Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East

The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East is a monument in Warsaw, which commemorates the victims of the Soviet invasion of Poland during World War II and subsequent repressions. It was unveiled on 17 September 1995, on the 56th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of 1939. The monument was erected in honour of Poles killed in the East, in particular those deported to labour camps in Siberia and the victims of the Katyn massacre. It is approximately 7 metres (23 ft) tall and is made out of bronze. The statue shows a pile of religious symbols on a railway flatcar, which is set on tracks. One of the crosses commemorates the priest Stefan Niedzielak, a Katyn activist who was murdered in mysterious circumstances in 1989. The monument also includes the Polish Cross of Valour and a Polish eagle with rope around it and the date of the Soviet invasion of Poland displayed underneath.