The Katyn Monument

The Katyn Monument placed in a part of Toronto with a significant Polish community, commemorates the massacre of Polish prisoners of wars that was carried out by the NKVD, the Soviet Secret police. The monument is a place where those dead are mourned, and also a place of community gathering. Flowers, candles and wreaths can be seen to be near the monument honouring the dead. To the right of the monument is another memorial, to the Smolensk tragedy in which 96 delegates died on their way to the memorial service at Katyn. 

Acknowledgements:

Special thanks to Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Toronto Krzysztof Grzelczyk and Chris Korwin-Kuczynski for sitting down with us for these interviews. Also, thanks to Vice-Consul Natalia Iwaszko for further resources on the Katyn Monument.

Further Resources:

For a virtual tour of the Katyn Monument in the Katyn Forest and a list of those killed (available in Polish, Russian, and English): https://katynpromemoria.pl/?lang=en

For further information such as Cemetary Books: https://katyn.miejscapamieci.gov.pl/page/homepage.php?lang=EN

For Poland's Institute of National Remembrance: Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation: https://ipn.gov.pl/en 

For a Katyn documentary* produced by Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (in Polish, and with English subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=417QavvOLa8

*warning of images that some might find disturbing

 A film about the event: Andrezj Wajda. Katyn. (2007). 

References:

[1980-1981] “A Massacre Marked” Tony O’Donahue Fonds (Series 1250, Fonds 1372, Box 414128, File 26, Folio 13) Spadina Records Centre. City of Toronto Archives. 

[1980-1981] “Ottawa Snubs Unveiling of Monument to Poles” Tony O’Donahue Fonds (Series 1250, Fonds 1372, Box 414128, File 26, Folio 13) Spadina Records Centre. City of Toronto Archives. 

[1980-1981] “Polish Group Wants Ottawa To Explain Ceremony Snub” Tony O’Donahue Fonds (Series 1250, Fonds 1372, Box 414128, File 26, Folio 13) Spadina Records Centre. City of Toronto Archives. 

Allen, Paul. Katyń The Untold Story of Stalin's Polish Massacre. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's and Sons, 1991.

Associated Press. "Putin Insists on Recognition of USSR's WWII Role." (2020). apnews.com

Cienciała, Anna M., Lebedeva Natal'â Sergeevna, Wojciech Materski, Marian Schwartz, and Maia A. Kipp. Katyn: A Crime Without Punishment. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 2007.

Komaniecka, Monika, Krystyna  Samsonowska, Mateusz Szpytma, and Anna Zechenter. “Katyn Massacre – Basic Facts.” The Journal of Theology, Education, Canon Law and Social Studies 3 (2013).

Sanford, George. Katyn and the Soviet Massacre of 1940 Truth, Justice and Memory. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005.

Music Credits:

"Orc March Cello Trio" by wolf sebastian  © copyright 2011 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

“kimber 1911 shooting.mp3” by cheesepuff licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.