The mass russian murders in Katyn, where Polish prisoners of war were murdered, began in the spring of 1940, specifically on 3–5 April, erstwhile executions in the Katyn Forest, Tver and Kharkov began.
They were the consequence of decisions of the highest authorities of the russian Union, and their aim was to physically annihilate the Polish military and intellectual elite. The executions carried out by NKVD officers included more than 22 1000 people – officers of the Polish Army, police officers, officials, scientists, clergymen and another representatives of Polish intelligence. Katyń, Kharkiv and Twer present are not only crime scenes, but besides symbols of 1 of the most tragic cards in Poland's history.
The Katyn crime for decades was a banned, lied and marginalized subject of authoritative history. Throughout the period of existence of the Polish People's Republic, this subject was subject to censorship, and its talk could have resulted in repression. The russian narrative, which blamed the massacre on the Germans, was besides sustained for a long time by Western Allies, for whom the coalition with the ZSRS was more crucial than the historical truth. Only the collapse of communism and the beginning of russian archives allowed to scope the fact and authoritative confirmation of russian work for this crime.
Katyń is not only a communicative about genocide – it is besides a communicative about lying, silence, politics and fighting for truth. I will effort to answer the question why the memory of Katyn is inactive so vivid and why it cannot be forgotten.
In order to full realize the origin of Katyn crime, we should go back to the events preceding the outbreak of planet War II and look at the politics of the russian Union towards Poland. After the end of planet War I, Poland regained its independency and for the next 2 decades tried to strengthen its position on the global stage, while struggling with many interior and external challenges. 1 of the main threats was the expansionist policy of the USSR, which already in the 1920s tried to spread the communist revolution to the West, a manifestation of which was the Polish-bolshevik war ended with the Treaty of Riga in 1921.
In the 1930s. The russian Union, governed by Józef Stalin, pursued a brutal interior policy – a large cleaning, collectivization, forced industrialization and panic – and conducted a abroad policy subordinate to the interests of the communist state. Faced with an expanding threat from Nazi Germany, Stalin decided to enter into an agreement with Adolf Hitler, which resulted in the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact on 23 August 1939. This document, in addition to the explicit provisions on non-aggression, contained a secret protocol concerning the division of spheres of influence in Central and east Europe, including the partition of Poland.
On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland, starting planet War II. Poland, deprived of real aid from the Western allies, had to face the power of the 3rd Reich. erstwhile the military situation was already dramatic, the Soviets attacked on 17 September 1939 from the east, thus breaking the Polish-Soviet pact on non-aggression. The authoritative pretext was the alleged concern about the Ukrainian and Belarusian population surviving in east Poland, but in fact it was the implementation of earlier arrangements with Germany.
As a consequence of russian aggression, about 250 1000 Polish prisoners of war were put into the hands of the NKVD, of which about 15 1000 were officers of the Polish Army, police officers, border guards, prison services, as well as officials, scientists, doctors, teachers, engineers and clergy. These prisoners were placed in camps in Kozielsk, Starobielsk and Ostashkov, as well as in many prisons in western Ukraine and Belarus. The conditions in the camps were difficult, and russian authorities treated prisoners not as average soldiers, but as class and political enemies.
Since the beginning of the prisoner's stay in russian captivity, they were subjected to thorough surveillance, information gathering, interrogation and selection. The NKWD produced detailed characteristics, analysed professional background, political affiliation and worldview. All this was aimed at assessing their “usefulness” or “harminess” from the point of view of russian ideology. russian authorities were aware that Polish Army officers and intelligence representatives were the backbone of Polish society – an elite capable of organizing opposition against the fresh order.
It was this elite that was declared "uncontested enemies of russian power", which led to the decision to physically destruct them. In March 1940, the Political Office of the Central Committee of the WKP(b), at the initiative of Lavrientiy Beria, issued a secret decision to shoot more than 22,000 Polish prisoners of war. It was an act of genocide carried out in a systematic, premeditated and cold political calculation.
The Katyn crime was not a random act of cruelty, but a part of the planned policy of extermination of the Polish elite. Its roots lie deep in totalitarian communist ideology, which did not tolerate any opposition and was ready for anything to accomplish its objectives. Katyń was to be a blow aimed at the spirit of the Polish people – an effort to cut him off from his leaders, authorities and future. The method of execution shows the scale of organized state terror, characteristic of the russian totalitarian system.
The direct legal basis for the launch of mass executions was the secret request of the People's Commissioner for the Interior (NKVD), Lavrientiy Berii, addressed on 5 March 1940 to Józef Stalin and another members of the Political Office of KC WKP(b). In this document, Beria argued that Polish prisoners of war and prisoners held in Western Ukraine and Belarus are “declared enemies of russian power” and should be shot as such. This request was unanimously approved by the highest authorities – Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov, Mikojana, Kalinin and Kaganovich.
