English

Povzetek

Katyn widows and orphans are categories referring to two generations: the wives of Katyn Massacre victims (widows) and their children (orphans). Their lives were irrevocably shaped by the crime and the consequent absence of approximately 22,000 husbands and fathers, including Polish Army officers, policemen, and reservists such as civil servants and teachers. These men met a sudden death in 1940, executed by the NKVD [Narodnyy komissariat vnutrennikh del] with a shot to the back of the head and buried in death pits in the forests of Katyn, Mednoye, Piatykhatky, Bykovnia, and Kuropaty, located in present-day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The Katyn Massacre bears the hallmarks of genocide and crimes against humanity and aligns with Philippe Ariès’ concept of the reversal of death, which serves as the core analytical framework for this article. Drawing on ethnographic material – interviews with descendants of Katyn victims and participants in archaeological research on the crime – the authors examine the biographies of Katyn widows and orphans through the lens of the dead’s enduring presence (forms of commemoration of the victims) in the lives of these two generations. The Katyn Massacre and its difficult legacy influenced the way the posthumous presence of the victims was experienced by Katyn widows and children.