Poland holds commemoration for WWII Katyn massacre

[Jaga]

WARSAW (AFP) — Poland's President Lech Kaczynski paid homage Friday to thousands of Polish soldiers who were killed in the Soviet Union after being captured by the invading Red Army in World War II.

In a ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier in central Warsaw, Kaczynski awarded posthumous promotions to the 22,500 members of the military who in 1940 were massacred in the notorious Katyn forest and other areas.

"This is an act of remembrance for our heroes, their families and the entire nation," Kaczynski said.

Under Polish law, the names of the beneficiaries of military promotions must be read out at a public ceremony, and at 5:30 pm (1630 GMT) Kaczynski began listing the first three dozen himself.

Other officials were to continue reading the names until midnight (2300 GMT). The ceremony was to resume at 6:00 am (0500 GMT) Saturday, when it was due to last for a further 12 hours.

The event had originally been scheduled to take place last month, but was called off after relatives of the victims said it was ill-timed, falling just three weeks before Poland's October 21 parliamentary election.


afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hJ9blnux0_d6E8UnvdHHkr83ydmA

[bjk]

Jaga:

I just noticed this recent post of yours. The following is a duplicate of what I posted on the Polish-Jewish thread that's been raging (irrespective of any coming objections). Correctly,
it should appear here.

BJK

At the risk of another round of reprimands re: 'relevance', I am posting the following pics of the Katyn Massacre Memorial in Doylestown, PA, because it end-caps my recent references and sentiments (and because people have been freely throwing photos around on this site):

flickr.com/photos/sheenachi/196231910/in/pool-flags/

I think that it's highly unlikely (I would risk saying, impossible) that any Polish emigre/Polish-American would be unaware of it, but briefly:

the sculpture sits prominently at the center of the Polish War Veteran's cemetery at the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Czestochowa, arguably the 'spiritual home' of Polish Catholics here in the US.
It is a powerfully moving monument. I don't know the name of the sculptor, but I will try to find out.
The cemetery is rapidly filling. My father is buried here, my godfather (who spent two years in Dachau concentration camp) was interred here last May. Soon the ones that came to the US will all be here.
Anyone that must pass through Philadelphia, who can manage a few hours, should make the trip here (~ 45 min drive north).
In the lobby of the main church are tens of plaques commemorating all the fronts and engagements of all Polish armed forces during WW II that were actively (NOT indifferently) fighting against fascism: it would take a few hours to study them all.
It is an expression of remembrance and pride for all Poles everywhere.

[pieter]

I will not forget the family member (the husbant of my babcia's sister) and the friends of my mothers family (his colleage's too) that died in Katyn!

[Pawian]

bjk said:

Jaga:

I just noticed this recent post of yours. The following is a duplicate of what I posted on the Polish-Jewish thread that's been raging (irrespective of any coming objections). Correctly,
it should appear here.

flickr.com/photos/sheenachi/196231910/in/pool-flags/

Wow, I didn`t know there are three (maybe more) Katyn Monuments in the USA. Did you see the other two? You can see them here, in the thread about Wajda`s newest film about the Massacre
jagahost.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=arts&action=display&thread=1190659391

I like the bayonetted soldier monument best. It is historically adequate.
This monument with a hussar reminds me of some medieval battles.

[pieter]

Katyn Massacre and Related Atrocities
3 Apr 1940 - 19 May 1940

Contributor: John Radzilowski
Following the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland in 1939 in cooperation with the Nazi invasion of Poland, a large number of Polish prisoners fell into Soviet hands. Poles were considered by the Soviets to be implacable enemies of communism and of Russian national aspirations. Joseph Stalin had a particularly intense hatred of Poles following the Soviet defeat in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–20.

Soviet policy toward prisoners of war was part of a larger strategy of occupation in eastern Poland. The Soviets sought to destroy the Polish ethnic population in its new territories along all traces of the Polish state. During the September campaign, Soviet NKVD and Red Army troops shot numerous Polish prisoners when they surrendered, especially officers. Members of ethnic minorities—Ukrainians, Belarussians, Jews, and Lithuanians were encouraged to settle scores with local Poles for any real or imagined mistreatment.

