Katyn Families chaplain dies in Poland

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Katyn Families’ chaplain dies in Poland - Thenews.pl


Katyn Families chaplain dies in Poland

Created: Monday, October 8. 2007
Survivor of the Katyn Massacres of 1940 Father Zdzisław Peszkowski (89), the chaplain of the Katyn Families Association, has died. On 4 June 2007 he took part in the ceremony of laying the cornerstone for the Polish officers’ cemetery in Katyn, commemorations of over 20,000 Poles who perished at the hands of the Soviet NKVD.

In 1939, Zdzisław Peszkowski witnessed the Soviet invasion of Poland. As a Polish Army soldier, he was imprisoned and sent to a Soviet PoW camp in Kozielsk where he managed to avoid an execution.

Then he joined the Polish Home Army formed in the Soviet Union, which later broke through to the Middle East and eventually Western Europe. Peszkowski was ordained a priest after the war. For many years father Peszkowski promoted the idea of remembrance of the Katyń crimes and all of the Poles murdered in the East. He also extended pastoral assistance to the families of Katyń victims.

In 1995, in a speech given during a roll-call for the dead at the Unknown Soldier’s Grave in Warsaw, he expressed words of forgiveness to those who made and followed the orders to execute Polish officers.

On 4 June 2007 he took part in the ceremony of laying the cornerstone for the Polish officers’ cemetery in Katyń.
In the Katyń Families’ appeal to the world, he expressed the wish that the tragedy experienced by Poland would serve as a warning against hatred towards mankind.

He also appealed for revealing the truth about the Katyń crime.
Father Peszkowski held the post of the Katyń Families’ chaplain until his death.