On December 8, a first monument commemorating the victims of the NKVD’s Polish Operation of 1937-1938 in Poland was unveiled by government and local officials in Sokoły, Podlaskie Voivodeship.
The ceremony started with a Holy Mass held in the town’s Minor Basilica. Shortly after the official unveiling of the memorial site, a scientific conference entitled “You were – we are. In memory of the victims of the Polish NKVD operation 1937-1938”, devoted to the issue of this forgotten genocide and extermination of our compatriots took place.
According to Adam Andruszkiewicz, Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, who took part at the ceremony, the monument is a symbol of restoring the memory of the murder of almost 200,000 Poles by the Soviets.
According to Piękno Życia Foundation, even though NKVD’s Polish Operation is one of the greatest genocidal crimes of the 20th century, it remains practically unperpetuated in the consciousness of the contemporary inhabitants of Poland.
Meanwhile, reminding and making Poles aware of Stalinist crimes should continue uninterruptedly. According to the foundation, the fact that so far there has been no place in Poland commemorating the victims of the Polish NKVD operation proves that there was such a need.
Importantly, the monument in Sokoły is the first monument commemorating the victims of the Polish operation of the NKVD 1937-1938; and its construction would not have been completed without the initiative and support of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.