OSSERVATORIO LETTERARIO Ferrara e l'Altrove ANNO XIII – NN ...

Hungarian Embassy, he could have obtained anexemption, but he did not use this opportunity. In thesame year he was taken prisoner of war of the SovietArmy. He was taken to the Starobielsk camp, one of thethree camps for officers. (The other two camps were inKozielsk and in Twer.) Removing his insignia of rank hecould have left the camp, but he refrained from doingit. – A postcard sent from the camp to his wife inWarsaw has survived until now.In April and May 1940, 3739 POW’s of theStarobielsk camp were shot dead in the nearbyKharkov, in the cellar of the Soviet Secret Police, theNKVD, and were then buried in Piatihatki. A monumenthonouring those killed was consacrated there on the17 th June 2000. The list of the names of the POW’skilled in Kharkov is included in the book entitled“Rozstrzelani w Charkowie” (Shot Dead in Kharkov),published in Warsaw by the Ośrodek Karta Publisher in1996. The name of Emanuel Aladár Korompay is thesecond in column 3, on page 94.The first memorial tablet honouring EmanuelKorompay was unveiled on the wall of his former homein Warsaw, at the corner of streets Podchorążych andHolówki on the 12 th April 1992. At Warsaw Universityon the building of Oriental Studies – housing once theHungarian Department – at 26/28 KrakowskiePrzedmiescie, on Hungarian initiative, on the 21 stNovember 2002 a Korompay memorial was unveiled,with military honours, in the presence of a delegation ofthe Hungarian Parliament headed by the historian,Tamás Katona MP. This was the first act of thecelebrations marking the 50 th anniversary of theHungarian Department. The inscription of the memorialreads:Emanuel Korompay / 1890-1940 / lektor językawęgierskiego / na Uniwersitecie Warszawskim w latach1930-1939, / kapitan Wojska Polskiego, / uczestnikkampanii wrześniowej 1939, / więzień obozu wStarobielsku, zamordowany w Charkowie / –In English translation: Emanuel Korompay / 1890-1940 / Lecturer of Hungarian language / at theUniversity of Warsaw between 1930 and 1939 / captainof the Polish Army, / participant of the 1939 Septembercampaigne / prisoner of the Starobielsk camp, killed inKharkov.Hopefully sooner or later his birthplace, Budapestwill also give him a due comme-moration.Gyula Paczolay– Veszprém (H) –Note. 4441 detainees of the Kozielsk camp werekilled in Katyń, and were also buried there, the list oftheir names was published in 1995. The list of names of6311 POW’s of the Ostaszków camp, most of themreserve officers and Polish intellectuals, murdered inTwer and buried in Miednoje, was published in 1997. –According to official Soviet data 7305 more detaineeswere killed in different prisons. – 448 selectedprisoners of the three camps, considered reliable, weretaken to the Griazowiec camp, they have survived, theircorrespondence with their families has continued afterApril 1940.In July 1946 in the Nuremberg International Court ofJustice the Russian prosecutor Pokrovskii charged theGermans with killing the Polish officers. The court hasdropped the charge. In spite of this, for fifty years theRussians blamed the Germans for killing the Polishofficers and it was the official policy of the satellitecountries too. The booklet of the Polish journalistBolesław Wójcicki, entitled “The truth about Katyń”blaming the Germans for the crime was publishedtwice, in 1952 and 1953. – A memorial bearing theinscription: 1940 Katyń – Starobielsk – Ostaszków wasset up on the 31 st July 1981 at Warsaw PowońzkiMilitary Cemetary. It was destroyed on the followingnight by the Polish Security Services.It was on the 13 th April 1990 that President MikhailGorbachev confessed to the crime and then some ofthe corresponding documents were handed over to thePolish President Lech Walęsa by President Boris Jeltsin,who also paid tribute to the victims in the PowońzkiCemetery in Warsaw. – The monument honouring thevictims of the massacre was consacrated in Katyń onthe 28 th July 2000, in Twer on the 2 nd September 2000.Gyula PaczolaySlightly revised version of the article, published in theHungarian weekly Élet és Tudomány (Life and Science) Vol.63. No 19. p 589-590. (9 th May, 2008)COMUNICATO STAMPAPremio “Macchia”Una piacevole occasione culturaleSi è svolta nel migliore dei modi, sabato 8 novembre,la cerimonia conclusiva del Premio Letterario “Macchiad’Isernia”, giunto quest’anno alla sua terza edizione, mache costituisce già un appuntamento atteso.Nella sala – piena zeppa – all’interno del PalazzoBaronale, un pubblico attento e partecipe, un pubblicocostituito in gran parte da poeti e scrittori provenientida varie parti d’Italia. Si è trattato di una festa dellapoesia e della letteratura.Dopo il saluto del Sindaco Dante Cicchini, ha fatto unbreve ma pregnante e incoraggiante interventol’Assessore regionale alla Cultura Sandro Arco poi èintervenuto Amerigo Iannacone, presidente della Giuria,che, a conclusione ha letto un suo testo poeticodedicato a Macchia e Maria Pia De Martino ha parlato di“Poesia non poesia”.Sono stati quindi premiati vincitori e finalisti e sonostati letti, oltre alle motivazioni della Giuria, brani delleloro opere, alternativamente dalle gentili voci di Ida DiIanni e Maria Pia De Martino.Ha egregiamente condotto la serata Elena Grande,che oltre a essere Assessora alla Cultura del comune diMacchia, è colei che ha ideato e organizzato il Premioed è componente della Giuria, insieme ad AmerigoIannacone, Aldo Cervo, Maria Pia De Martino, Ida DiIanni e Giuseppe Napolitano.Prezioso il commento musicale all’arpa di TizianaTamasi.Questi i vincitori del Pemio, che è articolato in quattrosezioni: Narrativa, intitolata ad Antonio Lemme112OSSERVATORIO LETTERARIO Ferrara e l’Altrove ANNO XIII – NN. 67/68 MARZO-APRILE/MAGGIO-GIUGNO 2009