Skip to main content

"Katyn - It has been an unusual morning" exhibition in Tbilisi: 6-30 November 2018



The Georgian National Museum in cooperation with the Katyn Museum, the division of the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw, and the Polish Institute in Tbilisi,  present the exhibition "Katyn - It has been an unusual morning" at the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia, Soviet Occupation Exhibition Hall. 

The exhibition is dedicated to the Katyń Massacre - to the fate of the victims of Soviet occupation during the Second World War. The Katyń Massacre - the murder of about 22,000 Polish prisoners-of-war (POWs) in the spring of 1940, and the prisoners captured after 17 September 1939. The telling of the Katyń Massacre is not limited to the time of the tragic events, but extends to their implications and actions after 1940: reprisals against the prisoners' families, deportations, persecutions, destructive propaganda and decades of silence from the international community regarding Soviet atrocities. 

Interviews with the victims' children invite visitors to view this history through their eyes and make a more personal journey into the past. Together with the video material and historical information, the exhibition also presents artifacts - the victims' personal effects found during the excavation of the mass graves.

The aim of the exhibition is to show the essence of Katyń. The exhibition's dual track, educational and emotional, offers the audience an opportunity to get to know the historic events as well as the lives of individuals. 

While visitors can choose the path in which they wish to engage, the shared narrative will allow them to fully understand the Katyń Massacre and its significance to the Polish nation. 

The title of the exhibition "Katyn - It has been an unusual morning" comes from the last extract in the diary of Major Adam Solski on 9 April 1940: “Five in the morning. From first light, it has been an unusual morning. We left in a prison van with small cells (dreadful!). Taken to a forest somewhere, a sort of summer resort. Here a detailed search. Watch was taken from me, it was showing 6:30. I was asked about my wedding band, which … They took roubles, belt, pen knife. What will become of us? …”

The exhibition is supported by the Polish National Foundation.  



















MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more

The Knight in the Panther Skin by Shota Rustaveli (2015 translation): book review

The Knight in the Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry. King Rostevan of Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her. Verse 368 from Avtandil: ‘The doctor’s could do nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed, I was on fire because of love, but nobody knew or guessed. They blamed my blood. The king decided bleeding my arm would be best; I let it be done to hide the suffering I had not confessed.’ But a knight in panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers, sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she r...
Post a Comment
Read more