NKVD officers shot victims individually in the back of the head, often using German-made Walther pistols to potentially deflect future blame. Discovery and the "Big Lie"
The USSR immediately blamed the Nazis for the killings, claiming the Poles were executed during the German advance in 1941. NKVD officers shot victims individually in the back
Following the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, thousands of Polish prisoners of war were held in camps in the USSR. On March 5, 1940, Joseph Stalin and other Soviet leaders signed an order to execute "nationalists and counter-revolutionaries" held in these camps. On March 5, 1940, Joseph Stalin and other
In communist-controlled Poland, mentioning the Soviet role in Katyn was a crime; the official state narrative strictly blamed Germany for decades. The Path to Truth 1," which contained the original 1940 execution order
In 1992, Boris Yeltsin released the "Package No. 1," which contained the original 1940 execution order signed by Stalin and the Politburo.
The "Katyn Lie" finally began to crumble during the era of glasnost under Mikhail Gorbachev.
While Russia has provided many documents, it has resisted labeling the event as "genocide," and recent political tensions have led to renewed questioning of the official narrative within Russia. A Persistent Wound