General Sikorski Mystery - Polish Officers to be Exhumed at Newark
98 Books about Poland | Polish War Graves in Britain
On 4 July 1943 an aircraft carrying General Wladyslaw Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile and commander of Polish Armed Forces, crashed shortly after take off from Gibraltar. Apart from the pilot all on board were killed. General Sikorski had been returning to Britain after visiting Polish troops in the Middle East. Speculation has persisted that the crash was not an accident and that the Soviet Union might have been responsible.
In November 2008 the body of General Sikorski was exhumed from its resting place in Wawel Cathedral, Krakow. An examination of the body was carried out to determine the cause of death. No evidence was found that he had been poisoned or shot. Forensic scientists concluded that he had died from injuries consistent with an aircraft crash.
Polish Officers at Newark
The bodies of three Polish officers, who were killed in the same plane crash, are to be exhumed from the Polish War graves cemetery at Newark, England. The officers concerned are:
- Tadeusz Klimecki
- Andrzej Marecki
- Jozef Ponikiewski
The Polish website Gazeta Wyborcza reports that the exhumation is scheduled to take place on 3 December 2010. The bodies will be flown to Warsaw and then taken to the Department of Forensic Medicine in Cracow for examination.
Ewa Koj from Poland's Institute of National Remembrance said:
We expect the results to match those of General Sikorski but we have to exhaust all lines of inquiry and check all the evidence. [Daily Telegraph (UK) 25 November 2010]
The website NaszeMiasto.pl reports that a ceremonial burial of the officers will take place in Poland in mid-December.
Update
The website TVP.info reports that the officers were exhumed at Newark on 2 December 2010. Their bodies were flown first to Warsaw and then to Krakow. [4 Dec 2010]
Polish Radio reports that Tadeusz Klimecki and Andrzej Marecki were buried in the Military Cemetery in Warsaw and that Jozef Ponikiewski was buried in a separate location. [9 Dec 2010]
Related Material
- Funeral of Two Officers Pogrzeb dwóch oficerów Sikorskiego (Polish), PolskieRadio.pl 9 December 2010
- MoD approves exhumation of Polish soldiers to solve mystery of General Sikorski's death, Daily Telegraph (UK) 25 November 2010
- Poland's wartime leader General Sikorski 'not victim of foul play', Daily Telegraph (UK) 29 January 2009
- Polish Airmen Remembered at Newark - All Souls (30 photos)
- Polish War Graves (Air Force) - Newark, England (27 photos)
Added on 27 November 2010. Updated on 20 December 2021.