Piotr Skotnicki’s article in “Muzealnictwo Wojskowe”
The latest volume of Military Museology (Muzealnictwo Wojskowe) includes an article by Piotr Skotnicki entitled Kiedyś wrócisz, za rok nie, to za dwa, trzy, cztery, ale wrócisz, prawda Kochaneczku?Archiwalia grobowe w zbiorach Muzeum Katyńskiego na Polskiej Liście Krajowej Programu UNESCO „Pamięć Świata” (in English: Grave Archival Materials in the Collections of the Katyn Museum on the Polish National Register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme) (2025, Vol. 14, pp. 8–29).
The publication presents an exceptional collection of documents and artefacts recovered during the exhumations of the victims of the Katyn massacre carried out in Kharkiv and Mednoye in the 1990s. These invaluable historical testimonies include personal notes, diaries, correspondence, official documents and personal belongings of murdered citizens of the Second Polish Republic. Together, they preserve the memory of the victims and restore an individual, human dimension to one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century. The author highlights the significance of the grave archival materials preserved in the Katyn Museum as primary historical sources documenting both the fate of the victims and the mechanism of the crime perpetrated by officers of the Soviet NKVD on the orders of the highest authorities of the USSR. Particular attention is devoted to the recognition of this collection as documentary heritage of outstanding value. On 28 August 2023, the archival materials were inscribed on the Polish National Register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme.
The article is not only a presentation of unique museum holdings but also a reflection on the importance of preserving tangible evidence of the past in shaping historical memory. It demonstrates how small, personal objects recovered from burial sites become invaluable sources of knowledge about individuals whose lives were brutally cut short.
We encourage you to read the article, which is available in Open Access on the „Muzealnictwo Wojskowe” journal platform.
