Poland 10 Zlotych 2010 - Katyn – Proof / Silver

70 years ago, on April 3, 1940, extermination of Polish officers who had been captured by the Soviets in September 1939, began. The officers were placed in camps in Kozelsk near Smolensk and in Starobilsk near Kharkiv. Polish police officers, prison guards, gendarmes and intelligence and counter-intelligence officers were placed in Ostashkov near Kalinin (presently and formerly called Tver). At the beginning of April 1940, the first group of prisoners was taken from Kozelsk. NKVD officers shot them dead in the Katyn forest. They (4410 Polish officers altogether) were buried there in collective graves. Later, collective graves were also created in Mednoye near Tver and in Piatykhatky In the suburbs of Kharkiv. 3739 prisoners from the Starobilsk camp were executed in the NKVD local office in Kharkiv, and 6314 police officers from Ostashkov were murdered in the NKVD building in Kalinin. 7305 prisoners were killed in prisons in Kiev, Kharkiv, Kherson and Minsk. A coin commemorating the 70th anniversary of the extermination of Polish officers murdered by the NKVD in the Katyn forest. Obverse: In the center a contour of the Polish military eagle. On it - place names related to the anniversary: KATYŃ, KALININ, CHARKÓW, MIŃSK, CHERSOŃ, KIJÓW. Above, image of an eagle established for the national emblem of the Republic of Poland. Under the left foot of the eagle a symbol of the mint: M/W. On the sides of the eagle the face-value of the coin (10 ZŁ), in the rim an inscription: RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA 2010. Under the left foot of the eagle a symbol of the mint: M/W. Reverse: In the center stylized tree trunks with crowns in the shape of a cross. In the background, in the rim, an inscription: 70. ROCZNICA ZBRODNI KATYŃSKIEJ (70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KATYN CRIME) Designer: Urszula Walerzak