Presentation Katyń -The Unspeakable Crime
14.04.2020
"The murders of at least 21,857 Polish prisoners-of-war were clinical, brutal and carried out day after day in remote Russian locations in April and May 1940. In the Katyń forest, trees muffled the shots of the specialised executioners, Soviet NKVD officers" - writes Barbara Scrivens in her emotional and personal presentation with stories told by the Polish families in New Zealand who lost their loved ones in the Katyń Massacre.
Following the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939, about 250,000 soldiers, including over 10,000 officers, were taken captive. In the spring of 1940, NKVD officers executed about 22,000 Polish citizens detained in camps and in prisons on Soviet territory, including Katyn, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Minsk and Kalinin.
Among the murdered were the elite of pre-war Poland: officers of the Polish Army, policemen and reserve officers: officials, doctors, professors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, clerics, writers, merchants and social activists. At the same time, when the NKVD murdered Polish prisoners, their families became the victims of mass deportation into the Soviet Union. The Katyń Massacre was classified as a war crime, a crime against humanity and genocide.
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Katyń Massacre, we would like to present a powerful and personal presentation about the Katyń Crime including photos and testimonies of the Polish families in New Zealand whose relatives were killed by the Soviets in 1940.
The Polish Embassy would like to thank the author Barbara Scrivens as well as the Polish families in New Zealand who shared their photos, documents, memories and testimonies on members of their families who fell victims of the Katyń Massacre murders by the Soviets.
The photographs and documents used in the presentation are from the personal collections of the Turkiewicz, Miotk, Jarka, Schwieters and Popławski Families.
The project to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Katyń Crime was initiated by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Wellington.
Follow the link below to open the presentation.