On the basis of this decision, the NKVD undertook logistical preparations. 3 main execution sites were selected, corresponding to the 3 largest POW camps:
- Katyń Forest close Smolensk – place of execution of prisoners from Kozielsk camp,
- Twer (then Kalininin) – executions of captives from Ostashkov, carried out in basements of the NKWD headquarters, and burials in close Miednoje forest,
- Kharkiv – a place of punishment for prisoners of Starobelsk, whose bodies were buried in Piatichatki forest.
The shootings began in early April 1940. The executions were held in strict secrecy, in isolated places, by means of measures to prevent the recognition of victims and conceal the scale of the crime. The prisoners were transported from the camps under the pretext of displacement or release, and then in isolated rooms were brutally murdered with a shot in the back of the head, most frequently with a short gun—a 7.65 mm Walther pistol, which was expected to propose a German execution.
The executions were carried out by peculiar groups of NKVD officers appointed for this task. Their activities were meticulously planned and carried out with military precision. papers were removed from the victims to make recognition difficult, and bodies were buried in mass, unmarked graves. In any cases, officers executed for hours a day, day after day, for respective weeks, which only confirms the scale and brutality of the operation.
According to historians, in the spring of 1940, they were shot:
- approx. 4,400 people from Kozielsk camp – buried in Katyn,
- approx. 6300 people from Ostashkov – buried in Mednoje,
- approx. 3800 people from Starobielska - buried in Piatichatki,
- and respective 1000 people held in prisons in western Ukraine and Belarus.
In total, the victims of the Katyn crime are over 22 1000 people, including about 10 1000 Polish Army officers. The remainder were officers of the State Police, the Border defender Corps, officials, lawyers, teachers, doctors, clergymen, engineers and another representatives of the Polish intellectual and social elite. These were people who, in the eyes of the russian regime, posed a real threat to Poland's plans for the Sovietization of Poland and who, according to Stalin and his surroundings, could not be released.
In the course of the operation, the NKVD applied measures to cover up the traces of the crime. The camps were liquidated and the victims' families received no information about the destiny of their loved ones for months. Disinformation was conducted – letters allegedly sent by officers were written, suggested their transfer or incarnation to the Red Army. Only the discovery of mass graves in Katyn by the Germans in 1943 revealed the scale of the crime, but it was accompanied by immediate russian propaganda, which blamed the 3rd Reich.
The Katyn crime was not only a physical elimination of people – it besides had a intellectual and political dimension. Its aim was to permanently weaken the Polish statehood, by destroying elites capable of rebuilding independent national existence. People murdered in Katyn, Mednoje, Kharkov and another places were the possible leadership of the future free Poland – organized, educated, ideologically strong.
The precision of the execution, the absolute ruthlessness of the victims and the attempted concealment of the crime make Katyń a classical example of genocide crimes, as well as the model operation of the state repression apparatus. What happened in the spring of 1940 was the consequence of political calculation and repression strategy characteristic of Stalinist totalitarianism. Katyń became a symbol of russian panic towards Poland – and to this day remains a painful and indelible trace in the memory of the collective nation.
The discovery of mass graves in Katyn by the Germans in the spring of 1943 was a breakthrough minute which brought the Katyn crime to the global arena. On 13 April 1943 Radio Berlin officially reported the discovery of Polish officers murdered by the Soviets in the Katyn forest. Although they were liable for many war crimes, Germany tried to usage the discovery for propaganda purposes – they wanted to divide Poles and allies and discredit the USSR in the eyes of the world's public opinion.
In consequence to the German publication, the authorities of the Polish Government in exile in London demanded an independent investigation from the global Red Cross. The Kremlin reacted highly aggressively to this step – it broke diplomatic relations with the Polish government, accusing him of cooperating with the 3rd Reich. At the same time Moscow launched a wide-ranging propaganda run aimed at shifting work for Katyń execution to Germans.
The authoritative russian version of the events stated that the crimes were committed by the Nazis in 1941, after German troops entered Smolensk. It was claimed that the mass graves were the consequence of Einsatzgruppen's actions, which allegedly shot prisoners who had previously been held by the Soviets. False communicative was supported by fabricated documents, falsified reports and forced witness statements.
The Katyn lie was officially established by the russian state and then sustained by the authorities of the People's Poland. During the times of the Polish People's Republic, Katyń's subject was completely censored – it was not allowed to be spoken about, written or researched scientifically. In the past books, the crime did not exist, and all effort of her public memory was treated as an anti-state activity. People who tried to tell the fact – like members of the democratic opposition or household of victims – were watched, intimidated and sometimes arrested.
