Poland in South Africa

Representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria, Polish associations in the province of Gauteng, local Polish diaspora and Ika Grzeszczak-Hindson - niece of Ryszard Kaczorowski, President of the Republic of Poland in Exile, participated in the ceremony.

The participants of the event paid tribute to the victims of the Katyn Massacre, as well as the victims of the Tu-154 plane crash - to President Lech Kaczyński, the First Lady of the Republic of Poland Maria Kaczyńska, the last President of the Republic of Poland in Exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski, and all members of the Polish delegation and the crew of the plane who died on April 10, 2010 near Smolensk.

The delegation going on April 10, 2010 to the Katyn celebrations represented the Polish elite, their various political, social and spiritual representatives. The delegates were to pay tribute in Katyn to 22,000 Polish officers, victims of mass executions in the Katyn Forest, Miednoje, Kharkiv, Bykivnia and Kuropaty carried out by the NKVD in the spring of 1940 on the orders of the highest authorities of the Soviet Union. Polish prisoners of war: officers, scientists, clergy of various denominations, officials and functionaries, representatives of the liberal professions and entrepreneurs - the then elite of the Second Polish Republic- were killed in the Katyn massacre.

The Katyn massacre and the Smolensk tragedy are two events that symbolize the tragic pages of Polish history. These events shocked millions of Poles as well as international public opinion.

Deputy Consul of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria Marta Gutkowska gave a short occasional speech in which she referred to the tragic events from years ago and paid tribute to those murdered in Katyn and the victims of the Smolensk plane crash. She also mentioned another anniversary that took place on that day. On April 10, 1943, 500 Polish orphans, children of Siberian exiles, including the descendants of officers murdered in Katyn, arrived in Oudtshoorn, South Africa.

The participants of the event laid wreaths at the Katyn Monument. On behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria, the wreath was laid by: Jarosław Spyra, Head of the Political and Economic Department, Dariusz Siekiera, Defence Attaché and Marta Gutkowska, Deputy Consul of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria.

The fallen will always be alive in our memory!