Book Launch of David A. Stewart’s “Katyn Forest Massacre 1940. A Selection of Declassified U.S. Government Documents” Vol. I
On 16 September 2023, on the eve of the 84th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, the Katyn Museum hosted the launch of David A. Stewart’s book “Katyn Forest Massacre 1940. A Selection of Declassified U.S. Government Documents. Zbrodnia w Lesie Katyńskim 1940 r. Wybór odtajnionych dokumentów Stanów Zjednoczonych” Vol. I.
The author dedicated the book “to the officers of the Polish Army murdered in the Katyn Forest and to Captain Donald B. Stewart, Lieutenant Colonel John H. Van Vliet Jr., and Lieutenant Colonel Henry I. Szymanski – officers of the United States Army who sent reports to Washington identifying the Soviets as the perpetrators of the Katyn Forest crime”.
The publication is based on hundreds of archival documents obtained by the author from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland (Archives II). Volume I presents previously unpublished materials from the years 1940–1943, as well as documents illustrating the history of the 1940 crime committed against Polish citizens and prisoners of war.
One of the book’s greatest strengths is the inclusion of scans of original documents. These include witness testimonies from individuals who lived in or near Smolensk, diplomatic notes by General Władysław Sikorski and Józef Czapski, diplomatic correspondence, letters written by the wives of Polish officers captured by the Soviets in 1939 and addressed to Helena Sikorska, the wife of General Sikorski, records of diplomatic conversations, and other archival materials.
David A. Stewart is the son of Captain Donald B. Stewart, who visited the Katyn Forest in the spring of 1943. Together with Lieutenant Colonel John H. Van Vliet, both prisoners of war held in Oflag 64 in Szubin, he was selected by the German authorities to serve as an American representative in a special group of Allied prisoners of war sent to Katyn on 13 May 1943 during the exhumation works being carried out there.
As eyewitnesses, they observed the recovery of the remains of murdered Polish victims from the mass graves and saw artefacts exhumed from the burial pits that clearly indicated Soviet responsibility for the crime. Donald B. Stewart was also the first witness to testify, on 11 October 1951, before the United States House Select Committee to Conduct an Investigation and Study of the Facts, Evidence and Circumstances of the Katyn Forest Massacre (commonly known as the Madden Committee).
The book is an invaluable factual source. It reveals the political circumstances surrounding the Katyn case from its very beginning, exposes political cynicism, and at the same time pays tribute to those who fought to establish the truth about the Polish citizens and prisoners of war murdered in the Katyn Massacre.
The meeting with the author was accompanied by a monodrama performed by Hubert Kułacz, based on Józef Czapski’s book Inhuman Land (Na nieludzkiej ziemi).
The ceremony also provided an opportunity to honour the Katyn Museum and its staff members – Director of the Museum Sławomir Z. Frątczak and Curator Sebastian Karwat – with the commemorative badge marking the 100th Anniversary of the Silesian Provincial Police. The distinctions were presented on behalf of the National Association “Police Family 1939” by Vice-President Małgorzata Włodek.
David A. Stewart and the museum staff members Dr Bartłomiej Bydoń, Sebastian Karwat and Piotr Skotnicki were also awarded the Pro Patria Medal.
