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Poles apart – in film as in life Ralph Seliger • Film Published: 17 April 2009 “Katyn,” the most recent work of the great Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda and a finalist for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 2008, was held over for a month in its run at New York’s Film Forum, the city’s premier art house. (See page 11.) It depicts the Soviet murder of thousands of captive Polish army officers during the spring of 1940 and reverberations of the massacre’s aftermath several years later. Dire, in some instances fatal, consequences befell Poles who insisted on the truth,...

Russia's Supreme Court has rejected appeals to re-open the investigation into the World War II-era massacre of Polish military officers and intellectuals by Soviet secret police. The decision announced Thursday ends years of efforts by Polish families to get Russian authorities to re-examine the 1940 killings in forest near the city of Katyn. Around 20,000 Polish officers, intellectuals and priests were killed by Soviet agents in the spring of 1940 near Katyn, in western Russia. The Soviet Union in 1990 acknowledged that dictator Josef Stalin ordered the killings. In 2004, Russia's top military prosecutor closed the investigation after concluding that...

Russian NO to Katyn massacre victims 25.11.2008 The Municipal Court in Moscow has dismissed a legal complaint filed by families of Polish officers murdered in Katyn in 1940 concerning the rehabilitation of the victims. Thus the October verdict of the lower Regional Court has been upheld. Russian lawyers representing the Katyn victims’ families have complained against proceedings of the Supreme Military Prosecutors Office which denied the rehabilitation of the murdered Polish officers on grounds of incomplete records contained in Russian military archives. Attorney Anna Stawicka said her clients would be filing the case with the European Human Rights Tribunal in...

Moscow court rejects exoneration of WWII Katyn massacre victims 24/10/2008 MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court has refused to exonerate Polish prisoners of war executed in western Russia's Katyn forest in 1940, a lawyer for the families of those killed said on Friday. Over 20,000 Polish military officers, police and civilians taken prisoner during the 1939 partitioning of Poland by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were massacred in the Katyn forest, as well as in prisons and other locations, by the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB. "We strongly object to the ruling of the Khamovniki...

Katyn “deserved revenge”? Created: 25.08.2008 15:09 “Stalin was an efficient leader, not a murderer. The killing of Polish officers in Katyn was a well-deserved revenge,“ will be the new official historical theory taught in Russian schools. Before the opening of the new school year, the Russian Academy of Qualification Improvement and Professional Retraining of Education Employees has released guidelines for teachers regarding the history syllabus in schools. From now on, Russian pupils will be informed that some 22,000 Polish officers were indeed killed by the NKVD in Katyn in 1940, but the act was fully justified and “politically suitable”, reports...

COVER UP FOR THOSE WHO CARRIED OUT MASS MURDERBy Herbert RomersteinWhen the Nazis announced on April 12, 1943 that they had found the bodies of thousands of Polish officers who had been murdered by the Soviets in Katyn forest, most Americans did not believe them. The Nazis were known to commit mass murder and the extensive propaganda campaign in the United States in support of the Soviet Union had affected the thinking of most Americans. But the Poles knew the truth. They had been asking the Soviets about the missing men for almost two years. And some Americans knew the...

Nazis responsible for Katyn massacre, says Russian daily 04.02.2008 19:20 The Russian Nezavisimaya Gazieta daily claims that the Soviet NKVD secret police could not possibly have been responsible for the mass murder of over 20,000 Polish officers in 1940. The author of the article Aleksandr Shirokorad claims that the massacre could not have possibly been the doing of the NKVD since the ropes used for tying the victims' wrists and bullets were not those used by the NKVD. He also claims that the shooting technique used was apparently alien to the NKVD. Contrary to most historians opinions, the murders, claims...

'Katyn' leading in NYT internet poll 04.02.2008 Katyn - the movie by Polish Oscar winning director Andrzej Wajda, nominated for the Academy Award this year in the category of non-English language films, is leading in the New York Times internet poll. The movie is getting many votes from Poland, as Polish internet users in the country and abroad are joining forces to vote other films out. The results of the poll are, of course, not binding. The official results of the academy awards are to be announced in L.A. on February 24.

A Movie That Matters By Anne Applebaum Posted: Friday, February 1, 2008 ARTICLES The New York Review of Books Publication Date: February 14, 2008 Anne Applebaum reviews Katyn, directed by Andrzej Wajda and written by Andrzej Mularczyk and Andrzej Wajda. The ruins of a Russian Orthodox monastery, 1939: paint peels from the walls, light filters in from the cracks in the ceiling, cigarette smoke whirls through the air. Primitive wooden camp beds are stacked up high, one on top of the other, for the monastery has been turned into a prison. The prisoners, soldiers in khaki-brown wool uniforms and black...

Wajda’s Katyn nominated for Oscar 22.01.2008 15:47 ‘Katyn’, last year’s box office hit directed by Poland’s most renowned director, Andrzej Wajda, has been nominated for an American Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The ceremony is to take place 24 February. The last time a Polish film received a nomination in this category was 1982, when another Wajda movie, Man of Iron was nominated but then withdrawn from the contest by the then Polish authorities. In the history of American Academy Awards, seven Polish films have received nomination in the Best Foreign Language category, but none of...

