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.

We Remember...

...in Kiabakari that tomorrow is the first anniversary of that fatal flight of Tupolev 154M '101' to Smolensk which ended in tragic death of 96 passengers on board on April 10, 2010. We will remember our late President Lech Kaczyński, his wife and all other prominent figures of our nation - in tomorrow's Mass which will be presided by the bishop of Musoma, Rt. Rev. Michael Msonganzila at 10am in our church.

One month and seventy years...

One month exactly has passed since the day whole Poland and the world stopped in their tracks shocked by the news of the Polish President's jet crash a few hundred yards short of the runway of Siewiernyj airport just north of Smolensk in Russia. By now, we all surely know most of the details of that horrific accident. Still, you can find a concise record of it here.

Precious lives of ninety six persons on board of Tu-154 number 101 were cruelly cut short exactly at 8:41 and 6 seconds on Saturday morning according to specialists working on data recorders of the presidential airplane...

Our President, professor Lech Kaczyński, his wife, army generals, bishops, priests, national bank governor, senators, members of parliament, representatives of major political parties, representatives of Katyń families, security detail officers, crew and other prominent figures in our society (you can find full list of all casualties here) found their death exactly in the same area that witnessed to the horror of mass murder of thousands Polish officers and intelligentsia seventy years earlier in Katyń forest, near Smolensk...

They were going to commemorate 70th anniversary of  Katyń Massacre on that fatal day of April 10, 2010...

Instead, that ominous land claimed yet more lives of Polish elite...

Katyń has been particularly sensitive issue to my family...My Grandfather - the Father of my Mother - lieutenant Adam Jakubiec was one of those Polish officers shot in the back of their heads in the Spring of 1940 in Katyń forest...

I vividly remember his last letter to my Grandma and his beloved Wife - scribbled in pencil on a piece of paper...assuring her that everything is ok...obviously he was unable to write the truth...and then, long time after, the horrific truth of his sacrifice came finally out to the light...and hope of seeing him again was lost forever...

It took my Mum and Grandma almost 70 years to see him again, when they passed away last year...and the loving family, mercilessly torn apart by Soviet NKWD at the beginning of Second World War, was reunited again in heaven...and nothing will separate them anymore...

I was baptized in his honor, being given his name as my second baptismal name...

There are some pieces of information on my Grandpa on internet. Click on the following links, please:

Link 1

Link 2 (see the number 5022)

Link 3

Link 4 (my Mum's article on her Dad and Godfather is mentioned there)


When 'Katyn' movie was in the cinemas in 2007 and then available in stores on dvd, I bought a copy of the movie and brought home to present it to my Mum. She plainly refused to watch it and forbid us all to watch this movie in the house. If we wanted to watch it, then we had to go to the cinema...She was livid and passionate about this issue...Katyń and her Father...She could not bear to relive it again in moving pictures...

And now, one month from the fatal crash of our President and Polish elite on their way to commemorate Katyń massacre seventy years later, our bishop of Musoma, Rt. Rev. Michael Msonganzila called us all to his cathedral in Musoma to celebrate this morning a special Mass for the intention of all those who lost their lives one month ago...

We, as a Polish community in Diocese of Musoma - priests, sisters and lay missionaries - have been touched deeply by this gesture of solidarity, compassion and unity with us and Polish nation...we are truly grateful to him for his initiative.

So, precisely one month since the Smolensk air crash, we met this morning in the cathedral for the Holy Mass which was duly presided by himself, well attended by priests, religious, invited guests and local community of Musoma and the region, with some participants traveling from far to be with us today...Then, after the Mass, we had opportunity to meet and share meal together, prepared generously by the Musoma Cathedral community. We are very grateful for the hospitality and warm welcome there...

Obviously, my prayer intentions were not confined to those who lost their lives on April 10,2010. They went farther back in time than one month...my thoughts and prayers went to my Grandpa, to my family and to all who were executed seventy years ago in Katyń and elsewhere in Russia...

May they rest in peace...and we who live and make up the fabric of our modern Poland - may never forget and never fail to live up to the patriotism that is expected from descendants of those who shed their blood and died for our country...

Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła, póki my żyjemy!...


To conclude the story of the day, just a few pictures from today's Holy Mass in the Musoma Cathedral:

A prayer before the Mass in the cathedral's sacristy

  Bishop Michael Msonganzila's touching homily during the Holy Mass. He also conveyed his

personal condolences to acting President of the Republic of Poland, twin brother

of late President, to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz and President of Polish Episcopal Conference. 

Polish missionaries with local clergy with bishop presiding 

surrounding the altar during Eucharistic Prayer

A solemn blessing concluding the liturgy

Right after the Holy Mass

 A buffet in the John Paul II Garden at the cathedral