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20 Zlotys Katyń Miednoje Charków 1940 Massacres
| Issuer | Narodowy Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1995 |
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| Value | 20 Zlotys (20 Złotych) |
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|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA 1995 · ZŁ · 20 · ZŁ · |
| Reverse description | The reverse features a somber allegorical composition depicting a dense grove of bare, leafless trees rendered in stylized relief, their crossed and intertwined branches evoking a forest of memorial crosses — a powerful symbolic reference to the mass graves of Polish officers at Katyń, Miednoje, and Kharkiv. The ground below the trees is depicted as disturbed earth. In the lower exergue, arranged in three lines in a bold, hand-lettered style, the inscription reads 'KATYŃ / MIEDNOJE / CHARKÓW 1940', commemorating the three massacre sites of 1940. A small engraver's mark is visible at lower left. |
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| Additional information |
The three site names on this coin correspond to the locations where NKVD execution squads killed approximately 22,000 Polish officers, intellectuals, and prisoners of war in spring 1940 — a crime the Soviet Union denied for fifty years. Moscow attributed the killings to the Nazis until 1990, when Gorbachev formally acknowledged Soviet responsibility. Poland had to wait until 1992 for Russia to declassify the orders bearing Stalin's signature.
The 1995 issue date falls within a concentrated NBP commemorative program addressing wartime atrocities largely suppressed under communist-era censorship.