Polish War Cemetery in Mednoye

When the exhu­ma­tions were car­ried out by Polish spe­cia­li­sts in the 1990s in the forest near the vil­la­ge of Med­noye, near Tver (rena­med Kali­nin in the Soviet era), they unco­ve­red pits fil­led with dark blue clay. This stran­ge fin­ding was expla­ined when other arte­facts, such as but­tons, buc­kles, and frag­ments of insi­gnia, were dug up. All of the­se things mat­ched poli­ce uni­forms. The majo­ri­ty of the Katyn mas­sa­cre vic­tims buried here were Polish poli­ce offi­cers. In the spring of 1940, the pri­so­ners of the NKVD spe­cial camp in Osta­sh­kov were trans­por­ted to Tver, whe­re they were exe­cu­ted in the base­ments of the NKVD Regio­nal Direc­to­ra­te, and the­ir bodies were dum­ped into mass gra­ves in Med­noye.

Same as in Khar­kiv and Byki­vnia, we didn’t learn abo­ut this pla­ce o burial of the Katyn mas­sa­cre vic­tims until the 1990s. The forest also hides the name­less gra­ves of the Rus­sians, who died during Sta­li­nist pur­ges in the 1930s.

Betwe­en 1994 and 1995, measu­re­ment tests and exhu­ma­tions were con­duc­ted here under the super­vi­sion of Pro­fes­sor Bro­ni­sław Mło­dzie­jow­ski (Aca­de­my of Inter­nal Affa­irs, Uni­ver­si­ty of War­mia and Mazu­ry), a spe­cia­list in the field of foren­sic bio­lo­gy and oste­olo­gy. The archi­tec­tu­ral pro­ject for the ceme­te­ry was selec­ted in a com­pe­ti­tion. The authors of the win­ning entry were Zdzi­sław Pidek, Andrzej Soły­ga, Wie­sław and Jacek Syna­kie­wicz, and Leszek Wit­kow­ski. The imple­men­ta­tion pro­ject was pre­pa­red by Zdzi­sław Pidek and Andrzej Soły­ga.

Ear­th­works and con­struc­tion were car­ried out by Budi­mex S.A., whi­le the sculp­tu­ral ele­ments were pre­pa­red by a con­sor­tium of Budi­mex S.A. and Meta­lo­dlew S.A. from Kra­ków. The bell was cast by Odlew­nia Dzwo­nów Janusz Fel­czyń­ski i S‑ka from Prze­myśl.

Accor­ding to the con­cep­tu­al guide­li­nes, deve­lo­ped by the Rada Ochro­ny Pamię­ci Walk i Męczeń­stwa (Coun­cil for the Pro­tec­tion of Strug­gle and Mar­tyr­dom Sites, which was the com­mis­sio­ner of this pro­ject), on each ceme­te­ry we see simi­lar ele­ments, illu­stra­ting a cohe­rent mes­sa­ge. The main mate­rial is cast iron, cho­sen for its dura­bi­li­ty.

The cor­ner­sto­ne was laid on 11 June 1995, and the ceme­te­ry was ope­ned on 2 Sep­tem­ber 2000.

At the entran­ce of the Polish War Ceme­te­ry in Med­noye, the­re are pylons, on which the cros­ses of the Vir­tu­ti Mili­ta­ri and the 1939 Sep­tem­ber Cam­pa­ign were moun­ted (destroy­ed by the Rus­sians in May 2025). The pla­que in the cen­tre of the ceme­te­ry sta­tes that this site was built ‘In hono­ur of over 6,300 vic­tims buried in Med­noye – offi­cers of the Sta­te Poli­ce and the Sile­sian Voivo­de­ship Poli­ce, the Bor­der Guard and the Pri­son Guard, sol­diers and offi­cers, mili­ta­ry poli­ce, Bor­der Pro­tec­tion Corps and other mili­ta­ry for­ma­tions, as well as the sta­te admi­ni­stra­tion and justi­ce sys­tem employ­ees’.

The ceme­te­ry is sur­ro­un­ded by an alley, lined with the epi­taph pla­qu­es com­me­mo­ra­ting Polish pri­so­ners of war, bearing the­ir names and sur­na­mes, dates and pla­ces of birth, mili­ta­ry ranks, pro­fes­sions or offi­cial posi­tions. One ele­ment com­mon to all the pla­qu­es is the date of death: 1940.

Deep in the forest, you can see the towe­ring sil­ho­uet­tes of the cros­ses pla­ced over the mass gra­ves.

Simi­lar­ly to Katyn and Khar­kiv, a distinc­ti­ve spot is the Gate of Remem­bran­ce, on which the names and sur­na­mes of the vic­tims of the Katyn mas­sa­cre buried here are listed in alpha­be­ti­cal order. A bell that tolls for the dead hangs at the foot of the gate. The bell is inscri­bed with ver­ses from Bogu­ro­dzi­ca. In front of the gate stands the Meeting Table, whe­re visi­tors can gather and the litur­gy is per­for­med during the com­me­mo­ra­tion cere­mo­nies. The sym­bo­lism is com­ple­ted by the insi­gnia of the reli­gions pro­fes­sed by tho­se who rest here.

Fur­ther in the woods the­re is a sym­bo­lic obe­lisk, dedi­ca­ted to the Rus­sian vic­tims of the Gre­at Pur­ge of 1937.

Infor­ma­tion abo­ut the vic­tims can be found in the edi­ted volu­me Mied­no­je. Księ­ga Cmen­tar­na Pol­skie­go Cmen­ta­rza Wojen­ne­go [Med­noye. The Ceme­te­ry Book of the Polish War Ceme­te­ry], publi­shed by the Rada Ochro­ny Pamię­ci Walk i Męczeń­stwa (Coun­cil for the Pro­tec­tion of Strug­gle and Mar­tyr­dom Sites) in the year 2006.

More infor­ma­tion abo­ut the esta­bli­sh­ment of the ceme­te­ry in Med­noye can be found in the sec­tions TIMELINE and RECOLLECTIONS.

Text pre­pa­red by Iza­bel­la Sariusz-Skąp­ska
Trans­la­ted by Ilias Sta­nek­zai