Fells Point Katyn Massacre Memorial

April 21, 2:46 PMBaltimore History ExaminerMark Newgent

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In my previous post I mentioned the Katyn Forest Massacre.  Baltimore actually has its own memorial to the victims. The memorial is located at the end of President's St. in the Inner Harbor East/Fells Point area just outside the Marriott Waterfront Hotel. The memorial was dedicated on November 19, 2000.

The National Katyn Memorial Foundation secured funding for the memorial and holds an annual Remembrance Mass and ceremony at the memorial. This year's mass and ceremony is scheduled for  Sunday April 27.  The events begin with a 10:30 am mass at Holy Rosary Church on South Chester St., and culminate with a ceremony at the memorial at 1:00 pm.

Most people walk by the memorial scratching their heads in a vain attempt to figure out what it is. If they only knew.

The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression pact of 1939 not only secured a mutual bargain not to attack one another, it also contained a secret protocol in which Hitler and Stalin would carve up Poland and then deliver the Baltic states to the Soviet Union. When the Soviets moved into eastern Poland they rounded up and shot over 20,000 Polish citizens. Some were POWs others were lawyers, doctors, and businessman. Since Poland's conscription policy at the time required all non-exempted college graduates to serve in the reserve officer corps, the Soviets were able to eliminate a large segment of the Polish intelligentsia that could pose a threat to their control of their portion of Poland. The prisoners were shot and buried in mass graves in the Katyn Forest.