As reported by the Belarusian opposition magazine, Novy Czas, on Friday, the removal of the plaque was claimed by Volha Bondarova, a Belarusian government-linked activist, who boasted about her two-year struggle to take it down.
Last December, the desecration of the Katyń Cross was reported by Marek Zaniewski, Deputy Chairman of the Union of Poles in Belarus. The cross serves as a reminder of Polish and Belarusian officers who fell victim to the NKVD's brutality in the Katyń massacre of 1940. The incident unfolded within the same cemetery in Grodno.
The cemetery has become a recurring site of such occurrences, reflecting a trend of Polish memorials facing devastation in Belarus over the past eighteen months. Reports emerged in September last year of the desecration of a mass grave of Home Army soldiers in Plebaniszki, a mere 20 kilometers away from Grodno.
Earlier in 2022, it was reported that the burial and memorial sites of Polish soldiers in Jodkowicze, Mikuliszki, Volkovysk, Kaczyce, Stryivka, Surkontsy and Sandovce were razed.
(jh)
Source: PAP
