The day is simply a unit of time that we intuitively combine with the motion of the Sun: from its east to west. This is the basic rhythm of life – a order that separates light from darkness. In a symbolic sense, a day means clarity, transparency, truth. A day is simply a minute erstwhile you can see clearly. It's a time erstwhile you can read, recognize, remember. That is why the Day of Memory of the Victims of Katyń Crimes is celebrated all year on 13 April – in order to reconstruct the memory of the crime, which was to be buried in the darkness forever.
The Katyn crime, committed in the spring of 1940 by the russian NKVD on nearly 22 1000 Polish prisoners of war and representatives of the elites of the Second Republic, was 1 of those acts of force which were to not only kill people but besides erase their existence from history. Their execution sites – Katyń, Mednoje, Kharkiv and others – were to stay anonymous points on the map of russian empire forests. The killers made certain they didn't leave any witnesses. For decades, the Soviets denied the act, blaming the Germans. The West was silent, agreeing to lie in the name of political compromise. The families of the victims for years have not known the truth. The Day of Memory is so opposed to this silence, an effort to extract victims from non-existence.
Memorial Day is besides a call for settlement – not only of the past but besides of the present. The Katyn crime, although officially recognised by Russia as an NKVD act, was never decently settled by it either morally or legally. In 1990, after the collapse of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev granted work to the state he led. In 2010, the State Duma deemed that the murders were committed by NKVD officers, but besides warned that it was not genocide. To this day, Russian courts refuse to admit the murdered as victims of political repression. There is no rehabilitation, no names of perpetrators, no legal consequences. Katyn so remains a crime of unpunished criminals. And unpunished crimes have a beef with each another that they can be repeated.
In fresh years we have seen a phenomenon in Russia that seems to contradict the logic of past – the rebirth of the cult of Joseph Stalin. The same Stalin who signed the decision to liquidate Polish officers. According to public opinion polls, more and more Russians justice his character positively. Monuments, commemorative plaques, streets named after him are restored in public space. authoritative state communicative minimizes his crimes, focusing on “winner” in the large Patriotic War. Stalin is portrayed as an effective leader who saved the country. The moral context, the number of victims, the suffering of millions – all of this is marginalized. In specified a climate Katyń ceases to be a tragedy and becomes a “political problem”.
It's not just a revision of history. It is simply a conscious memory policy that is to justify today's reality. Russia Putina does not request the fact – she needs a myth. Stalin as a symbol of state force fits this narrative. Katyn bothers due to the fact that he talks about victims, about guilt, about responsibility. That's why Katyn victims are being marginalized. In Russian textbooks, the subject barely exists. authoritative communications mention to “tragedy” or “multaneous historical events”. You avoid specifics, you avoid words: murder, execution, order, crime.
The symbol of this policy is besides the demolition of Polish memorial sites in Russia. In fresh years there have been acts of vandalism, dismantling of plates, closing access to burial sites. Monuments in Katyn and Mednoje are increasingly neglected, sometimes deliberately destroyed. In 2022, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, among others, the plaque in Tver was destroyed to commemorate the murdered Poles. This was done without any shame, even with a demonstration of strength. specified actions have a symbolic dimension – it is not only an attack on history, but besides an effort to humiliate Poland. Showing that Russia doesn't gotta explain anything, that it can erase memory erstwhile it wants to.
In this context, the Day of Memory of the Victims of Katyń Crime is of peculiar importance. This is not only an act of reminiscing victims, but besides opposition to falsification of history. Recalling Katyn present is besides a reminder that a country that does not account for its past can become its hostage. Stalin was a tyrant, and his legacy is death, terror, lie, and fear. If his worship is returning in Russia today, it means that this country has never truly broken up with this inheritance. And since he did not break it, he can proceed it – and continues, as evidenced by wars, repression, propaganda.
Poland has a work to remember. Not only due to the victims – but especially for them – but besides due to the future. Memory is not just a substance of national identity. It's besides an component of immunity. A society that remembers knows where it came from and why something's wrong. He knows that crime can't be silenced due to the fact that all silence legitimizes it. He knows that the board with names shot is not only metallic – it is evidence. And he knows that historical fact is not “a question of interpretation”, but a substance of fact.
The day of remembrance of the victims of Katyń Crimes does not give comfort. It's not closing. It reminds me that not everything has been said that not everything has been repaired. But his strength lies in this discord – in silence, in oblivion, in cynicism. all 13 April, we light a symbolic light – against the darkness, which inactive tries to control memory. Against those who want to turn day into night.
Artur Bednarski
