The Katyn Stone unveiling

The monument commemorating the lieutenant-colonel Bronisław Hołub murdered in Katyn was unveiled by his daughter Halina Kalwajt and the headmaster of Adam Mickiewicz Gymnasium in Vilnius Czesław Dawidowicz. Photo: the archive

On December 17th this year the school community of Adam Mickiewicz Gymnasium in Vilnius unveiled the Katyn stone under the oak planted to commemorate the officer murdered in Katyn. 

On the stone the inscription in two languages – Polish and Lithuanian – was placed, informing that this is the oak commemorating  the lieutenant-colonel Bronisław Hołub murdered in Katyn in 1940. The daughter of the murdered officer Halina Kalwajt and his grand daughter Jadwiga Szlachtowicz participated in the ceremony.

Present at the ceremony Jadwiga Szlachtowicz, the member of Vilnian “Rodzina Katyńska” (The Katyn Family), is the grand daughter of the murdered officer. She says that the last letter from her grand father came from Kozielsk before Christmas in 1939:

– It was written in it that we were going to meet soon. Then the letter got lost, only the envelope remained.

It was not until 1957 the family found out that he was killed in Katyn. The information was brought by the aunt from London.

The unveiling ceremony took place within the framework of the action “Ocalić od zapomnienia” (To Save From Oblivion) aimed at commemorating every Katyn officer by planting an oak for him.

– The theme of Katyn, Polish martyrdom is difficult for youth, this is why every year we organize various events to popularize this subject matter among young people. Three years ago we planted the oak commemorating Bronisław Hołub, two years ago we participated in the competition “Ślady Katynia na Wileńszczyźnie” (The  Katyn traces in Vilnius Region) in which the student of our gymnasium was the runner-up; this year a group of students went on a trip to Katyn and Smolensk to commemorate murdered officers and victims of the Smolensk air disaster – said the headmaster of Adam Mickiewicz Gymnasium in Vilnius Czesław Dawidowicz.

The gymnasium pays tribute to Katyn victims, the small oak commemorating the lieutenant-colonel Bronisław Hołub will be the symbol of  the history lesson. All hail to his memory!

Similar articles:

• The Tribunal: “Katyn is the war crime”
• The ceremony in the mourning silence: the Katyn lesson
• Katyn as the destination of the Šalčininkai delegation’s pilgrimage
• A new plaque in memory of fallen soldiers

Source: http://kurierwilenski.lt/2012/12/17/odsloniecie-kamienia-katynskiego/

Tłumaczenie Barbara Szydłowska w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Barbara Szydłowska the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.