Pokaz filmu dokumentalnego “Jak grzech na duszy”
On 11 October 2024, the Katyn Museum hosted a screening of “Jak grzech na duszy” [in English: Like a Sin on the Soul], a documentary by Polish journalist and filmmaker Jan Strękowski.
The film explores the history of attempts to falsify the truth about the Katyn massacre in Russia, as well as the individuals who opposed these efforts and defended historical memory. Filmed between 2017 and 2019 in Katyn, Mednoye and Moscow, the documentary was completed several years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Today, the film has acquired new relevance. In the context of renewed state-controlled historical propaganda in Russia, long-discredited narratives concerning the Katyn massacre have once again resurfaced. In April this year, the Russian state news agency TASS published claims alleging the discovery of “new evidence” suggesting that the murder of Polish prisoners of war in 1940 had been carried out by Nazi Germany rather than the Soviet NKVD. Supported by state institutions, propagandists and pro-government historians, these narratives represent another attempt to revive the so-called “Katyn lie”.
The documentary also offers a striking record of the political and social changes that were already visible in Russia in the years preceding the current war and international crisis.
Following the screening, the audience took part in a discussion with the director and participants featured in the film. The introduction to the event was delivered remotely by Aleksander Gurjanov, who joined guests gathered at the Katyn Museum online.
