Like so many things, this one came to me via E and several readers from Eastern Europe. I have lived there myself and worked on a mass grave and so when readers asked, "Are you going to deal with the Katyn Massacre?" I decided this was the vehicle for it. Having already drawn parallels between Miraz & Jadis and genocide, it was not difficult to make the jump to the Soviet murder of 22,000 Polish officers outside the Katyn Forest in 1940. There were also numerous investigations and shams -- any of which I could slip Edmund into in a way that would highlight this terrible event, but without diminishing the efforts of the real people who made Katyn their cause.

To do this, of course, the big problem was that I had to write around Edmund' fiery death in 1949 in order to tell the story of his involvement with the American investigation of Katyn in 1951 and 52 (and yes, the Communist-baiting Congressional staff he had to work with were really dubious). Hence the conceit of using the magic in the caves to show Edmund what his future will be/could be in the AU where they do not get on the train.

It was logical -- since I'd already had him deeply skeptical of what was done about Katyn during the drawing up of the indictments in London in 1945-46 and had given him the position of clerk to Col. Clark to explain his involvement and knowledge at so young an age. I see it as a passion never leaves him and he spends years trying to find ways to investigate and learn the truth, to bring closure, and a Soviet acknowledgment of culpability.