Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Katyn Massacres

April 13th is a day of remembrance for the victims of the Katyn Massacres.

In the spring of 1940, the NKVD executed nearly 22,000 Polish prisoners of war and political prisoners.

On March 5, 1940, pursuant to a directive issued by the Soviet Politburo, all the prisoners that were held in the Kozelski, Starobelski, and Ostashkvov prison camps and the prisons of Western Ukraine and Belarus were described as “enemies of Soviet power” and had to be executed. The executions were carried out from April 3rd to May 16th of 1940. Many of the victims have still not been identified and the locations of a number of burial sites are still unknown.

The Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Katyn Murders is observed on April 13th, marking the anniversary of the discovery of mass graves in Katyn.