Poland honors Katyn genocide victims at a solemn ceremony in Warsaw 12.11.2007 Over the weekend, Warsaw was the venue of a very special celebration commemorating the memory of the victims of the Katyn Forest Massacre - over 20 thousand Polish citizens murdered by the NKVD at Stalin's personal order in 1940. Eliza Mickiewicz reports 'I would like us to focus on those, whose memory was forbidden on this soil for decades - on the victims of genocide in Katyn, Miednoje, Charkow and many other places.' ...said the Polish President Lech Kaczynski opening the two-day solemn ceremony to honor the victims...

Wajda's "Katyn" shown in Moscow 28.10.2007 Polish Embassy in Moscow is again the venue of the screening of "Katyn", a movie on the Katyn Forest Massacre by Oscar winning Polish film director Andrzej Wajda. Katyn was shown there for the first time yesterday. The audience, mostly diplomats, human rights activists and artists were moved. "Poles, forgive us," said Russian human rights activist Siergiej Kovaliov after he saw the film. In 1940, over twenty two thousand Polish POWs - both military and civilian - were executed by the Soviet NKVD. The movie tells a fictional story of the victims and their...

Every Polish soldier to see Katyn by December 15 Created: Tuesday, October 9. 2007 “By December 15, commanders of military units throughout the country make sure regular and compulsory military service soldiers see the Katyń movie by director Andrzej Wajda,” Minister of National Defence Aleksander Szczygło has announced. The Minister watched the movie with the soldiers from the 1 Masuria Artillery Brigade in a hall of the local community centre. Mr. Szczygło assured during a press conference that, “Shall the need arise to support this enterprise [the screening of the movie] logistically, the Ministry of National Defence will give logistical...

Fr. Peszkowski, legendary Katyn genocide survivor dies at 89 08.10.2007 Father Zdzisław Peszkowski, Katyn Forest Massacre survivor and a legendary lifetime chaplain of the families of the Katyn genocide victims, passed away at the age of 89. Joanna Najfeld reports Until the last days of his life, Fr. Peszkowski fought for the truth about the 1940 Soviet mass murder of twenty thousand Polish POWs - military officers, but also civilians - professors, doctors, lawyers, clergy, higher state officials - the intellectual elite of pre-war Poland. The truth, as he often reminded, which was forbidden during the decades of communist regime...

In 1940, 20,000 Polish officers were massacred by Soviet soldiers. Legendary Polish director Andrzej Wajda's film Katyn, opening on Friday, tells their story. But the premiere was almost hijacked by politics during a tight and bitter election fight.A pre-election dust-up threatened to derail the premiere of the most eagerly anticipated Polish film in years, as the government was accused of exploiting a national tragedy for political advantage. The film, "Katyn," which opens across Poland on Friday, is about the 1940 massacre of some 20,000 Polish officers by the Soviet army. Polish government officials announced just weeks ago that they would...

Wajda’s Katyn Poland’s Oscar candidate Sunday, September 23. 2007 Katyn, the latest film by veteran Polish movie maker Andrzej Wajda, will be Poland’s candidate for ‘Best Foreign Film’ in next year’s Academy Awards. Katyn – which had its premier last week in Warsaw – tells the story of the massacre by over 20,000 Polish officers by the Soviet NKVD in 1940. Some of Wajda’s family were murdered during the massacre. Wajda’s latest movie was among 16 Polish films which a special committee had to chose from to send to the Academy in Los Angles for consideration for nomination in the...

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Maxim Krans) - When Russia was recognized as the de facto successor to the U.S.S.R. it inherited not only its property, nuclear arsenal and a huge foreign debt, but also the heavy, often unbearable, burden of historic responsibility for the policies and actions of former regimes. A new feature film from the outstanding film director Andrzej Wajda, which will be released in the next few days, serves as a timely reminder of this. It is devoted to the Katyn tragedy -- a sensitive issue, which has marred Russian-Polish relations for years. Wajda, who lost his...

Russia denies Poland access to Katyn files Thursday, September 20. 2007 Russia has denied Poland access to 180 historical files concerning the 1940 Katyn massacre – an event that divides Warsaw and Moscow to this day. According to the daily Nasz Dziennk a definitive indictment of the role the NKVD, the Soviet government at the time and even Stalin himself played in the massacre - where over 20,000 Polish officers were murdered - will not be offered anytime soon by Poland’s National Institute of Remembrance (IPN), which is investigating the matter. Poland insists that the executions of Polish prisoners of...

Russian media blame Poland for the death of Soviet POWs in 1920 19.09.2007 On the 68th anniversary of the Soviet aggression on Poland, Russian media question the Soviet responsibility for Katyn and blame Poland for the death of tens of thousands Soviet POWs in Poland back in 1920. Polish commentators respond that such statements from the Russian side are pure propaganda supposed to counterbalance their responsibility for the Katyn massacre. Joanna Najfeld reports Commemorating the 68th anniversary of the Soviet aggression on Poland on September 17th, 1939, Polish president Lech Kaczynski visited Katyn - the site of mass murder of...

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the Warsaw premiere of Andrzej Wajda's "Katyn". Even though my Polish is minimal, there was no need to be fluent in order to understand the film's terribly powerful and poignant depictions of fear, frustration, love, anger, despair, revulsion, and propaganda lies . The story is very personal. Mr. Wajda's father was one of the victims of Katyn, and Mr. Wajda based the story on the women who waited in vain for their men to return, just like his own mother had done.