Today marks the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Polish Military Cemetery in Katyn, commemorating the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers by the Soviets during WW II.

Historian Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert, Secretary of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites in Poland is to take part in the special ceremony at the site.

The burial ground of Polish officers killed by the Soviet secret police in 1940 was officially opened on 28 July 2000. The remains of 4,421 Poles have been laid to rest in the cemetery. Other burial sites of Polish prisoners of war murdered on Stalin’s orders were set up in Mednoye and Kharkov in the same year, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Katyn crime.

The Katyn necropolis symbolizes one of the cruelest crimes of the Soviet regime, says Andrzej Kunert:

"Katyn is a symbol of Soviet crimes against Poland and the citizens of the Second Polish Republic of different denominations, as Auschwitz is the symbol of crimes committed by the Nazis," he told Polish Radio.

The Polish POWs buried in Katyn, Kharkov and Mednoye number 15,000 in total. The burial sites of up to 7,000 victims remains unknown. (ab)