Pamięć o ojcu. Refleksje z rozmów z rodzinami katyńskimi. Rekonesans badawczy

The article analyzes biographical narrations referring to the daily life of families of the victims murdered by Soviet troops in Katyn and other places in the former USSR. The text includes 12 biographical interviews and recorded memories of Katyn families. The text describes the years from the interwar period to the fall of Communism in Poland. The article describes memories of the Second Polish Republic period when families of Polish officers constituted the highest social class, about the moment of saying goodbye to a father who was setting off to the front and then was taken prisoner by Soviets. Using postcards and letters sent from prisoner-of-war camps, which are attached to the article, the author presents the context of the correspondence of families with their close relatives, the sudden break of this correspondence and the anxiety connected with this lack of messages from the camps. The author carries out a detailed analysis of the process of impossibility of accepting the death of loved ones by their families. The text also addresses the issue of the “Katyn lie” and its influence on the lives of families in the Polish People’s Republic, celebrating holidays, their social status after the Second World War and many others. Being aware that the topic is far from being fully described, the author poses a few significant research questions at the end of the discussion that require further analysis.