Not to be forgotten

As I write this on Sunday afternoon, this year’s Remembrance Ceremony is drawing to a close. I was sorry not to be able to go, as I have been most years since 1978, when I went for the first time,. Jacek and I went together with my mother and a friend from Poland, and it was more or less the time when we realised that we were going to get married. We had a lot in common, not least that we both had grandfathers who had been murdered by the Soviets in what is now known as the Crime of Katyń, which encompasses all the murders of the intelligentsia who were forcibly removed from their homes and lands in eastern Poland, now mainly Ukraine. Jacek’s paternal grandfather was taken to Katyń itself, where he is on the list, and mine was killed somewhere else, but no less horribly.

For years the western world refused to accept that this was a Soviet atrocity, and finding a place for the memorial was an enormous logistical and political task. When the graves were found, originally the Soviets accused the Nazis of committing the murders. For various reasons of expediency the British were loth to accuse the Soviets and it was not until the 1990’s that the Russians admitted anything. This has all now been well documented, and films have been made to show the horrors. (The Last Witness, Piotr Szkopia:, Katyń, Andrzej Wajda) I don’t need to go into that here, except to remind people that it is because of those deportations to the Soviet Union in 1940 that my family and thousands of others are still living in England.

But today, searching for something quite different, I found my mother’s invitation to the original ceremony in 1976, and the programme. I think if you click on the pictures you should be able to read the information quite clearly.

My mother kept very few souvenirs, and so I feel it is important to share this poignant brochure.