The main element of the monument is a bronze composition depicting a young, strong man, a Polish Army officer with his hands tied behind his back, his mouth gagged, in a ragged uniform, wearing a cornet with a crowned eagle, breeches and high officer's boots with spurs, the Virtuti Militari Cross on his chest, pierced through the back with a bayonet from a Soviet rifle. He is not only a symbol of the Katyn massacre, but of a Poland reborn after years of partition, which fell under the treacherous, insidious stab in the back on 17 September 1939. It is a symbol not only of the death of a young officer, but also of the annihilation of the young Polish generation. The result of a shameful pact between two criminals - Hitler and Stalin, an alliance of two ideologies - fascism and communism. The Katyn Monument is being built by the Social Construction Committee, headed by J.Ploński, K.Nowak, S.Paszul, L.Rutkowski W.Sosulski, and on the honorary committee such names as Lt. General Edward l. Rowny, Major General Jan. K. Krępa, Prof. Zbigniew Brzeziński. The monument is cast in bronze and, together with a granite pedestal weighing 60 tonnes, is 11 metres high. It is the first monument in America dedicated to the Polish victims of Soviet communism.

A bas-relief urn depicting a crowned military eagle is placed on the polished front of the granite pedestal. Beneath the eagle is carved the inscription "KATYÑ 1940".

Location of the 'Katyn 1940' monument overlooking the Manhattan skyline, square on the Hudson River waterfront.

The memorial was designed in 1988 and unveiled in 1990.