KATYN AND SMOLENSK - WHAT IS LIFE?

Event Details

Time: April 15, 2010 at 6pm to May 15, 2010 at 7pm
Location: The schools taking part in the project
Event Type: memorial, to, the, ones, who, died, in, katyn, and, smolensk
Organized By: Adam Stepinski
Latest Activity: Apr 21, 2010

Export to Outlook or iCal (.ics)

Event Description

Dear friends,
You have probably heard that Poland has been mourning the 96 casualties of the plane crash near Smolensk, Russia. Among them there were many politicians, generals, priests and the president of Poland and his wife.
This delegation was going to take part in the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre.
I know that many of you haven't heard of it and that's why I decided to tell you a few words.
It was a mass execution of Polish military officers by the Soviet Union during World War II. The number of victims is estimated at about 22,000.They were murdered in the Katyn Forest in Russia, the Kalinin and Kharkov prisons and elsewhere. About 8,000 were officers taken prisoner during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, the rest being Polish doctors, professors, lawmakers, police officers, and other public servants.

If you would like to see the film "Katyn" by Andrzej Wajda, you can watch it on YouTube. It's amazing and was nominated to Oscars last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM1zyQ_zffM&feature=related

If you want to learn about the historical background, see the documentary on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Nl_Q-EjbA

< Previous Event

Comment Wall

Comment by Adam Stepinski on April 15, 2010 at 13:59

Comment by Adam Stepinski on April 15, 2010 at 14:03

Comment by Nadezhda on April 21, 2010 at 16:00: Dear Adam, as I've already told you I've seen the film by Andrjei Vajda"Katyn". I've seen three films made by him and all of them are very talented, not to say more. He's a real artist that's the man who's never indifferent to the most important things happening to people. And I'm glad we have an opportunity to see the film like this now as earlier it was completely impossible.
But I still don't think it was the Soviet Union who shot the people there ( there were more than 8 thousand Russian citizens shot). It was the Stalinist regime which almost entirely devastated Russian cultural layer. The most talented, smart, professional, just honest people were either shot or sent to concentration camps. And they were those who lived in the Soviet Union thinking it to be their Homeland. It's sad. I've always taken it too close to heart as I think historical events are not those isolated from the present and left in a far distant past, no, they have logical continuation.
This is one more reason the site we are working on is vitally important. Your ideas are so good and I'm thnkful to you for them. As soon as I get over the sickness and am back to school we'll be doing our part of the work with my students.