Katyń Memorial (Jersey City)



The Katyń Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the Katyn massacre in 1940. Created by Polish-American sculptor Andrzej Pitynski, the memorial stands at Exchange Place in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA near the mouth of the Hudson River along the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.

Unveiled in June 1991 a 34 feet tall bronze statue of a soldier, gagged and bound, impaled in the back by a bayoneted rifle, stands atop a granite base containing Katyn soil. It commemorates the massacre of thousands of Polish prisoners by order of Joseph Stalin in April and May 1940 after Soviet Union troops had invaded eastern Poland. The event came after the partition of Poland and the occupation of the nation during World War II. The eastside of the pediment has a bronze relief depicts the starvation of Poles sent to Siberia.

Plaque commemorating victims of September 11 attacks
After the September 11 attacks a plaque was unveiled on the front side of the pediment, saying:


 * NEVER FORGET! PRAY FOR ALL THE INNOCENT VICTIMS AND HEROES WHO DIED IN THE TERRORIST ATTACK ON AMERICA SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

The unveiling ceremony took place on September 12, 2004.

Vigil to honor victims of Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
In April 2010, the memorial was the site of a vigil held to honor Polish president Lech Kaczyński and others who had died in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash.