Lot 4119

Description

Poland, Katyn Genocide Memorial Medal, undated, in silver (40mm), obverse, prisoners behind barbed wire and names of POW camps, Starobielsk, Ostaszkow and Kosielski, reverse, the name Katyn with forest behind in form of Polish eagles. In unofficial case, uncirculated.

Starobielsk, Ostaszkow and Kosielski were Russian POW camps housing mainly Polish military officers, policemen and civilian prisoners. The Kosielski prisoners were massacred at Katyn forest in 1940 by the Soviet NKVD and simultaneous executions were held of prisoners from the other camps. Those murdered comprised many of Poland's elite and were the ones most likely to oppose the imposition of communism on Poland. Ironically on 10 April 2010 many of Poland's current elite, including the President Lech Kaczynski and the First Lady, were killed in an airline crash in the forests near Smolensk in Russia near the Belarus border while on their way to attend a remembrance ceremony for the Katyn victims. The disastrous event has been labelled Katyn 2. With research.