Poland’s top diplomat meets with families of US officers who witnessed the Katyń Crime

“Thanks to your loved ones the truth about the Katyń Crime was not killed. We are deeply grateful for this and we shall never forget it,” said Poland’s top diplomat Grzegorz Schetyna on Wednesday when he met with the families of US witnesses to the Katyń Crime.

The visit of families of US witnesses to the Katyń Crime organized by the Center for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites commemorates the late Col. John H. Van Vliet Jr and the late Col. Donald B. Stewart. As German prisoners of war, the two US Army officers were among the first to witness the process of revealing the truth about the Katyń Crime in May 1943. Both of them sent encoded letters from captivity providing the US with all the information required to conclude that the Soviet Union was responsible for the Katyń Crime. After the war, they testified before a select committee appointed by the US Congress (the “Madden Committee”) helping to make public the circumstances surrounding this unprecedented war crime.

President Komorowski also decorated Krystyna Piórkowska, a US historian of Polish descent, who wrote a book about English-speaking witnesses to the Katyń Crime. Thanks to her work, the Polish and world public opinion learnt about this aspect of the Katyń Crime that had long remained unknown.

The posthumous decoration of both officers by the President of the Republic of Poland and the decoration of Krystyna Piórkowska coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Katyń Crime and are an important part of this year’s commemorative ceremonies.

A group of ten family members of the US officers, including their sons, daughters and grandchildren, is paying a visit to Poland. They will attend the ceremony of unveiling a commemorative plaque in Szubin (Oflag 64, Altburgund) where the two US officers were kept prisoners. The families of the two US officers have also been invited to take part in the Katyń Crime commemorations organized in Warsaw and Bykivnia near Kiev this year.

Marcin Wojciechowski
MFA Press Spokesman