Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Polish Center to mark World War II atrocity with exhibit, events

Date: 4/5/2011

April 6, 2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE — For Carolyn Topor, the irony surrounding the Katyn woods is unmistakable.

In 1940, Soviet troops murdered 22,000 polish military leaders, priests, doctors, lawyers, teachers and many others in those woos located in western Russia. Last April, the president of Poland, his wife and other government officials lost their lives there when their plane crashed. They were en route to a memorial about the atrocity.

"It's ironic that twice in the Katyn [woods], the most prominent people in Poland died," she told Reminder Publications.

Topor is on the board of directors of The Polish Center for Discovery and Learning, which is presenting a month of events concerning this tragic chapter in the history of Poland.

At the center of the schedule is a 44-panel exhibit on the story behind the 1940 massacre.

Topor noted the exhibit's designer Andrzej Przewozniak among those who died in last year's plane crash.

The exhibit will open April 8 and will be on display through April 21 at the center at 33 South St. Admission is free, but the exhibit is not suitable for children younger than the age of 12.

The center is open April 8 and 9 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; April 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; April 11 through 19 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; April 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and April 21 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Voluntary donations are welcome.

The center will also be presenting several events in April that support the exhibit. On April 10 at 3 p.m. at the Elms College Alumnae Library Theatre the play "The Interrogation of Janina Lewandowska" will be read by its author, Kendall Merriam. Admission is free.

There will be also a special screening of the film "The Officer's Wife," at 7 p.m. on April 12 at the Elms College Alumnae Library Theatre. The screening is free but tickets must be obtained by calling 734-7052.

The film depicts the life of the director's grandmother who was forcibly taken to a Soviet gulag during World War II.

For more information, log onto wwww.polishcenter.net .



Bookmark and Share