Polish officers in Katyn were discovered by the Germans in April 1943, his body was quickly identified. The deaths of General Bohaterewicz and General Smorawiński, as high-ranking officers of the Polish Army, were often highlighted by German propaganda. On 16 April 1943 the first list of victims was presented in Goniec Krakowski, and it included the name of General Bohaterewicz. A day later, the same newspaper published photos of exhumed bodies of generals on its front page. According to the account by Ferdynand Goetel, who visited Katyn in April 1943, he received the ribbon of the Virtuti Militari cross from General Bohaterewicz’s coat from Professor Gerhard Buhtz. This relic was destroyed by fire during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. General Bohaterewicz and General Smorawiński were buried in separate coffins and graves in 1943. In 1995, after the repeated exhumations were carried out by Polish archaeologists, a ceremonial funeral was organised for both generals.

Pursuant to the decision of 5 October 2007, adopted by President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, Brigadier General Bronisław Bohaterewicz was posthumously promoted to the rank of Major-General of the Polish Army.

Mieczysław Makary Smorawiński – Brigadier General

Mieczysław Makary Smorawiński was born on 25 December 1893 in Kalisz. He was the son of Jan and Marianna (née Zagrodzka) and had seven siblings. The whole family lived in Turek near Kalisz. From an early age, Smorawiński was active in various organisations fighting for Poland’s independence. In 1911 he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for his activity in the youth independence organization “Zarzewie,” and sent to Dnipro. Upon his return, he went to Lviv, where he began a degree programme in chemistry at the Lviv University of Technology in 1912. He joined the independence organisation “Polish Rifle Teams” (Polskie Drużyny Strzleckie), where he learned how to handle weapons and underwent military training. On the outbreak of World War I, he left for Krakow and joined the emerging Polish Legions. He did not inform his family about joining the army and sneaked out of his home at night, leaving only a farewell letter. At the end of the war he was affiliated with the infantry regiment of the Polish Auxiliary Corps, and then with the Polish Armed Forces.

On 1 November 1918, he joined the Polish Army as a major. He commanded the 8th Infantry Regiment of the Legions. He fought near Lviv, in Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus. During the Polish-Bolshevik war, he commanded the 4th Infantry Regiment of the Legions and the 4th Infantry Brigade. On 1 January 1928, he was promoted by the President of the Republic of Poland, Ignacy Moscicki, to the rank of brigadier general. At the age of only 35, he became the youngest general in the Polish Army. He served in Grodno where he was the deputy commander of Corps District No. 3, and since 1934, he was the commander of Corps District No. 2 in Lublin.

After the German attack against Poland, he stayed in Kovel and then in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, where he began talks with the Soviets after their entry into the town. On 20 September 1939 he was detained by the NKVD. Initially, he was sent to the NKVD camp in Shepetivka, and then to the POW camp in Yuzha. In early November, together with other officers, Smorawiński was sent to Kozelsk. He soon became a figure of authority in the camp, making sure that the prisoners of war maintained their dignity as officers of the Polish Army.

On 7 April 1940, he was sent to be at the disposal of the NKVD Regional Office in Smolensk. His name is on the consignment list No. 015/2 dated 5 April 1940 under No. N-411-6-1140. He was murdered in Katyn together with other generals and POWs from this list, probably on 9 April 1940.
In April 1943, his body and that of General Bohaterewicz were identified in Katyn during the early stage of the exhumation works. General Smorawiński had his hands tied behind his back and a bullet hole in the occipital region of his skull. Initially, the general’s family, like most families of the murdered prisoners, did not believe the German reports, considering them to be false. After the exhumation photos were published, Smorawiński’s son, Jurek recognised his father’s cigarette case, which was found by the body. The Germans intended to use the Smorawiński family for a propaganda campaign formed around the Katyn Massacre. The general’s wife, Helena and his children were summoned to a German office. They were told to read the texts prepared by the Germans in front of the microphone. The general’s son was expected to read out, among other things, that when he grows up, he will avenge his father’s death, and his wife was told to read out that she would pray for the Bolsheviks’ victims. Ultimately, the Smorawiński family refused to cooperate. On 11 June 1943, a holy mass organised by the Germans for the soul of General Smorawiński took place at the Lublin Cathedral. The family of the murdered general was supposed to take part in the service. A sound system comprising of microphones and other equipment was installed in the church to enable the mass to be broadcast outside the walls of the cathedral. Despite the untruthful message printed in Polish-language newspapers published by the Germans, the Smorawiński family did not appear at the service. However, Stanisław Smorawiński was sent to Katyn, where he recognised his brother’s body and demanded that the Germans bury the identified generals in separate coffins.

