St. Adalbert Cemetery in Niles in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Katyń Massacre Memorial
1940
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
1. Katyń Massacre Memorial
[English langauge tablet on the left side of memorial in front of the sculpture:]
Monument in honor and memory "Golgota of the East"
Dedicated to the martyrdom of Poles who gave their lives for the Fatherland-hostages of the war slain in 1940 by the Soviet NKVD: officers of the Polish Army, spiritual leaders, intelligentsia, police officers, soldiers and border patrol shot in Katyn and Miednoje, Charkow, Minsk-Kuropaty, Kijow-Bykownia... Tortured and murdered in Kazakh, Siberia and other areas of the inhumane Soviet territory.
[Polish language tablet on the top-right side:]
Pomnik hołdu I pamieci "Golgoty Wschodu"
Poswięcony meczenstwu Polakow, tσrzy swoje życie oddali za ojczyzne-jencom wojennym zamordowanym w 1940 roku przez Sowieckie NKWD: oficerom, duchownym, inteligencji, policjantom, żołnierzom, służbie ochrony pogranicza-rozstrzelanym w Katyniu, oraz w Miednoje, Charkowie, Kuropatach k. Minska, Bykowni k. Kijowa. Zamęczonym na Syberii, w Kazachstanie I innych miejscach na nieludzkiej Ziemi sowieckiej.
[Polish language tablet on the bottom right side:]
Pamięci
this page online
Wywiezionych na Sybir ok. 1.5 miliona Polakσw, gdzie wielu straciło życie
[English langauge translation of the bottom right tablet:]
In memory of over 22,000 Polish prisoners of war murdered in 1940 by the Soviet NKVD
Approx. 1.5 million Poles deported to Siberia, where many lost their lives
Erected 2009.
Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Disasters • Immigration • War, World II. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1940.
Location. 42° 0.307′ N, 87° 47.711′ W. Memorial is in Niles, Illinois, in Cook County. It is in St. Adalbert Cemetery. It is on Milwaukee Avenue 0.7 miles north of Devon Avenue. The memorial is just south of the front entrance to the cemetery. Touch for map. Memorial is at or near this postal address: 6800 North Milwaukee Avenue, Niles IL 60714, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this memorial is in Greater Chicago. It is also in the American Midwest and on the Great Lakes. Globally, it is in North
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
2. Katyń Massacre Memorial
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Smolensk Airplane Crash Memorial (a few steps from this marker); St. Adalbert Cemetery (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); St. Adalbert's Cemetery Veterans Shrine (about 600 feet away); Site of the Former Niles Village Hall (approx. half a mile away); Niles Veterans Memorial Waterfall (approx. half a mile away); Land Acknowledgement (approx. 0.7 miles away); Leaning Tower of Niles (approx. Ύ mile away); The Bells of the Leaning Tower of Niles (approx. Ύ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Niles.
More about this memorial. This elaborate memorial, facing Milwaukee Avenue along the fence immediately south of the entrance to St. Adalbert's, includes a large granite cross behind a statue of Mary, holding a Polish soldier in her arms. Behind the cross are the wings of a military eagle,
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
3. Katyń Massacre Memorial
The project to build this memorial was spearheaded by Polish-born sculptor Wojciech Seweryn, who immigrated to the United States in the 1970s and whose father, a Polish Army lieutenant, was killed in the Katyń Massacre in 1940. A commission created in 1994 by Seweryn obtained a plot of land at St. Adalbert's from the Archdiocese of Chicago; as noted on a tablet at the memorial, the cornerstone was laid in 2000. After nine years of fundraising and construction, the memorial was officially dedicated on May 17, 2009, in a ceremony with Roman Catholic Cardinal Jσzef Glemp, the archbishop of Warsaw and Primate of Poland.
Wojciech Seweryn was among the 96 people killed on April 10, 2010, when an airplane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczyński,
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
4. Katyń Massacre Memorial
The plaque commemorates the official dedication of the memorial in 2009. The words "Bσg, Honor, Ojczyzna," on top of the slab, are Polish for God, Honor, Fatherland.
St. Adalbert is a Catholic cemetery that opened in 1872 to serve Chicago's growing Polish population.
Regarding Katyń Massacre Memorial. In April and May 1940, the Soviet NKVD (secret police) executed an estimated 22,000 Polish military, intelligence and police officers. Most were executed by being shot in the head, with their bodies then transported to mass graves. It was dubbed the Katyń Massacre after the forest west of Smolensk, Russia, where Nazi troops first found mass graves in 1943. The Soviet Union denied responsibility for the executions for nearly 50 years, until finally acknowledging in 1990 that they had been carried out by the NKVD.
Also see . . .
1. Records Relating to the Katyn Forest Massacre at the National Archives.
Excerpt: "An internationally-staffed medical commission organized by the Germans excavated the area in early spring 1943. As the excavation progressed,(Submitted on March 13, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)the Germans brought in several groups of observers, including some American prisoners-of-war. This commission determined that the massacre occurred in 1940, when the area was under Soviet control -- a determination which was then used as a propaganda tool intended to disrupt the alliance between the US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. This effort was successful in part, as Polish intelligence sources immediately blamed the Soviets for the atrocities, leading to a break in diplomatic relations between Poland and the USSR."Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 20255. Katyń Massacre MemorialThis Polish language plaque on the right corner of the memorial notes that 22,000 Poles were killed by the Soviet NKVD in 1940, and more than a million were deported to Siberia. The words "Bσg, Honor, Ojczyzna," on top of the slab, are Polish for God, Honor, Fatherland.
2. Wojciech Seweryn. Grokipedia website entry (Submitted on April 14, 2026, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
6. Katyń Massacre Memorial
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
7. Katyń Massacre Memorial statue
The statue depicts Mary, mother of Jesus, cradling the body of a Polish Army officer.
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
8. Bronze military cross at Katyń Massacre Memorial
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
9. Katyń Massacre Memorial
This is one of two bronze reliefs depicting the Katyń Massacre.
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, March 12, 2025
10. Katyń Massacre Memorial
This is one of two bronze reliefs depicting the Katyń Massacre.
German official photograph; courtesy of Imperial War Museum, circa 1943
11. Katyń exhumation site
This aerial view, taken by a German photographer after the discovery of the mass graves by Nazi troops, shows the bodies of Polish officers lined up next to a mass grave.
Courtesy of the National Archives, circa 1943
12. Map of Russian camps
This map of Soviet camps for Polish POWs during World War II shows Katyń's relative location (left-center on the map).
Credits. This page was last revised on April 14, 2026. It was originally submitted on March 12, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 440 times since then and 61 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on March 12, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. submitted on March 13, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.
