"Katyn" - A Heritage Event

Went to the Heritage Foundation this evening for a special viewing of a really cool, hot, exciting, special effects feature movie!

NOT really.

Some may have already seen "Katyn" as it has been on DVD (and Netflix) for some time.

Lee Edwards, Heritage Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought (and resident historian) introduced the presentation after a reception that included Heritage Expert and Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, Nile Gardiner, who introduced Robert Kupiecki, the Polish Ambassador to the United States.
The Ambassador's brief remarks were warmly received and deeply appreciated.

Edwards noted that for Poles, when it comes to the preservation and revival of their culture and history, they themselves give much credit to the three Ws - [Lech]Walesa, [Karol] Wojtyla, and [Andrzej] Wajda.

Comparable in quality though not quantity to the Holocaust for Jews (who were most significantly targeted in Poland; 3 million + victims), but with a difference. The selected targets, according to recently (1999-2004) released/declassified NKVD documents in the case of the Katyn Massacre (22,000 victims) were "all members of the Polish Officer Corps" as well as a big chunk of the Polish intelligentsia (hence, the hope of any future for Poland).

Like vultures fighting over a carcass, the two evil powers could in no way share opposite borders or "scraps" with each other, much less - the victim in the middle -- and brought untold destruction and chaos upon Poland as first one, then the other took control, then lost it again.

The last occupier (the USSR) thought it could seal that deal (and cover it up).

By the grace of God, that plan has ultimately failed.
And seen, perhaps, from a certain nationalistic/Roman Catholic view (beyond all recent tragedy), God indeed, has apparently prevailed.

Of interest -- though Soviet responsibility for the massacres has finally been confirmed (noting only 1,803 as the numbered dead) Russia still refuses to classify Katyn as a war crime or an act of genocide.
Its own investigation has been closed on grounds that the perpetrators of the massacre are already dead. Also, the Russian government does not classify the Katyn dead as victims of Stalinist repression. They are therefore not subject to formal posthumous rehabilitation.

The Polish Investigation, which began in 2004, continues.

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Was proud to see how apparently strong the Heritage Foundation remains both in terms of its outreach in regards to the highest ideals of clarity, integrity and co-prosperity as well as in terms of the hospitality of its bright and youthful staff.

For those in the Washington, D.C. vicinity, I recommend a visit to The Heritage Foundation for reasons already noted as well as for the many resources and civic education programs it offers.

Check them out here.

Now also is a good time to view a part of "The Gulag Collection" which is soon to make a national tour (including the George H.W. Bush Library in Austin, TX).

I wrote a bit about the collection last year.