Despite refusing to cooperate with the Germans, the Smorawiński family had to live with the stigma of the Katyn Massacre. They fled from Lublin to Krakow before the approaching Red Army arrived. After the end of the war, widow Helena Smorawińska and her children were unable to find work there.

Pursuant to the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński of 5 October 2007, Brigadier General Mieczysław Smorawiński was posthumously promoted to the rank of Major-General of the Polish Army. For his achievements during World War I and the Polish-Bolshevik war, he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Order, the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Cross of Independence, the Cross of Valour (four times), the Gold Cross of Merit and the National Order of Légion d’honneur.

Author: KŁ

„[A man] of great intelligence, extraordinary cheerful spirit and purely Franciscan forbearance for human frailty. He aroused the Polish spirit, and poured strength into doubting souls.”

Henryk Minkiewicz-Odrowąż was born on 19 January 1880 in Suwałki. He was the son of Kazimierz and Karolina (née Michałowska). When he was 8 years old, the family moved from Suwalki to Marijampolė, where he graduated from gymnasium and received his secondary school certificate in 1898. He went to St. Petersburg, where he began his studies in natural sciences as well as his involvement in political activities, joining the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). In 1902, he dropped out of the university and moved to Krakow, still collaborating with the underground PPS units. In Krakow, he enrolled at the Jagiellonian University to study medicine, which he gave up after a year, taking up a degree in painting the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts instead. Although he did not complete that degree either, he always considered himself to be an artist. From 1904 he fully dedicated himself to being a political activist in the PPS. In 1905, during the 7th PPS Congress in Warsaw, he was elected to the Central Executive Committee. When the PPS broke up in 1906, he supported Józef Piłsudski and the PPS Revolutionary Faction. As a supporter of the Polish struggle for independence, he joined the Active Fighting Association (Związek Walki Czynnej) and the Shooting Association (Związek Strzelecki) in 1908. He commanded the Zakopane branch. In 1913, he came into conflict with Piłsudski and was deprived of any positions he held the following year.
After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he joined the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the Polish Legions under the command of lieutenant colonel Józef Haller, where he commanded the 1st Company. His military career progressed rapidly. In January 1915, the regiment was attacked at night by the Russians in the region of Rafajłowa. Among other things, thanks to his composure (in the absence of lieutenant colonel Haller), the Russian attack was repelled. In recognition of his merits, Minkiewicz was promoted to the rank of major, and lieutenant colonel Haller gave him the command over the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the Polish Legions. In late 1915, Minkiewicz was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In July 1916 he was wounded during the battle of Kostiuchnówka and taken prisoner by the Russians, but he managed to escape after one year in captivity. In 1917 he joined the Polish Armed Forces and was promoted to the rank of colonel. In November 1918 he was in charge of “cleansing” Warsaw of the remains of the German army. Starting from February 1919, he headed the “Przemyśl” Military District. He fought on the eastern front and rendered considerable service during the battles for Lviv. During the Polish-Bolshevik war, he commanded the 2nd Infantry Division of the Polish Legions, which fought against the Bolsheviks in Belarus. In June 1919, he was appointed lieutenant general. He took part in the Battle of Warsaw as the Deputy Military Governor of Warsaw. In 1924, already holding the rank of division general, he was ordered to form the Border Protection Corps and became its first commander a year later. In 1929, he was dismissed from his post by Józef Piłsudski, with whom he was in still conflict. In 1934 he retired from military service and settled with his wife, Maria Markowska (who died in March 1939) on an estate in Jamno near Brest-Litovsk, which had been given to them. The couple had no children. For his military service, Minkiewicz-Odrowąż was awarded the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Order, the Commander’s Cross and the Commander’s Cross with the Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Cross of Independence and (four times) the Cross of Valour.

