Article

2007-09-25 Europe

The film "Katyn" will represent Poland at the Academy Awards.

Andrzej Wajdas film Katyn will represent Poland to the Academy Awards.

The film of the Oscar winning legend of Polish film making has been chosen from among 16 candidates, by a special committee. Katyn is the first film in Polish history about the massacre of Polish officers by Stalinist NKVD services in 1940. It is not a historical account of the tragedy , but a story of the Katyn lie, a moving study of the women who for years waited for their beloved ones to return. The film will be the Polish candidate to the category of foreign movies competing for the Oscar.

Posted by mrp 2007-09-25 10:12|| || Front Page|| [11137 views ] Top

#1 Doesn't sound like a winner to me. Sure doesn't fit the political profile of most Hollywood types. Plus, Hollywood would rather make fun of Poles and Poland than give them any of their recognition.

Posted by Jack is Back!">Jack is Back! 2007-09-25 15:37|| 2007-09-25 15:37|| Front Page Top

#2 About four years ago I read a Russian book about the efforts of Russians citizens, during and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to provide information about this massacre. Many Russians remember seeing the Polish prisoner in various places and heard bits and pieces of information, and there was an informal effort by the public to save and provide whatever information was still available.

That book included also an argument made by some that the Germans did not accidentally discover the mass graves. Rather, there was some kind of collaboration between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in the period between the invasion of Poland and the invasion of the Soviet Union. During that period, the Soviet Union murdered the Polish POWs with the knowledge and even at the behest of Nazi Germany. Therefore, after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Germans knew exactly where to go to find the mass graves.

The whole story about the Germans finding these graves rather accidentally was concocted later by the Germans and supported by the Soviets.

The book did not provide much solid evidence for this explanation, but the evidence was a bit more than just circumstantial. I don't remember details.

I don't remember the author or title of the book. It was in Russian. I worked for a Polish-American newspaper for a while, and the editor had the book in his office.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2007-09-25 16:39|| 2007-09-25 16:39|| Front Page Top

#3 Don't know that one, but this Allen Paul's book published by the Naval Institute takes a similar tack:

Posted by lotp 2007-09-25 16:50|| 2007-09-25 16:50|| Front Page Top

#4 i c wut u did thar

Posted by HalfEmpty 2007-09-25 17:27|| 2007-09-25 17:27|| Front Page Top

#5 Well, nuts. I meant to link to Allen Paul's book Katyn: Stalin's Massacre and the Seeds of Polish Resurrection

Posted by lotp 2007-09-25 21:10|| 2007-09-25 21:10|| Front Page Top

#6
Thanks for the link to that book. I would like to read it.

I recall now how that Russian book was developed. During the Glastnost period, several Soviet journalists published articles about the massacre, which the Soviet Union still blamed on the Nazis. These first few articles prompted a lot of responses from Soviet citizens, who provided their own memories of what they themselves had seen and heard. The journalists then used these letters for some follow-up articles, which prompted more letters, and the collection of information snowballed. The author of this book then assembled all this new information into a book.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2007-09-25 21:27|| 2007-09-25 21:27|| Front Page Top

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