Mass Murder In The Forest Perpetrated During WWII By Stalin's NKVD
The Katyn massacre, also the Katyn Forest massacre (Polish: zbrodnia katynska, 'Katyn crime'), was a mass execution of Polish citizens ordered by Soviet authorities (NKVD - People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) in 1940. Estimates of the number of dead range from 15,000 to 21,768. The victims were murdered in the Katyn forest, the Kalinin (Tver) and Kharkiv prisons and elsewhere. About 8,000 were officers taken prisoner during the 1939 invasion of Poland, the rest being Poles arrested for allegedly being "intelligence agents, gendarmes, spies, saboteurs, landowners, factory owners, lawyers, priests, and officials."
Since Poland's conscription system required every unexempted university graduate to become a reserve officer, the Soviets were able to round up much of the Polish intelligentsia, and the Jewish, Ukrainian, Georgian and Belarusian intelligentsia of Polish citizenship.
The photo above shows Memorandum of March 5, 1940 from the NKVD Chief - L. Beria to Stalin, recommending the highest capital punishment - death by shooting - of about 26,000 members of Poland's elite (photo's author - mmarek at Flickr.com). Full text of that memo - in original Russian and in English translation is available here - on W.I. Juretzko's website.
Almost 15,000 of Polish POWs from Kozelsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov were killed in April-May 1940 by the NKVD.
Originally, "Katyn massacre" referred to the massacre at Katyn Forest, near the villages of Katyn and Gnezdovo (ca. 19 km west of Smolensk, Russia), of Polish military officers in the Kozelsk prisoner-of-war camp. It now is applied to the simultaneous executions of POWs from geographically distant Starobelsk and Ostashkov camps, and the executions of political prisoners from West Belarus and West Ukraine, shot on Stalin's orders at Katyn Forest, at the NKVD (Narodny Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del) headquarters in Smolensk, at a Smolensk slaughterhouse, and at prisons in Kalinin (Tver), Kharkiv, Moscow, and other Russian cities.
The 1943 discovery of mass graves at Katyn Forest by Nazi Germany, after invading and occupying the place in 1941, broke diplomatic relations between the U.S.S.R. and the Polish government-in-exile in London. The Soviet Union continued denying the massacres until 1990, then acknowledged that the NKVD had done them and the cover-up. The Russian government admitted Soviet responsibility for the massacres, yet does not classify them as war crimes or as acts of genocide; that would have necessitated the prosecution of surviving perpetrators, which is what the Polish government has requested. It also does not classify the dead as Stalinist repression victims, barring formal posthumous rehabilitation.
Read more about Katyn massacre in a Wikipedia article. Polish Wikipedia page on Katyn massacre at Wikipedia contains more details including latest revelations, e.g. that Putin finally admitted that Katyn massacre was a Stalinist crime.
Photo (right): Katyn massacre victim's hands tied with rope; from a a body exhumed at Katyn - by mmarek at Flickr.com
Table of Contents
- Almost 15,000 of Polish POWs from Kozelsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov were killed in April-May 1940 by the NKVD.
- My Grandpa Bazyli Tytyk - A Katyn Massacre Victim (with my Grandma Rozalia)
- The Katyn Massacre - Stalin and Hitler's cooperation
- Book about Katyn by a Russian journalist
- How the Katyn victims were killed
- Who was sentenced by Stalin on March 5, 1940 to be killed by the NKVD
- Katyn Massacre in a book by three leading historians
- Katyn Massacre in Oscar-nominated "Katyn" film by Andrzej Wajda
- Katyn Memorials on Flickr Photos
- Stalin converted former Orthodox monasteries at Kozelsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov into camps to hold there Polish prisoners/POWs
- Nilov Monastery - on Stolbnyi Island in Lake Seliger
- More Katyn Photos - From Flickr
- Interesting Katyn related items available on eBay
- Katyn Massacre in YouTube videos
- Use Orbitz! to book your trip to visit places of Stalin's crimes
- Please leave your comments about the Katyn massacre and this lens
My Grandpa Bazyli Tytyk - A Katyn Massacre Victim (with my Grandma Rozalia)
The Katyn Massacre - Stalin and Hitler's cooperation
It was part of their joint plan to liquidate the Polish state that started with the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. Stalin executed his role by killing almost 22,000 of Polish POWs and civilians imprisoned at the Kozelsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov camps as well as in the prisons of Western Ukraine and Belorussia.