After the outbreak of World War II, he was arrested by the NKVD. As of 19 November 1939, he was being held in the NKVD POW camp in Yukhnov, from where he was transported to Kozelsk in late November. He was the highest ranked officer in the camp, even though he was retired and did not wear a military uniform: “Minkiewicz had been taken from his settlement plot near Brest, so he was not wearing a uniform. Instead, he had well-worn clothes which were sand-brown in colour, short trousers, puttees, and a cycling hat. The poor man was embarrassed to walk around the camp in this outfit; he would usually sit in Block 7 and give orders from there as the most senior Polish officer in the camp.” Minkiewicz-Odrowąż enjoyed great authority among the POWs. He is credited with having a positive influence on their mood, as during the initial period of captivity the POWs often entered into arguments. In Kozelsk, he organised an efficient underground network of liaison officers working among the different blocks, who reported on the NKVD’s actions against prisoners of war.

On 7 April 1940, he was sent back to be at the disposal of the NKVD Regional Office in Smolensk. He was included in consignment list No. 015/2 dated 5 April 1940 under No. N-414-68-1141. He left the camp together with two generals, Mieczysław Smorawiński and Bronisław Bohaterewicz. Before leaving, he managed to give instructions to the prisoners remaining in the camp. General Henryk Minkiewicz was executed by the NKVD on 9 April 1940. His brother Romuald died on 25 August 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising.

Pursuant to the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński of 5 October 2007, Major-General Henryk Minkiewicz was posthumously promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General of the Polish Army.

Author: KL

Ksawery Stanisław Czernicki was born on 16 October 1882 on the Giedejki estate in the Vilnius region, at that time in the Russian Empire. He came from a family of landowners. He was the son of Teresa (née Bohuszewicz) and Edward Czernicki, an insurgent in the 1863–1864 January uprising. After receiving his matriculation certificate in 1901, he joined the Russian Imperial Navy and became a student at the Department of Shipbuilding at the Marine Engineering School in Kronstadt. After graduation, he did his apprenticeship until 1906, and became a second lieutenant in the Russian Navy in the same year. In April 1907 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He worked in the construction of warships in Sretensk (Zabaykalsky Krai) and in St. Petersburg. He was, among others, the deputy chief engineer and the chief engineer during the construction of the Sevastopol and Petropavlovsk battleships. By 1917, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in the Russian Imperial Navy.

After Poland regained independence, he joined the newly formed Polish Navy in 1919 and was verified as a lieutenant commander. Until 1921 he stayed in Modlin, where he served as the commandant of the military port and head of the technical services for the Vistula Fleet. He rendered considerable service during the Polish-Bolshevik war, bringing the port and the river fleet up to combat readiness in a short time and repelling the Bolshevik offensive. From 1925 he worked in the Navy Management Office. In 1926 he became the first Head of the Navy Management Administration in Warsaw and the Chairman of the Shipbuilding Supervisory Commission in France. He took part, among others, in the construction of the Polish destroyers ORP “Burza” and “Wicher” and submarines ORP “Żbik”, “Wilk” and “Ryś” in France. In 1929 he was promoted to the rank of commander. He returned to Poland in 1932, taking up the position of the Head of the Navy Management Office, i.e. deputy to Commander Jerzy Świrski, who headed the Navy Management Office. Czernicki held this position until the outbreak of World War II. He also initiated the construction of the Naval Shipyard in Gdynia. In March 1939 President Ignacy Mościcki promoted Czernicki to the rank of rear admiral. For his military service, he received many awards, including the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Swedish Commander’s Cross of the Order of the Sword, the Order of St. Stanislaus and St. Anna awarded by the Russian Empire, and the highest French decoration: the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Légion d'Honneur.