In the global arena, reactions were equally complicated. Although doubts arose as early as the 1940s about the russian version of events, Western Allies – especially the United Kingdom and the United States – avoided open accusations. This was due to political conditions: Stalin was 1 of the key allies in the fight against Hitler, and accusing him of war crimes could destruct the fragile anti-Hitler coalition.
An example of this policy of silence was the situation during the Nuremberg trials in 1945–1946. Although the Germans tried to usage Katyn as evidence of russian crimes, the Allies rejected this plot, and in the papers of the trial the crime was attributed... Germans. Many historians consider this to be 1 of the most striking examples of political relativism in the past of the 20th century. The West, knowing about the real perpetrators, decided to stay silent – for strategical and diplomatic reasons.
Meanwhile, the Polish Government in Refugees and the emigration environment continued their efforts to uncover the truth. As early as 1944, the alleged Madden Commission Report, established by the United States Congress, was created to analyse the circumstances of the Katyn crime. Although the study did not clearly identify the guilty, he collected much evidence against the Kremlin. In the following decades Katyn was addressed by independent journalists, writers, historians and politicians, mainly outside the east bloc.
In Poland, the only space where the memory of Katyń survived, were the circles of Katyń families, The Catholic Church and the opposition. In the 1970s and 1980s, activists of the Committee for the defence of Workers, the Human Rights and the Citizen's Movement, and later "Solidarity" reminded of the Katyn crime in flyers, underground releases and during mass for their homeland. Katyń became a symbol of the lie of the Polish People's Republic and russian domination of Poland.
Meanwhile, the Katyn lie, for over 50 years maintained and disseminated by the USSR and the PRL, left lasting traces in public consciousness. It was 1 of the pillars of russian policy of disinformation and manipulation of history. It destroyed trust between nations, deepened Polish war trauma and became 1 of the most painful symbols of enslavement and lies, which accompanied Poland under russian influence for decades.
The fall of communism in Central and east Europe, and especially in Poland and the russian Union, opened a fresh chapter in the past of investigation into Katyn crime. After decades of silence, censorship and authoritative lies, it was time to discover the truth, reconstruct the memory of the victims and prosecute justice.
Already in 1989, in the atmosphere of political breakthrough and democratisation of public life, the subject of Katyń began to return to public debate in Poland. Independent media, social organizations and the Katyn household environment demanded full disclosure of the destiny of the officers murdered by the NKVD. For the first time, it became possible to talk openly about russian work and to request papers and acts that had been classified for decades.
The breakthrough was the authoritative message by the russian Union authorities of April 13, 1990, in which Moscow first publically admitted that the Katyn crime was committed by NKVD officers. This was the consequence of the long efforts of the Polish side, global pressures and change of political climate after Mikhail Gorbachev took power and his policy of “glasnosti” (disclosure). However, this message contained only a general admission of guilt – without indicating circumstantial perpetrators or considering the crime as genocide.
A year later, in 1991, the ZSRS collapsed, and the recently formed Russian Federation, led by Boris Jelcin, continued its policy of greater transparency for any time. In 1992, Yeltsyn submitted to the Polish side copies of key Katyn documents, including a memo by Beria dated March 5, 1940, and a decision by the Political Bureau signed by Stalin. These papers were the hard evidence of russian work for murder.
During this period, besides in Poland, actions to commemorate victims were launched. War cemeteries were established in Katyń, Mednoje and Kharkov, and their solemn beginning in 2000 was a joint Polish-Russian venture. There have been many celebrations, exhumations, origin publications and technological works. The Katyn crime entered the curriculum of past and public debate permanently.
Despite these advances, the full account of the crime never occurred. Russia – especially after Vladimir Putin took power – gradually began to return to narratives relativising the work of the USSR. The investigation conducted by the Russian military prosecutor's office was discontinued in 2004 and the names of the perpetrators were covered by secrecy. The Russian authorities inactive refuse to recognise Katyn as a crime of genocide, treating it as a "common crime" and arguing that there is no legal basis for its prosecution.
In Poland, the subject of Katyń remains highly crucial – both in historical and symbolic terms. all year anniversaries are held, and the memory of victims is nurtured by families, state institutions and civilian society. Katyń was peculiarly crucial after the Smolensk disaster of April 10, 2010, in which president Lech Kaczyński and 95 members of the Polish delegation headed for the Katyn celebrations were killed. The tragic event gave a new, dramatic dimension to Katyń's symbolism and even more powerfully linked historical memory to modern national identity.
Despite the passage of years, the road to full settlement of the Katyn crime continues. There are inactive unresolved issues – deficiency of legal classification as genocide, deficiency of penalties for perpetrators, unexplained fates of any victims, as well as difficulties in accessing parts of Russian archives. Katyń continues to awaken emotions and recalls that historical truth, if it is to be for reconciliation, must be full and unambiguous.
Emilia Nowak
Photo: screenshot from the movie “Cathin” in dir. Andrzej Wajda