The civilian population suffered extreme repression. Approximately 1.5 million civilians were deported to the gulags. The majority were ethnic Poles, but later waves of deportation also included Ukrainians, Belarussians, and Jews (especially Jewish refugees who had fled east to avoid the Nazis). Many of the deportees were taken in the middle of winter in unheated cattle cars and tens of thousands died along the way. Many more would die from starvation, overwork, or execution. In addition to the deportations, many prominent citizens were arrested, tortured, and killed.

Polish reverse officers captured by the Soviets were especially vulnerable. Many were educated professionals—doctors, lawyers, professors, civil servants, business people, teachers, clergy, and members of the aristocracy. These were precisely the type of people the Soviet leadership wanted to liquidate. Early on the officers were separated from the enlisted men. Many of the enlisted men ended up in Soviet labor camps.

In the spring of 1940, Stalin and Lavrenty Beria planned to liquidate this potential source of opposition to Soviet control and gave orders to murder over 20,000 Polish officers. The murders were carried out at several sites. The most famous was the NKVD burial ground at Katyn, near Minsk (today in Belarus), but killings were also carried out at Piatikhatki (near Kharkiv in Ukraine) and at Mednoye in Russia. Other killing sites were never identified, although it is believed that another group of officers was placed on old barges towed out into the White Sea near the Arctic Circle and used for target practice by the Soviet Navy.

Those who died at Katyn included an admiral, two generals, 24 colonels, 79 lieutenant colonels, 258 majors, 654 captains, 17 naval captains, 3,420 NCOs, seven chaplains, three landowners, a prince, 43 officials, 85 privates, and 131 refugees. One female air force officer was among the dead. Also among the dead were 20 university professors; 300 physicians; several hundred lawyers, engineers, and teachers; and more than 100 writers and journalists as well as about 200 pilots. Although the majority of victims were ethnic Poles, there were also a number of prominent Polish Jews killed, including the Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army.

Following the German attack on the Soviet Union and the temporary re-opening of Polish-Soviet relations, the Polish government made inquires on the fate of officers. Soviet responses were incomplete and little information could be gained, though from postcards sent to family via the Red Cross, the officers were known to have been alive as late as April 1940.

In April 1943, Nazi officials announced the discovery of the mass grave at Katyn containing the bodies of thousands of Polish officers. The German government immediately used this discovery as a propaganda tool. They called for an international Red Cross investigation. The Soviets denounced the massacre as a German crime. The Polish government, however, had long suspected the Soviets of the crime and agreed to the Red Cross investigation. Both U.S. and British intelligence had ample evidence of Soviet complicity, but both countries followed the Soviet line and declared it a massacre committed by the Germans. As the result, the Poles were isolated in the Allied camp and denounced by Soviet sympathizers in the West as disloyal allies. The Soviets promptly broke diplomatic relations with the Polish government and set up a Polish communist puppet regime. By the autumn of 1943, Soviet partisans began an offensive against the Polish underground and Polish partisans in northeastern Poland, which included most massacres and denouncing Polish resistance workers to the Nazis.

Following the war, the U.S. government officially revised its position and agreed that the killing had in fact been carried out by the Soviets. This position, however, was not accepted by many academics who continued to believe the Soviet version of events for decades. In 1990, the Soviets finally admitted complicity in the crime and released a limited set of documents related the crime including orders signed by Stalin and Beria. Nevertheless, the Russian government refused to turn over all documents, reveal the names of perpetrators, or reveal whether any direct participants in the crime are still alive. The Russian government also refuses to classify the massacre as either a war crime or an act of genocide.

Sources: Katyn: The Untold Story of Stalin’s Polish Massacre, Poland's Class of 1936, Stalin's Killing Field.