After the outbreak of World War II, the Headquarters of the Navy Management Office was deprived of the possibility to influence the Polish fleet. On 5 September 1939 Rear Admiral Czernicki, together with some of the staff and departments of the Navy Management Office, left Warsaw. In Deraźne, Czernicki learned information about the Soviet attack on Poland and the evacuation of the Polish government to Romania. In response, he decided to make contact with the commanders of the Red Army. Talks were initiated and the Polish group was given a security guarantee on the condition that they lay down their weapons. Rear Admiral Czernicki went with several officers for talks in the town of Rivne, where he was then arrested and deported to the Yuzhski POW camp. In late November or early December, he was sent to the Kozelsk camp.

On 10–11 May 1940, he was placed at the disposal of the NKVD Regional Office in Smolensk. He is on instruction list No. 059/1 under No. N-593-1-4352. He was murdered most probably between 11–13 May 1940. His body was not identified in Katyn.

He was married to Serafina Margoli. After her death in November 1956, an epitaph was placed on the grave in the Witomino Cemetery in Gdynia: “Admiral of the Polish Navy, engineer Xawery Czernicki, died in the USSR in 1941.” It was only after the collapse of communism in Poland that the Katyn Family in Gdynia established the following epitaph: “Admiral Xawery Czernicki murdered in 1940 by the NKVD in Katyn.”
In 2001 a logistic support ship, recommissioned in 2009 to be the command ship of the mine defence forces, was named “Rear Admiral Xawery Czernicki”.

Pursuant to the decision by the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński dated 5 October 2007, he was posthumously promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral.

Author: KŁ

The Russian Federation has decided not to name or even symbolically punish those responsible for the Katyn Massacre. On 21 September 2004, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation discontinued its Katyn investigation "in light of the death of the perpetrators". Their names have never been officially published, and the decision to discontinue the investigation, as well as many of materials linked to it have remain classified. However, based on known and published documents, we are able to identify some of them by name.

On March 5, 1940, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) [TsK KPSS] decided that the cases of 14,700 people in the POW camps in Kozelsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov, and the 11,000 civilians arrested, who had been imprisoned in "the Western oblasts of Ukraine and Belarus" should be dealt with according to a special procedure "without summoning those arrested and without presenting charges, the decision to close the investigation and the indictment", with the highest penalty to be applied – execution by shooting.

The grounds for the decision of the Politburo was a note from the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, Lavrentiy Beria to the General Secretary of the Communist Party, Joseph Stalin. On the note, there are four handwritten signatures of the members of the Politburo "for" the decision: Joseph Stalin, Kliment Voroshilov, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Anastas Mikoyan, as well the other votes "for" by Mikhail Kalinin and Lazar Kaganovich noted on the side.

The processing of the cases and the adoption of the resolution was assigned to the “Troika” (Three [officials]) of the NKVD USSR composed of: the First Deputy of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the NKVD USSR, Vsevolod Merkulov, the Deputy of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the NKVD USSR, Bogdan Kobulov, and the Head of the 1st Special Department of the NKVD USSR, Leonid Bashtakov.

At least 125 NKVD officers were selected to prepare and carry out the massacres. On 26 October 1940 by secret order No. 001365, these NKVD officers were rewarded "for the successful completion of the special tasks" with an extra payment of their monthly salary or the amount of 800 rubles by Lavrentiy Beria. Among them were employees of both the central NKVD apparatus and the NKVD authorities in the Smolensk, Kalinin and Kharkiv regions, where the shooting of Polish prisoners of war took place.

