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You are welcome to attend the first, in this year, meeting of the series ,,Faces of Opole” which is dedicated to the people who are important for our city and Museum. The November event will be dedicated to Tadeusz Podkówka (1922–2004), a forester, excellent myrmecologist and activist of the Katyn Family Association in Opole.

Tadeusz Podkówka was born in Stojanowo (the Tarnopol Voivodship). He commenced to study forestry in Lviv, and continued his education, after the war, at the University of Poznan, where he was awarded his doctor degree in myrmecology (the scientific study of ants). These insects, as well as bees, became one of Podkowa's greatest passions. He was devoted to it in his spare time, as well as during his work in State Forests, first in Szczecinek and Złocieniec, and since 1955 in the Opole region, where, for the longest period, he was connected with the Prószków Forest District. Tadeusz Podkowa's rich scientific activity resulted in 11 patents and successes in saving forests in the area of Upper Silesian Industrial Region.

Another field in which Tadeusz Podkówka was involved was the commemoration of the victims of the Katyn Massacre, including his father, Stefan, a police chief who was taken as a prisoner by the Soviets after 17 September 1939 and sent to the prisoner-of-war camp in Ostashkov. In the spring of 1940, he was transported to Tver, and, together with other Polish prisoners-of-war, murdered by the NKVD. After 1989, the hero of our meeting, acting in the Katyn Family Association in Opole, organized and participated in numerous undertakings, including trips to Katyn, Tver, Ostashkov, Mednoje and the island of Lake Seliger, as well as ceremonies of laying foundation stones of Polish war cemeteries in Katyn and Mednoje.

The meeting will take place on November 26 at 5 p.m. in the Opole seat of Museum at 3 Minorytów  St. A video transmission via the CMJW Facebook page is also planned.

Persons interested in taking part in the meeting are asked to confirm their attendance by November 25 (tel. 77 453 78 72). The number of places is limited.

You are kindly welcome to attend the meeting.