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Katyn. in the Footsteps of the Crime

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Katyn. in the Footsteps of the Crime KATYN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE CRIME Kozelsk — Smolensk — Gnezdovo — Katyn Forest Jadwiga Rogoża Maciej Wyrwa Introduction 4 The Katyn 1 Massacre: Historical 9 Background Following 2 in the Footsteps 27 of the Crime Kozelsk 27 Gnezdovo 36 Katyn Forest and Polish War Cemetery 40 Russian Cemetery 3 52 and Museum 4 Smolensk 58 Smolensk Severny 5 65 The Site of the Polish Airplane Crash Russia and the Katyn 6 68 Question Practical Information 80 Selected Works 83 on the Topic INTRODUCTION Only buttons, unyielding survived death, witnesses of the crime surfacing from the depths the single monument on their grave (…) a bird has flown, a cloud has passed a leaf has fallen, the mallow germinates and there is silence up high above and the mist rises above the Smolensk forest Zbigniew Herbert, Guziki [Buttons], 1992 The Katyn Forest has a special place in year 1989, which brought about the Polish history. The Soviet crime against end of communism in Poland, marked Polish officers and members of the the beginning of the official investi- elite can also be viewed as a symbol of gation to find out the truth about the fate of post-war Poland as a whole: the Katyn Massacre. The crash of the enslaved, annihilated, covered with airplane with the Polish delegation, lies. The post-war period was a time of headed by President Lech Kaczynski lies and silence, when the truth about on its way to the commemoration cer- Katyn lived in family stories, in Poles’ emony in April 2010 added a new di- private conversations, in publications mension to the tragic history of Katyn published by the emigre communi- and focused the world’s attention on ty or in illegally erected memorials. this place, which was a witness to the Changes started to emerge with the Polish tragedy. birth of the “Solidarity” movement, when the truth, which had previously Today, the history of this crime is also been hidden and suppressed, began to presented at the Katyn Museum, painstakingly emerge, like the voice of which opened at its new site in the the underground bell ringing today at Warsaw Citadel in September 2015. the Polish War Cemetery in Katyn. The It documents the circumstances of 4 The Katyn Museum in Warsaw the Massacre and the history of the human souls, which are embodied in investigation, but has much more to its walls and speak from them with offer. Visitors can descend to the un- everlasting words”. derground part, which is reminiscent of an open grave and presents the col- The human and personal dimension of lection of personal belongings of the these historical events also serves as victims discovered during the exhu- the leitmotif of this publication. While mations in Katyn, Mednoe (Mednoye), knowledge of the Katyn Massacre Kharkiv and Bykovnia (Bykivnia). The seems to be widespread in Poland, few collection serves as evidence of the people have actually managed to trav- Massacre, and also includes memo- el to Katyn, Mednoe, Kharkiv or Byk- rabilia donated by the families of the ovnia, all of which are perceived to be victims. This gives visitors the chance located somewhere far away in Russia to identify with real people, still living or Ukraine. Each year, these places are in these small objects, to better un- visited by the families and relatives derstand their values, experiences and of the murdered victims, by govern- personal stories. Quoting the eminent ment officials and delegations of the Polish photographer, Jan Bulhak, this uniformed services, by participants of Photo: From the collection of the Katyn Museum in Warsaw the collection of Katyn From Photo: place represents “a cross-section of the Katyn Rally or the Polish-Russian 5 H) CN ational Heritage (M ational N ulture and ulture C ON I INTRODUCT Photo: From the collection of the Polish Ministry of the collection of Polish From Photo: Altar ensemble. Polish War Cemetery in Katyn Youth Memorial Marches. During the site, to gain a personal experience of 2018 FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia, the events and places known from the many Polish football fans travelled to tragic pages of history, to look beyond Katyn in order to lay their white-and- the “bronze myth” of Katyn and come red scarves (Polish national colours) to know of the thousands—or maybe at the Polish War Cemetery. However, just a few—of those Poles, heroes, real the insurmountable barrier for most people. As reading will never exhaust foreign visitors lies not only in the dis- or satisfy these experiences, we want tance of thousands of kilometres, bor- to give readers some space to expe- der crossings and visa requirements, rience the history of Katyn personal- but also in the uncertainty as to what ly—for