75th Katyn Anniversary

Throughout the wartime years and post-war decades the Katyn massacre had been the object of outright historic lies to suite both communist and Western political interests.

And, as Sławek Szefs reports, it must be remembered that the tragedy of Katyn has not only been a subject of heated debate among historians and politicians but also an event of dire consequences - especially in communist times - for the wives, mothers and children of the murdered victims.

“One part of our mind was only for the family and the second one was official… at school, with our friends. When someone asked what happened with my grandfather during the war, my father used to answer that he disappeared,” Izabela Skąpska from the Association of Katyn Families told our reporter.

“We all had the feeling that our fathers were really heroes but my mother never told me more than a sentence […] because she was afraid I would tell other children,” said Ewa Gruner-Żarnoch.