Maciej Wyrwa
Despite the passing of the years, many families are still searching for information about the fate of their loved ones who were persecuted by the Soviet Union. Numerous cases – despite years of searching carried out by, amongst others, the Polish Red Cross and the Institute of National Remembrance – have not been definitively resolved, and their number is likely to run into the tens of thousands.
On the basis of documentation relating to the Katyn massacre, Jędrzej Tucholski established that the lists of prisoners executed from the camps at Kozielsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov, as well as those murdered in Ukraine, had a uniform, continuous numbering system. Gaps in the numbering indicate that nine lists contained the names of prisoners held in Belarus, sentenced to death between 22 April and 19 May 1940.
To this day, we do not know where and how the victims of the Katyn massacre were executed in Belarus, nor where their bodies were hidden.
Despite its efforts, the Polish side has not been granted access to the archives that could help establish the victims’ identities, the circumstances of the crime, or the perpetrators. Nor have the victims been given a proper burial. Instead, in modern Russia, Soviet responsibility for the crimes is increasingly being denied, whilst in Belarus the very fact that the murders took place on its territory is being questioned. As Alexander Lukashenko stated: “Not a single Pole was shot on our territory in Belarus.” […]
The article in Polish is available here: https://swiatsybiru.pl/pl/bialoruska-lista-katynska-czym-jest-i-kto-mogl-sie-na-niej-znalezc/
Full English translation coming soon.
