Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has made an appeal for national unity on the 85th anniversary of the notorious Katyn Massacre in which around 22,000 Polish prisoners of war were murdered by the Soviet secret police.
Commemorative events were held across Poland on Sunday to mark 85 years since the Soviet Union’s NKVD secret police killed Polish officers and intelligentsia in a series of executions that spread over about two months. Many of the killings were carried out in the Katyń Forest near Smolensk in western Russia, where the first mass graves were discovered and from which the massacre takes its name.
President Duda attended a ceremony in the southern city of Kraków, where he laid flowers at the city’s Katyn Cross.
“Nearly 22,000 officers, officials, doctors, teachers—the nation’s elite, were ruthlessly murdered by the Soviets," the president posted on the X platform on Sunday. "Their only 'guilt' was their loyalty to Poland."
Duda added that the communists had suppressed the truth about the crime for decades and that the perpetrators had never been punished. Until 1990, the USSR denied responsibility for the massacre, blaming Nazi Germany for the killings.
"By paying tribute to the murdered, we honor their integrity, resilience and patriotism,” Duda wrote. “Let Katyn Memorial Day unite us, Poles, in solemn reflection on the cost of freedom. This 'army of shadows' still stands beside the soldiers of the Republic. Honor and glory to the Heroes!"
Despite recognizing Soviet culpability for the Katyn Massacre, the Kremlin refuses to classify it as a war crime or act of genocide.
President Duda attended a ceremony in the southern city of Kraków, where he laid flowers at the city’s Katyn Cross.
“Nearly 22,000 officers, officials, doctors, teachers—the nation’s elite, were ruthlessly murdered by the Soviets," the president posted on the X platform on Sunday. "Their only 'guilt' was their loyalty to Poland."
Duda added that the communists had suppressed the truth about the crime for decades and that the perpetrators had never been punished. Until 1990, the USSR denied responsibility for the massacre, blaming Nazi Germany for the killings.
"By paying tribute to the murdered, we honor their integrity, resilience and patriotism,” Duda wrote. “Let Katyn Memorial Day unite us, Poles, in solemn reflection on the cost of freedom. This 'army of shadows' still stands beside the soldiers of the Republic. Honor and glory to the Heroes!"
Despite recognizing Soviet culpability for the Katyn Massacre, the Kremlin refuses to classify it as a war crime or act of genocide.
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