During 1980 , Penderecki was commissioned by the Polish trade union Solidarity to compose a piece to accompany the unveiling of a statue at the Gdańsk shipyards to commemorate those killed in the Polish anti-government riots in 1970 . Penderecki responded with the Lacrimosa , dedicated to Lech Wałęsa , which he later expanded into this requiem , writing other parts in honour of different patriotic events . The Agnus Dei was composed in 1981 in memory of his friend , Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński . The Recordare was written in 1982 for the beatification of the Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe who had died in the Auschwitz concentration camp . The Dies irae was written in memory of the Warsaw Uprising of August and September 1944 . Libera me , Domine was written commemorating the victims of the Katyn massacre . A first version of the requiem was performed on 28 September 1984 by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich
Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
Polish Requiem