Location in relation to the surroundings

The monument is located in a city park, at one of the main and most frequently visited alleys.

Text of the inscription

In the spring of 1940, Stalin ordered the assassination of 22 thousand Polish officers, policemen and other prisoners of war from the Kozielsk, Ostaszek, Starobelsk camps in Katyn, Miednoye, Kharkiv and unknown places of the former USSR with a shot in the back of his head. In memory of the murdered, on the initiative of the ‘Lower Silesian Katyn Family’ association, this monument was founded by the countrymen. Wrocław, 1999.

General description

The monument is situated on a cross plan. It has the form of four granite slabs and two bronze figures. Four pedestals form a symbolic tomb. In the centre of the tomb, on a symbolic grave, there is a sculpture of Pieta Katynska depicted as Mother - Homeland, mourning the murdered sons. Above the whole rises the highest pedestal with the sculpture of the Angel of Death. Total area of the monument: 380 m2, highest object: 7 m.

Condition

Good

The circumstances of unveiling

Under the communist regime in Poland the official commemoration of the victims of the Katyn Massacre was forbidden. This situation changed after 1989. The construction of the monument was initiated by the ‘Lower Silesian Katyn Families’ - an association gathering families of prisoners of war murdered by the Soviets in 1940. Funds for the construction of the monument came from private individuals and entrepreneurs. The construction of the monument lasted from 1994 to 1999. The official unveiling of the monument took place in September 2000 - on the 60th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. The author of the monument is Tadeusz Tchórzewski.

Later history

Contemporary importance

The monument is the place where official local ceremonies commemorating the Katyn Massacre take place. A place permanently inscribed in the local memory of the presented event. Monument present in tourist guides and programmes of part of excursions through the city of Wrocław.

Publications, sources, links

Wikipedia [link]