| Father Zdzisław Peszkowski, Katyn Forest Massacre survivor and a legendary lifetime chaplain of the families of the Katyn genocide victims, passed away at the age of 89.
In 2006, the Polish parliament supported by acclamation Fr. Peszkowski's candidature to the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to forgive and bring reconciliation between Polish and Russian nations. For Fr. Peszkowski, the parliament's decision was a gesture of honor towards those murdered in Katyn.
Joanna Najfeld reports
Until the last days of his life, Fr. Peszkowski fought for the truth about the 1940 Soviet mass murder of twenty thousand Polish POWs - military officers, but also civilians - professors, doctors, lawyers, clergy, higher state officials - the intellectual elite of pre-war Poland. The truth, as he often reminded, which was forbidden during the decades of communist regime in Europe.
'The truth about the Katyn massacre has for years been a tester of conscience of many world powers who knew about it, but kept silent, captive to different entanglements.'
Fr. Peszkowski was himself a POW at the camp in Kozielsk. He miraculously escaped the execution and joined General Anders' Army. After the war he undertook studies at the Oxford University and later moved to the USA to continue his education and enter a seminary. He graduated in philosophy and theology. Ordained in 1954, Fr. Peszkowski started travelling all over the world to participate in historical and theological conferences. In 1966 he became the chairman of Polish American Historical Association.
As a chaplain for the youth, Fr. Peszkowski cared very much about the memory of the Katyn genocide among young people. He organized the Katyn race, in which tens of motorcyclists from Chicageo, Poland and Hong Kong prayed over the tombs of the Katyn victims.
Fr. Peszkowski became the advocate of the Katyn truth cause in Poland and around the world. He spread the message in his numerous travels and started the "Mount Calvary of the East" foundation to uphold the memory of the Katyn genocide. In his many books and publications, he continued his ceaseless fight for the truth and memory of what he called "Poland's Holocaust".
Fr. Peszkowski was the driving force behind the many initiatives of the the Federation of the Families of Katyn Forest Massacre Victims, says Izabela Skąpska, granddaugther of a Katyn Massacre victim, Bolesław Skąpski:
'He was a mate of our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers as Prisoners of War at the Kozielsk camp. It was very important for us that throughout his life, this man, as a priest and as a chaplain for our families devoted all his courage and power to reveal the truth about the Katyn Massacre. He was very important to us at the time when we received a part of the documentation about the Katyn Massacre and there appeared a possibility to honor our fathers and grandfathers with a cemetery. He was with us when the cemeteries were built and at the opening of the cemeteries. But it wasn't the end of his work for the memory of the victims of the Katyn Massacre. He was fighting for a day of memory of Katyn Massacre victims and for revealing all the truth and all the documents.'
Reporter Anna Pietraszek, a personal friend of Fr. Peszkowski, recalls his outstanding contribution to all efforts to heal the memory of Katyn:
'He believed that the sacrifice of his friends and colleagues in the Katyn forest, can be the only chance of reconciliation between Poland and Russia.'
In 2006, the Polish parliament supported by acclamation Fr. Peszkowski's candidature to the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to forgive and bring reconciliation between Polish and Russian nations. For Fr. Peszkowski, the parliament's decision was a gesture of honor towards those murdered in Katyn.
'My first thought is the conviction that this is an act of honor and tribute to those murdered in the East by criminals possessed by the ideology of evil and hatred.'
Fr. Peszkowski passed away in the morning hours of October 8th at a hospital in Warsaw.
Zródło: freepublic.com | 