Book about Katyn by a Russian journalist
The Murderers of Katyn
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"A Relatively Objective Russian View of the Katyn Massacre and 50-year Coverup" [Jan Peczkis, Chicago, IL]
Release Date: 12/31/1969
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How the Katyn victims were killed
Photo by onderock78 (from Flickr.com) shows the 7.65 mm Walther PPK pistol that was used by the 143 NKVD soldiers to execute the Katyn massacre. They got rewarded for the job of getting rid of "hardened and uncompromising enemies of Soviet authority" with a one-month pay bonus. Usually one shot was enough to kill - it was fired at the back of the victim's head, with the muzzle pressed against the nape.
Who was sentenced by Stalin on March 5, 1940 to be killed by the NKVD
According to the Memorandum prepared by Beria and approved by the Bolshevik's Politburo headed by Stalin, two groups of Polish prisoners were to be executed by the NKVD:
- Generals, colonels and lieutenant-colonels - 295
- Majors and captains - 2,080
- Lieutenants, second-lieutenants and ensigns - 6,049
- Officers and young commanders of police, of border guards and of military police - 1,030
- Non-commissioned policemen, military policemen, prison guards and intelligence agents - 5,138
- Bureaucrats, landowners, priests and (military) settlers - 144
- Former officers - 1,207
- Former policemen and intelligence agents and military policemen - 5,141
- Spies and saboteurs - 347
- Former landowners, manufacturers and bureaucrats - 465
- Members of a variety of counter-revolutionary and insurgent organizations and variety of counter-revolutionary elements - 5,345
- Turncoats - 6,127
Katyn Massacre in a book by three leading historians
Katyn: A Crime Without Punishment (Annals of Communism Series)
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"This is not only a story about a cruel crime that remains unpunished. It is also a story about historical truth versus denial, about moral impulses versus political cynicism. A piece of Polish history but also a message of universal importance."[Janusz Reiter, Ambassador of Poland]
Release Date: 12/31/1969
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Katyn Massacre in Oscar-nominated "Katyn" film by Andrzej Wajda
Katyn Memorials on Flickr Photos
Lublin, Poland
Chicago, IL
Katowice, Poland
Toronto, Canada
Warsaw, Poland
Jersey City, NJ
Katyn, Russia
Baltimore, MD
Krakow, Poland
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Wroclaw, Poland
Doylestown, PA
Stalin converted former Orthodox monasteries at Kozelsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov into camps to hold there Polish prisoners/POWs
Nilov Monastery - on Stolbnyi Island in Lake Seliger
More Katyn Photos - From Flickr
A work from around the same period as the Che poster, exposing the long-suppress...
430410 Katy%u0144 - Ekshumacja zw%u0142ok
400410 Katy%u0144 Zag%u0142ada polskich elit. Akcja AB
400410 Katy%u0144 Soviet Crime places
400110 Katy%u0144 - Naramiennik sztabowego oficera 1 Pu%u0142ku Szwole%u017Cerow im. J%uFFFDzefa...
070917 Film Katy%u0144 : Post Mortem
400410 Katy%u0144 - Soviet camp at Ostaszkow
Contrary to common belief in many countries (above all in my own native Israel),...
Interesting Katyn related items available on eBay
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Katyn Massacre in YouTube videos
Use Orbitz! to book your trip to visit places of Stalin's crimes
Please leave your comments about the Katyn massacre and this lens
d-artist wrote...
a very interesting lens....good to let the world know, too many people hide their heads in the sand and think this could never happen again...they are wrong, war is evil and it can bring the worst out of people...Stalin and Hitler where evil. We would hope that all of us can learn a lesson, but unfortunatley this still goes on...5*
Posted February 04, 2009
eccles1 wrote...
That was in 1940 and very sad..this kind of thing is still going on but we don't always hear about it on our news I think this has been going on since the start of human nature men that love power over others will always be here treating people as ants!!! BUT where are the ones that were killed now ? and where are the ones that do all the massacres?? this is the BIG difference between both of them.
you did a great job.
Posted May 29, 2008
by zuzanna
My grandfather - Bazyli Tytyk - was murdered by the NKVD in the Spring of 1940. He was one of over 21,000 members of Poland's elite eliminated by the...
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