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Monument · unveiled 16 April 2010

Katyn Massacre Memorial in Osowiec-Twierdza

Railway tracks ending at a bunker fragment commemorate victims of the Katyn massacre. The memorial stands within the currently closed Fort I.

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About

The memorial was unveiled on 16 April 2010, during commemorations of the seventieth anniversary of the Katyn massacre. The initiative came from garrison commander Major Bogdan Oźlański and soldiers and civilian staff of the Osowiec depot. The composition combines rails on wooden sleepers with part of the reinforced-concrete vault of a Polish bunker destroyed during the Second World War. The tracks end at an authentic military fragment rather than a reconstructed station or carriage.

The railway refers to the transport of prisoners to execution sites. Barbed wire between posts evokes imprisonment, while a chain separates the tracks from the monument's base. These objects, rather than a single human figure, carry the memorial's meaning.

Ten Memorial Oaks were planted as part of the commemoration. Each honours a murdered individual linked through service to Osowiec or the Border Protection Corps' NCO school. Ten railway sleepers correspond to the number of officers commemorated by the trees.

Test yourself

Question 1 of 2

When was the Katyn memorial unveiled?

Details
Reference
PKT-TO-08
  • Katyn massacre
  • memorial site
  • monument
  • memorial oaks
  • 2010

On the map

Katyn Massacre Memorial in Osowiec-Twierdza