On Sunday, 12 April 2026, the Katyń March of Shadows set off from the Museum of the Polish Army in Warsaw for the  nineteenth time. It was a tribute to the 22,000 Polish officers murdered by the Soviets in 1940 in Katyń and other places of execution.

Participants from across Poland took part in the silent procession, which moved along the Royal Route and through the Old Town in Warsaw. During the stops, the names of murdered Polish officers were read out, and the fate of military chaplains was also commemorated. The march concluded at the Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East on Muranowska Street.

Each reenactor received a commemorative replica of a silver cross discovered during exhumation works carried out in Miednoje in August 1995. The original artefact is held in the collection of the Katyń Museum in Warsaw, and its owner remains unknown.

The event was organized by the Institute of National Remembrance and the "Zgrupowanie Radosław" Reenactment Group, with the Katyń Museum as an official partner. The march was attended by the Deputy President of the IPN and the Head of the Institute's Office of Search and Identification, Krzysztof Szwagrzyk.

The March was preceded by a Holy Mass at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army.

See a documentary about the March (switch to English subtitles):