In the spring of 1940, the Soviet Secret Police murdered about 22,000 of Poland’s finest: soldiers and officers, professors, landowners, laywer, officials, priests, and various intelligentsia. Today this is known by the term, the Katyń Massacre. Many of them were murdered and buried in the Katyń Forest in what is today Russia. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union during World War II, they discovered the atrocities and publicized it. But years later the Soviets “rewrote history” and blamed the Nazi Germans, a view they officially held until the demise of the Soviet Union in 1990. Though today the massacre is acknowledged by Russia, they heap all blame on the Soviets and Stalin. The crime has never been declared a war crime by them, nor any investigation done of the perpetrators.
It was a dark day for Poland, a country at the center of the battle in World War II, to lose the elite, the cream of the crop. Postwar Poland suffered for it. But, amazingly, the Poles are of a hearty spirit. It took over 50 years, but now Poland is a shining star in Europe, responsible for starting the processes that ended the domination of the Soviet Union and ended with the overthrow of communism and an end to the cold war.
So tonight I once again saw the movie Katyń. It is a powerful and very well done movie, quite moving. Great direction, scenery, acting, and story, the lives of several victims of the massacre as well as their families are woven together in a moving tribute to the recurring words, and admonition to “remember.” It’s very moving, and well worth your time. And, in the process, you’ll learn a bit more about the history of Poland, the history of a nation that, against great odds, has survived and sprung back time after time against all odd, a testament to a great an noble people. And, I’m proud to say, my roots are Polish. Tonight I can say and feel, “Jestem Polakiem.” I feel it. I know it.