Among the awarded people were Deputy Head of the NKVD Smolensk Oblast, Fyodor Ilin (Chizhov), Commander of the NKVD Smolensk Oblast, Iosif Gribov, Commander of the NKVD Kalinin Oblast, Andrei Rubanov, Commander of the NKVD Kharkiv Oblast, Timofey Kupriy and others.

Among those who were rewarded included the Deputy Head of the NKVD in the Smolensk Oblast, Fyodor Ilin (Chizhov), the Commander of the NKVD in the Smolensk Oblast, Iosif Gribov, the Commander of the NKVD in the Kalinin Oblast, Andrei Rubanov, the Commander of the NKVD in the Kharkiv Oblast, Timofey Kupriy and others.

We do not possess a similar list of those rewarded for committing crimes against the prisoners being imprisoned in the Ukrainian and Belarusian SSRs. However, on the basis of secret order No. 00350, "On the Liquidation of the NKVD prisons of the Western Regions of the UkSSR and BSSR," we know the names of the people directly responsible for the implementation of the murderous "Katyn decision".

In the case of the Ukrainian SSR, the persons responsible were: the Head of the Main Prison Administration of the NKVD, State Security Commissar, Pavel Zuyev, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the UkSSR, Ivan Severov, and commander of the 13th Division of the NKVD Convoy Troops, Colonel Alexandr Zavialov. In the case of the Belarusian SSR: the Head of the Main Prison Administration of the NKVD, State Security Commissar, Alexander Chechov, the BSSR People's Commissar for Internal Affairs, Lavrentiy Tsanava, and the commander of the 15th Brigade of the NKVD Convoy Troops, Colonel P. S. Popov.

The USSR deputies of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, Vasily Chernyshov and Ivan Maslennikov were responsible for the transport and movement of the Polish POWs, as well as the Head of the Main Administration of Convoy Troops, Vladimir Sharapov.

Author: MW

„The sound of the bell has a symbolic meaning – it always proclaims something sublime, solemn, filled with deep meaning. The bells ring in triumph, in the face of tragedy, on the occasion of crucial events; they are a transmitter of the most important information for society. The bells in all three cemeteries are located below ground level. The bell, which calls loudly for prayer, or reverberates from the tower as a threat – is, in some way, trapped, buried here. The voice of the underground bell is muffled, but it cannot be completely silenced. It is a warning for the next generation.”

The authors of the ideological and spatial concept of the Katyn cemeteries, Zdzisław Pidek and Andrzej Sołyga, considered the bell to be one of the most significant elements of the Polish war cemeteries in Katyn, Kharkiv, and Mednoe from the very beginning.

The bells, commissioned by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, were cast on 4 February 2000 by the renowned bell foundry of Janusz Felczyński from Przemyśl, which was established in 1808. They were made by the sculptor Marian Szajda.

The text of Bogurodzica [Mother of God] was placed on their outer surface, and they were named "Katyń", " Mednoe" and "Kharkiv", in reference to the place where they are located. The symbolic design of the cemeteries is supposed to remind visitors that the truth about these crimes were "dug out from underneath the ground", so the bells were chemically covered with black patina.

On 9 March 9 2000, the consecration of the bells took place in front of the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army in Warsaw during an ecumenical service. The sound of the "Katyn" bell was heard for the very first time on 28 July 2000 during the opening ceremony and consecration of the Polish War Cemetery in Katyn. Recordings of the poignant beating of the Katyn underground bell are often played during ceremonies in Poland and around the world.

Technical specifications of the "Katyn" bell:
- Net weight 702 kg, gross (with fittings – hanger, heart, handles, bearings, other metal parts – 794 kg)
- Material – Bell metal (78% copper, 22% tin)
- Tone G
- Dimensions – diameter in the lip (bottom) 103 cm, height 95 cm without hanger.

Author: MW

The exhumation works carried out in the Katyn Forest by Polish experts in 1994–1995 proved, beyond any doubt, that the area of the Katyn Memorial contained the remains of Polish Army officers murdered in the spring of 1940 on the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) dated 5 March 1940.

