April 3, 1940

[Martin Antonenko]

Katyn


In the Katyn forest, members of the Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKWD) murdered on the orders of the Politburo…



... more than 4,400 Polish prisoners of war, mostly officers, in a forest near Katyn, a village 20 kilometers west of Smolensk.











The murders - mostly carried out by shooting the neck of the previously tied victims - begin on April 3, 1940 and last until May 11, 1940.





After the war, when the Allies were putting the Nazi leaders and their most important murdering henchmen on trial, the Katyn massacre was, at Stalin's express wish, never to be discussed!

Later, the Soviets did everything they could to blame the Germans for the murders! The truth fully came out only after the collapse of the USSR in the 80s…:



I will - in addition to that - drag the faces of the murderers into the light:

The responsible NKVD department head was Pjotr Soprunenko - he was not on site and was sitting in Moscow...:



His henchman and leader of the assassination squad was Colonel (later General) Blokhin...:


Here are the other NKVD leaders on site...:



By the way, some of the murderers took pictures of each other in the Katyn forest - Blokhin is on the far left...:



The supreme murderer was, of course, Stalin's henchman and NKVD boss Lavrentij Beria...:

 

[valiant]

There is a Katyn memorial on Cannock Chase, not far from where I live......... https://cannockchase.org.uk/proud-to-protect/heritage-and-history/katyn-memorial/

 

[Airkid]

Awful business.

Interesting that the shooter in the reconstructed photos is using a German Walther P.38, which, while improbable, does beg a question. I seem to remember reading that the execution squads used German weapons and ammunition so that they could make it look like the Germans were responsible. Quantities of 9mm empty cases were found on the site, with headstamp markings bearing the standardised German three-letter codes. Nothing changes, eh?

There is a very good Polish-language movie about the Katyn investigation - I can't recall its title but it is worth seeking out.

Thanks Martin - lest we forget

Phil

 

[Dr Bison]

@ Martin: A very special thanks for today's issue. It means a lot to me.

@ Phil: The film is called "Katyn" in English, came out in 2007 and was directed by Andrzej Wajda, whose father was murdered in the Katyn massacre too. And yes, it is very good indeed.

Up until 1989, the Soviets denied any responsibility for this war crime, and now we're back at square one, according to Wikipedia:
In 2021, however, the Russian Ministry of Culture downgraded the memorial complex at Katyn on its Register of Sites of Cultural Heritage from a place of federal to one of only regional importance. [...] More important, the Ministry altered the descriptive text to say, once more, that the "Polish officers were shot by the Hitlerites in 1941". (My emphasis)

Karl

 

[Nap]

No one was safe

As for the Russian Ministry downgrading ...unbelievable ........and still trying to pass the blame

Interesting...never forget those who died

Thanks Martin

Nap

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Downgrading like that the Ukrainians won't do with Butcha, for sure!


Cheers

 

[tock24]

As an aside - there was a 2001 movie called "Enigma" that touched on this - Enigma (2001) - IMDb

BR
Ian