example, by wandering around will be found at the site. Meanwhile, the Katyn Cemetery from one bronze Katyn, one of the great Polish sym- nameplate to another, from one hu- bols, is at the same time, a concrete man history disrupted in the spring of place on earth. When walking along 1940, to another. its paths, visitors are moved in a way they have not experienced before. This Guide describes the history and The mission of this Guide is therefore geography of the murder of Pol- to encourage readers to travel to the ish officers imprisoned in Kozelsk, 6 transported to Gnezdovo and shot step by step through subsequent plac- dead and buried in the Katyn Forest, es, describes their present condition where the Polish War Cemetery is and outlines their history, discover- located today. Our goal is to provide ing their sometimes quite surprising the readers with a study that com- Polish links. Chapter 3 presents the bines essential historical information, Russian part of the cemetery ad- discussed more broadly in numerous jacent to the Polish one. It tells the scientific publications, with practical reader about the inhabitants of the advice on travelling and moving around Smolensk region who fell victim to the the territory, as well as the local reali- Soviet system of repression and were ties. We encourage interested readers buried there; it also tells the story of to refer to the literature on the subject, the reconstruction of the cemetery, i.e. the key scholarly studies on the including the controversial yet ex- Katyn Massacre and its victims, and pressive exhibition in the new muse- the history of efforts to discover and um, presenting the Russian imperial publicise the truth. historical perspective, which often ON contradicts Polish and Western views I The Guide opens with a chapter on on the same events. This chapter re- the history of the Katyn Massacre, de- minds us that a Polish or foreign visitor scribing the origins and circumstanc- who visits Katyn will not only see the INTRODUCT es of the murder of the Polish officers Polish graves and Poland’s memory and elites in the spring of 1940, the policy, but can also learn about the discovery of their graves by the Ger- specifics of Russian historical memory. mans in 1943, up to the exhumations Chapter 4 encourages readers to vis- conducted by the Polish side and the it nearby Smolensk, a city which was establishment of the Polish War Cem- part of the history of Poland before the etery. This chapter also recalls some— partitions in the 18th century. Chap- but certainly not all—of the people ter 5 directs the reader to Smolensk who have greatly contributed to the Severny airport, located on the out- discovery of the truth about Katyn in skirts of the city—the place where the post-war communist Poland as well Polish aircraft crashed in 2010, taking as in free Poland after 1989. In Chap- the lives of President Kaczynski and ter 2, readers follow in the footsteps members of the Polish delegation, who of the Polish officers in 1939–1940, were on their way to attend the com- from the Optina Hermitage monastery memoration of the 70th anniversary (Optina Pustyn) in Kozelsk, the Polish of the Katyn Massacre. POW camp, via the railway station of Gnezdovo, Smolensk, to the Katyn Finally, Chapter 6 is meant to famil- Forest—the site of their execution iarise foreign readers with the signifi- and eternal resting place, today being cance of the Katyn Massacre in Russia. the site of the Polish War Cemetery While Katyn is a solid and unchange- in Katyn. This part guides the reader able symbol in Poland, the memory 7 of this event in Russia as well as the recommended further reading and cemetery and museum complex have useful websites devoted to the Katyn become the subject of political and Massacre. ideological games in recent years. “The Katyn we know” has again be- The publication invites readers to come a live issue and a determinant follow the final journey of the Polish of Polish-Russian relations, as well officers in 1939–1940, as well as the as a symbol of the tensions within members of the contemporary Pol- Russia—between the state apparatus ish elite, who died in the place crash and numerous researchers or ordinary on their way to the site of this Polish citizens seeking to discover the truth tragedy 70 years later. Following the about their families and local histories, tradition of pre-war guidebooks, we and about the history of crimes against intended to create “a guide to human both their own people and other na- souls”, which will help many readers tions. The part of the Guide devoted to understand the well-known story to Russia also attempts to familiarise “with their hearts”. ON I readers with the symbolic significance of Katyn for the Russians, in the past The book that we present here is the and perhaps also in the future.
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