INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

One of the most harrowing crimes of the 20th century, silenced for decades, now speaks once again in the public space. Today (October 22) in Toruń, the outdoor exhibition “Last Stop Kharkiv 1940–2025” was opened. The ceremony was attended by Vice-Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship Zbigniew Ostrowski.

“This exhibition takes us deep into one of the most painful chapters of our history – the Katyń massacre. Today we pay tribute to those who were murdered solely because they were Poles: officers, teachers, clergymen, doctors, lawyers – people who built the foundations of the Second Polish Republic,” said Deputy Marshal Zbigniew Ostrowski.

The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Polish officers, state officials, and representatives of the intelligentsia murdered in the spring of 1940 by the Soviet political police.
The Katyń massacre – one of the greatest genocidal crimes of World War II – claimed the lives of 21,000 citizens of the Second Polish Republic. Their mass graves are located in Katyń, Kharkiv, Miednoye, and other sites of execution.

The exhibition also presents the journey of remembrance of Katyń – from the first clandestine efforts to tell the truth during the communist era, through the activities of the Katyń Families and social organizations, to contemporary forms of preserving the memory of the victims.

The authors of the exhibition are Professor Małgorzata Grupa of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and Professor Dmytro Kibkało and Professor Liubov Zhvanko of the Kharkiv State University of Food Technology and Trade.

The project was carried out as part of the initiative “Last Stop – Pits of Death, Lies, and Memory. 85th Anniversary of the Katyń Massacre 1940–2025”, funded by the Regional Government of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Heritage Center in Toruń.

The exhibition can be viewed by the Memorial Oaks for the Victims of the Katyń Massacre, in the square between Wały gen. Sikorskiego Street and the Ethnographic Museum in Toruń.

Press Office of the Marshal’s Office of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship

October 22, 2025