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Poland remembers victims of 1940 massacre by Soviets

13.04.2023 07:00
A host of events are scheduled to take place on Thursday to commemorate the 1940 Katyn Massacre of Polish officers and intellectuals by the Soviets.
A Polish war cemetery in the Katyn Forest, near the city of Smolensk in western Russia.
A Polish war cemetery in the Katyn Forest, near the city of Smolensk in western Russia.Photo: PAP/Wojciech Pacewicz

April 13 is a national day of remembrance for the victims of the World War II mass murders.

Commemorations are scheduled to be held throughout the nation to observe the memorial day, which was established by the country’s parliament in 2007.

Serwis specjalny Polskiego Radia poświęcony Zbrodni Katyńskiej Image: Polish Radio

Officials are due to pay tribute to the victims of the Soviet crime at sites including a monument in Warsaw’s Old Town district and the Polish capital's Katyn Museum.

Almost 22,000 Polish prisoners of war were killed in the spring of 1940 on orders from top Soviet authorities, according to estimates cited by Polish Radio’s IAR news agency.

Following the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, thousands of Polish officers were deported to camps in the Soviet Union.

POWs from camps in Kozelsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov as well as Poles held in prisons run by the Soviet Union's NKVD secret police were among those murdered in April 1940.

Moscow for decades denied responsibility for the Katyn Massacre, while the topic was taboo when Poland after the war remained under Soviet control until 1989.

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Source: IAR, PAP, polskieradio.pl