MY GREAT KATYN MASSACRE MEMORIALS PROJECT

(since 2021)

As of 2025, my main focus are the memorials of the victims of the so-called Katyn Massacre which is an umbrella term denoting the murder of nearly 22 thousand Polish officers and policeman and border guards committed at the direct order of Joseph Stalin in a highly secretive operation in 1940.

I correct the virtual memorials of the victims, expand them and move them the correct cemetery on FaG. Beyond FaG, being a Wikipedian, I edit Wikipedia entries relating the Katyn massacre.

Back in Oct. 2007 the "International Wargraves Photography Project" (FaG ID: 46770518) uploaded ca 14.700 memorials of the victims of the so-called Katyn Massacre on FaG. These were the victims murdered in Kharkov, Katyn, historical Kalinin (nowadays Tver) with two dozen or so victim from Kyiv-Bykivnia. Most victims from Kyiv-Bykivnia and from the so-called Belarusian List were not uploaded, that is why the number was 14.700 and not 21.768, the total number of victims.

The upload of the memorials was a great thing to do. However, instead of uploading the victims to cemeteries in accordance with the place they are buried at (respectively Katyn, Kharkov, Mednoye, Kyiv-Bykivnia), all were uploaded under one cemetery, namely Katyn.

As a result, 15 thousand memorials crowded a cemetery where in fact 4.421 victims are buried. 10 thousand too many, 10 thousand misplaced!

In the end of 2021, I decided to do something about it. Contacting FaG Support resulted in the idea that I make a spreadsheet with a roll-call of the memorials to be moved from under Katyn, and send it to the FaG team so that they move the memorials. The Team was very kind and ready to help.

While working on the spreadsheet, however, quite soon I realised that there are other issues apart from the misplacement, such as:

- at least 113 memorials had duplicates (45 of victims buried in Kharkov; 43 of victims buried in Katyn; 19 of victims buried in Mednoye; and 6 of victims buried in Kijów-Bykownia);

- names were misspelled;

- memorials were missing;

- in a few cases one memorial had been made for two separate victims etc-.

The only way to cope with these various more or less serious mistakes in the memorials was to do the job myself manually, memorial by memorial. Although the task is immense, it has some advantages. It gives me the possibility to include additional information to the memorials (year of birth, PoB, biographic info, picture, family members), to add flowers and to spend some time thinking about each individual victim.

It is also a chance to provide basic information on the umbrella term "Katyn massacre" in the Bios, as due to the naming and historic intricacies, misinformation can be observed.

Finally, the bio information for the victims can be updated to the latest state of the art.

It was in autumn 2023 that I undertook the task of moving the misplaced memorials to the correct cemeteries on a large scale. Because of the scope of the endeavour, the process is slow and there are obstacles, but success is certain as the job has to be done. The reason are many, to name the most important ones:

- because of the respect due to the victims, my countrymen;

- for the sake of the reputation of FindaGrave, as such a number of misplaced memorials of victims of this well-known and tragic historic event does no good to the image of FaG.

- this year, 2025, is the 85th anniversary of the massacre.

The cemetery books of Kharkov, Katyn, Miednoye and Kyiv-Bykivnia, and dedicated on-line lists of the Katyn massacre victim are consulted to establish which victim is buried where, i.e. which virtual memorial should be under which virtual cemetery of the Katyn victims on FaG. In case of other details, my research includes also inquiries at Polish institutions focused on the subject.

For those interested, partial bibliography, links and good English reads on the subject can be found in the extensive BIO information of the memorials I manage, section "References".

As you can read below, for the time being my main focus are the victims of the so-called Katyn massacre murdered and buried in Kharkov, that is at the Cemetery of the Victims of Totalitarianism (Polish part).

Today, 2 Feb. 2025, is a special day.

By transfer from the Katyn Polish War Cemetery, I have succeeded in bringing the number of memorials under this Kharkov virtual cemetery on FaG up to 3.000.

On this occasion I would like to extend my thanks to all the kind and caring FindaGrave members who had their share in this. Special thanks go to Łukasz Janecki for his help in moving ca 35 memorials of victims from Katyn to the Mednoye Polish War Cemetery, especially of those born in Żyrardów, on 24 May 2025 and provided information about the PoB and DoB. I also gratefully acknowledge the friendly co-operation of the FaG Support team, who have shared pieces of advice with been and who have tirelessly been creating locations at my request for the birth places of the victims.

Currently (Feb. 2025), there are 10.280 memorial under Katyn. Still a long way to go; a lot more than the number of victims really buried there. But looking optimistically at the part of the half-filled glass of water that has water - much less than the initial 14.700 or so. Please be assured that the memorials labelled as cenotaphs are not maintained by me and about half of them do not belong under Katyn.

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More on the Katyn Massacre Memorials Project

(timeline continued; some personal information)

I moved the 600th virtual memorial of a Polish NKVD Prisoner of War and victim to the "Kharkov Polish War Cemetery" today, 20 April 2024. The Poles were murdered in 1940 in the so-called Katyn Massacre, which is an umbrella term denoting the Soviet crime committed at several locations: in Kalinin (nowadas Tver); the name-giver Katyn; Kharkov; Kyiv and other places in the Ukrainian Soviet Republic; and in what is now Belarus. The collective term "the Katyn Massacre" seems to have misled the original uploaders of the memorials of the victims, as they assigned all of them to one cemetery on FaG, something they named the "Katyn Forest Massacre Site of 1940". As a result, there were ca 14 600 vitual memorials under Katyn after the upload against the number of victims buried there, which is 4 421 or so. The surplus was ca 12 200 memorials. My project is to correct this.

Since my relative was murdered at Kharkov and he must have met the other Polish PoWs with whom he was held before his death, I have undertaken the task to undo the mess and move the victims from Kharkov to the correct cemetery, i.e. to the cemetery that for consistency reason should have been called "Kharkov Polish War Cemetery" and that is how it is called in the books with the cemetery roll call, but what is officially called, for some strange reason, "The Cemetery of the Victims of Totalitarianism". We mean the Polish mass graves, there.

On 12 May 2024, I finished the roll-call of the victims from Kharkov up to the end of D and then E.

May 20, 2024 - by transfer and addition, I have reached 1000 memorials at the "The Cemetery of the Victims of Totalitarianism - Polish graves"! A bit more than 1/4 is done...

October 2024 - 2000 memorials, there.

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Today, 28 Sept. 2023, I uploaded my 1999th foto!

The memorial for Włodzimierz Abłamowicz (Memorial ID: 270101008) was my 2,000th memorial to create.

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Use of my grave photos is for non-profit purposes only, with proper photo credit.