Remembering the Martyrs of Katyn

In the event held in the Memorial Park of the Katyń Martyrs, Lajos Erdélyi, Deputy State Secretary for Human Policy of the Ministry of Defence appeared, and laid a wreath on behalf of the Ministry. It was noted during the memorial ceremony that Budapest was the first city in Central Europe, where – in 2010 – a Memorial Park was created for the martyrs of Katyń. At the Memorial erected in the Park, the attendees remembered those, who were forcibly deported, and executed at Stalin’s order in the forest near to Katyń. The close to 22 thousand Polish martyrs were buried in a mass grave in the forest.

During the memorial ceremony, Balázs Bús, the Mayor of Óbuda-Békásmegyer pointed out that Polish people will always remember the spring of 1940 as the eternal memory of the atrocities committed by the Soviets. They lied about the events for 50 years, and the relatives of the victims were intimidated into silence. The Mayor highlighted that the international judiciary has never cracked down on the communist criminals as they have done in the case of the Nazis. Balázs Bús emphasised that since 2010 the commemoration has served a dual purpose, as this time they bow heads not just before the Katyń martyrs, but also before the victims of the Smolensk plane crash.

Ms. Urszula Kierzkowska, the Mayor of the Warsaw District, Bemowo, the twin town of Óbuda, said that until 1989 they were not allowed to speak about the massacre, and now they can remember the martyrs surrounded by the attention of the whole world. According to the Mayor, today Katyń is the symbol of the tragic fate of the Polish officers and intellectuals, but this is not the only place where thousands upon thousands of Polish men and women had suffered. At the end of her speech, Ms. Urszula Kierzkowska thanked that Óbuda keeps the memory alive, and expressed her hope, that they will continue to do so.

Photos of László Tóth