Apart from the bodies of those executed, many items belonging to the murdered officers detained in the POW camp in Kozelsk were extracted from the death pits. These items helped to identify the victims, and also provided evidence of the Soviet perpetration of this terrible crime. These artefacts are considered relics for the families and relatives of those murdered, and some of the artefacts are respectfully held in the Katyn Museum in Warsaw.

Tadeusz Zbigniew Ciszewski

Son of Mirosław and Maria, was born in 1914 in Pięknowicze. He was a law student at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. He was executed by firing squad between 16 and 19 April 1940.* His mess tin with an engraving was found in the death pit.

Włodzimierz Józef Dobrowolski

Son of Zygmunt and Julianna, was born in 1889 in Uman. A lieutenant colonel in the reserve forces and a graduate of the Department of Medicine at the Kyiv University, he worked as a medical doctor. He was also an economic assistant to the Commander of the Sanitary Training Centre and was married. He was executed by firing squad between 9 and 11 April 1940.* His identification tag was found in the death pit.

Roman Jędraszko

Son of Wojciech and Agnieszka, was born in 1895 in Warsaw. He held the rank of major and was head of the Department of Materials and Budgets in the Sappers Command of the Ministry of Military Affairs. He was married and had two daughters. He was executed by firing squad between 13 and 14 April 1940.* His “Armoured Sign” badge was found in the death pit.

Antoni Stefanowski

Son of Adam and Stefania, was born in 1885 in Niesin and held the rank of colonel in the reserve forces. He was a graduate of the Department of Medicine at the University of Heidelberg and the Philosophy Department at the University of Leipzig. He was a doctor of internal medicine and the author of many medical publications. He was the Medical Director of the Infant Jesus Hospital in Warsaw and was married with three children. He was executed by firing squad between 9 and 11 April 1940.* His Virtuti Militari Order was found in the death pit.

Marian Adolf Wenge

Son of Bruno and Stanisława, was born in 1917 in Warsaw. He graduated from the Cadet School of the Cavalry Reserve and the Sapper Cadet School. He was a second lieutenant and an instructor in the 1st Motor Company of the Motor Battalion in Modlin. He was executed by firing squad between 4 and 7 April 1940.* His gorget was found in the death pit.

* The most likely execution dates (but later dates cannot be excluded)

Author: MW

In early July 1943, during an inspection of the troops of the Legion of French Volunteers on the Eastern Front, carried out by Ferdinand de Brinon, the Vichy government delegate and ambassador to the Third Reich, a French delegation visited the Katyn Forest. An almost two-minute-long film from Katyn was part of a newsreel shot during the Frenchmen’s visit to the eastern front. The delegation also included two French journalists: Claude Jeantet and Robert Brasillach, and the latter published a report from Katyn entitled J'ai vu les fosses de Katyn (I saw the pits in Katyn) in the Je suis partout weekly in July 1943.

“I saw Katyn. I came into direct contact with it [and] cannot be replaced with anything. I saw the landscape; I smelt this terrible stench; I walked along the pleasant forest path that covered so many corpses; in the morning breeze I saw those huge pits dug into the light-brown earth, wild trees, shrubs.”

The film shows members of the delegation visiting the first Katyn Cemetery arranged by the Germans, paying their respects at the graves of Generals Bronisław Bohaterewicz and Mieczysław Smorawiński. In the presence of the French, death pit No. 8 was opened. Three bodies were taken out of it, examined and buried again in the original grave. These were the corpses of ensign Michał Karliński (1898–1940), cadet Władysław Czernuszewicz (1898–1940) and platoon sergeant Stefan Czarnecki (1915–1940).

Source: A. Przewoźnik, J. Adamska, Katyń. Zbrodnia. Prawda. Pamięć, Warsaw 2010, p. 276.

PLEASE NOTE: This film contains graphic scenes.