In the spring of 1940, the destruction of the Polish elite began. It is significant that, at the same time, mass murders of the Polish intelligentsia – the nation’s elite – were carried out by both the Germans, who launched the so-called A-B Action, and the Soviets, who perpetrated the Katyn massacre. Although the actions of the two occupying powers were not necessarily coordinated, they shared the aim of destroying the leadership of the Polish Republic so thoroughly that the Polish state would never be able to rise again from its collapse. As Jan Józef Kasprzyk, Acting Head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression, notes in the foreword to the exhibition catalogue: In Katyn, Kharkiv, Mednoye, they intended to bury traditional Poland, with its world of values so diametrically opposed to the barbarism of communism.
This unique publication contains biographical profiles of twenty victims of the Katyn massacre, representing various officer corps of the Polish Army, uniformed services, occupations and professions: Border Guard constable Józef Bysikiewicz, Maj. (Res.) Józef Cygan, Rear Adm. Ksawery Czarnicki, Lt Col Rev. Szymon Fedorońko, 2nd Lt (Res.) Józef Grzanka, Lt Col (Ret.) Andrzej Tadeusz Hałacński, Maj. Rev. Mikołaj Ilków, Prison Service Constable Władysław Janiszewski, Lt Col Jerzy Wiktor Lewakowski, 2nd Lt (Res.), pilot Janina Lewandowska, Maj. Leopold Łojek, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Henryk Minkiewicz, Capt. (Ret.) Zygmunt Młot-Przepałkowski, Lt Col Rev. Ryszard Paszko, Maj. Rev. Jan Józef Potocki, 2nd Lt (Res.) Władysław Sebyła, Senior Constable of the State Police Jan Sowa, Maj. Baruch Steinberg, Senior Constable of the Silesian Voivodeship Police Henryk Szwan, and Maj. Rev. Jan Leon Ziółkowski.
As Prof. Wojciech Fałkowski, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of National Defence, observes: For decades, “only the unyielding buttons were the sole monument at their graves”. Now there are cemeteries and monuments, and we can pay tribute to the victims. Yet we must still speak out about this hecatomb and name the criminals who committed it. We must continue to explain the details of the events of September 1939 and the occupation that began then [on 17 September 1939]. The duty to remember remains.
The profiles of the victims presented in the temporary exhibition at the Katyn Museum, which opened on 15 September 2016, and in this catalogue are illustrated with items from the collections of the Katyn Museum.

Product details

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Editors: Ewa Kowalska, Sebastian Karwat, Tomasz Szczepański
Publisher: Katyn Museum, Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression
ISBN: –
Format: A5, paperback
Extent: 43, [1] pages
Year of publication: 2016
Not available for sale