Some 150 high school teenagers from Poznan are taking part in the third March in Memory of Katyn observed by Polish and Russian youth.

They are journeying from nearby Gniazdowo to the forests of Katyn along the route covered by Polish POWs, army officers murdered by the Soviet secret police, the notorious NKVD.

Karol Seifert, one of the initiators of the Memoramus Association of Cooperation With The East which organizes the annual youth visits to Katyn, underlines the educational aspect of the program: "I think it’s a real lesson in history for both Polish and Russian students. The latter, though living closer to Katyn Forest, often find out about this history only in connection with the visits by Polish youth. They also find out that buried in Katyn are not only Poles, but other victims of communist terror in Soviet Russia of the 1930s. So it’s also a history lesson for Russians."

A commemorative mass will be held at the Polish cemetery in Katyn. The young Poles shall also meet with representatives of the Smolensk district where the war memorial is located and students of local schools.

SS