April 18, 1940

My phone reminded me today that on this day my Grandfather (My Mother's Father), Lt. Adam Jakubiec, was executed by Russians in the Katyń Forest.

Although we do not know the exact date of his execution, 18th day of April each year - based on his last letter written to his wife - my Grandma - I accept as the official date to celebrate in a special way the gift of his life.

I wrote a piece in May 2010 on this topic (one month after the tragic event of Smoleńsk tragedy), so I would like to refer you to that post: http://kiabakarisnippets.blogspot.com/2010/05/one-month-and-seventy-years.html

Please, say a prayer for the repose of the soul of my Grandfather.

I have still one thing to do - to go to Katyń Forest myself and to celebrate a Holy Mass for his and all those slaughtered there seventy six years ago... I truly ask the Lord for the grace of this journey to the grave of my Grandfather.

May he and all his compatriots buried in Katyń Forest and elsewhere in Russia - rest in eternal peace!

She Was Luckier Than Him

On September 17, 1939, Soviet Union invaded Poland, dividing my country among two powers - Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. Seventy three years passed and it seems as if it is a dream, a story, a fairytale or rather - a nightmare - that never occurred. Yet it was real, and the outcome of that invasion we inherit till now, when Europe was divided, our country carved and new post-war communist Poland was born. My mother side of family land in Eastern Poland has been lost, now in Ukraine. So many relatives perished under Soviet oppression. My grandfather lieutenant Adam Jakubiec was executed in Katyn forest in April 1940. Here is a remarkable story of a girl luckier than him who survived and now tells her story. Read it here.