April 18, 2023 at 6:15pm ET-7:45 pm ET

Columbia University
Harriman Building

Marshall D. Shulman Seminar Room, 1219 International Affairs Building
420 W 118th Street, 12th floor New York, NY 10027

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Please join the East Central European Center and the Harriman Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute New York for a lecture by Krystyna Piórkowska. Moderated by Christopher Caes. The scope of knowledge which the Western Allies had about Katyń in 1943 has become clearer, as has the verified information received by the Prosecutors at the Nuremberg Tribunal and Trials. Did the POW’s or Civilian Internee follow a Code of Conduct prior to/during and after their visit to Katyń? These themes and questions will be reviewed during the lecture at the Harriman Institute.

This is a hybrid (in-person/virtual) event. Registration required for attendance. Please note that all attendees must follow Columbia’s COVID-19 Policies and Guidelines. Columbia University is committed to protecting the health and safety of its community. To that end, all visiting alumni and guests must meet the University requirement of full vaccination status in order to attend in-person events. Vaccination cards may be checked upon entry to all venues. All other attendees may participate virtually on Zoom or YouTube.

Krystyna Piórkowska is a graduate of CCNY and Columbia and received a Kosciuszko Foundation Fellowship grant for contemporary literature studies in Warsaw with Prof. Artur Sandauer. In a different era, when working in the area of Central European politics or history meant only Russia, this was her optimal work-around. For the past 14 years she has been delving into US and foreign archives to develop a fuller picture of what the Western Allies knew about the missing Polish officers prior to the German announcement of April 1943, and what they learned through the early 1950’s. This has also disclosed the recalcitrance of the British government to give the Madden Committee access to their citizens. Her initial research culminated in the publication of English-speaking Witnesses to Katyń Recent Research, published in a tete-beche edition in Poland. Her work on Reverend Stanislaus Orlemanski refuted the assertions that he was a Soviet agent and was published in Dzieje Najnowsze of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Video recording of the lecture courtesy Harriman Institute.