The Katyń Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the Katyn massacre

Katyn massacre

The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...

 in 1940. Created by Polish-American sculptor Andrzej Pitynski

Andrzej Pitynski

Andrzej Pitynski is a Polish-American monumental sculptor who lives and works in the US.A book of his works was published in 2008.-The Partisans:...

, the memorial stands at Exchange Place in Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...

, USA near the mouth of the Hudson River along the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway

Hudson River Waterfront Walkway

The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, also known as the Hudson River Walkway, is an ongoing and incomplete project located on Kill van Kull and the western shore of Upper New York Bay and the Hudson River, implemented as part of a New Jersey state-mandated master plan to connect the municipalities...

.

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 in April and May 1940 after Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 troops had invaded eastern Poland by order of Joseph Stalin. The event came after the partition of Poland and the occupation of the nation during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The eastside of the pediment has a bronze relief depicts the starvation of Poles sent to Siberia.

In April 2010, the memorial was the site of a vigil held to honor Polish president Lech Kaczynski

Lech Kaczynski

Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...

and others who had died in a plane crash.