Katyn Massacre & the Polish Officer Corp

Based on the book Katyn Detective,
by Y.I. Mukhin 1995



Introduction

In March 1942, Nazi Germany announced that in the Katyn Forest the bodies of executed Polish officers were found. There followed in April 1943 an excavation of the bodies. It was determined that in Katyn there were the bodies of 12 thousand Polish officers. The exhumed bodies were examined by forensic experts from Nazi Germany and an International commission made up of twelve countries. The conclusion of this investigation was without a doubt that the Polish officers had been executed by the Soviet Union in the spring of 1940. In the west the conclusion of this investigation was welcomed as yet another proof of the brutality of the USSR and the evils of communism. By the 1950s, the Nazi evidence on Katyn reemerged in the west as slanderous propaganda to throw against the USSR. In November 1989, the revisionists and anti-communists ruling the USSR admitted that indeed the Polish officers were killed by the Soviets - just before these same revisionists threw the Soviet people into the jaws of fully-blown capitalism, in exchange for a Nobel Prize. Today this same anti-Soviet argument of the Nazis, Western imperialists and Gorbachievite revisionists is repeated over and over by "respected" historians. It is no coincidence, that these same historians that accuse the USSR on lying about Katyn are the same Nazi apologists and Holocaust deniers that accuse the USSR of lying about Auschwitz and about the Holocaust. They go hand in hand.

To pin the blame on the USSR and exult the Nazis, these historians relay on fraudulent methods. They base their argument on the words of the likes of Gorbachiev and Yakovliev, who openly admitted that Katyn was the responsibility of the Soviets. But what was Gorbachiev going to say? That the USSR was telling the truth when it said it was innocent? Of course not. Yakovliev had already proclaimed he had personally reviewed the cases of 60 million executed persons. It is of course strange that today no one has read or can even find these documents, except for Yakovliev himself. The words of these revisionists matter little, today that we know what their intentions were, and why they said what they said. The only ones who take their words seriously are the Nazi sympathizers who accuse the Soviet Union. These "historians" also rely on forged documentation released by the Gorbachieviute gang. Against such opposition it is a right, indeed a duty to stand up against. This article will prove that it is the Nazis that are to blame for Katyn, using physical evidence, eyewitness accounts and documental sources. The truth on Katyn has been known for a long time, but the slanderous propaganda of the Nazi apologist historians of today has done its best to keep this truth hidden.



The Polish Officer Corp


The Katyn story must begin with the character of the Polish elitist officer corp. Poland was created as an independent country from the ruins of the Germanic, Austrian and Russian empires. The new Polish ruling elite was arrogant and opportunistic. As part of the all out imperialist assault against Soviet Russia, the newly created Polish state launched an unprovoked invasion into its neighboring countries in 1920. The new Soviet Russia was powerless against the Polish invaders, operating in conjunction with a dozen more imperialist countries. Poland annexed a large part of Ukraine, Byelorussia and Lithuania, even taking away its present capital, Vilnius. Some 20 million non-Poles were placed under the rule of the Polish landlords and gentry. Assured the support of England and France, Poland become the gangster of Eastern Europe. It took a fiercely anti-Soviet attitude, becoming an active base for all sorts of anti-Soviet political and terrorist groups that conducted raids and inserted agents into the USSR.

Poland 's hooligan behavior and anti-Soviet attitude played a pivotal role in the rise of Nazi Germany and the demise of the Polish nation itself. In the 1930s, with its British and French masters behind it, Poland played the role of an instigator of conflict and an obstacle to peace. In the 1930s, Poland signed a 10 year non-aggression pact with Germany. With the USSR it agreed to sign it for only 3 years. In 1933, the USSR proposed the creation of a defensive plan between USSR, France, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. The aim of the plan was to defend in case of a German attack. It was the arrogant Polish ruling elite that prevented this plan from becoming reality. Poland declared it would not enter in any pact if Lithuania and Czechoslovakia were in it. The Polish Foreign Minister bragged to his German counterpart that the plan had been dealt a "mortal blow." In March 1939, USSR proposed yet another defensive plan between USSR, England, France, Poland and the Baltic, Balkan and Scandinavian countries. In this plan the USSR should be given the right to defend Poland in case of a German attack by moving its armies into Polish territory in case of war. Again, the Polish rulers, on cue from its British and French masters, refused to enter into any plan involving the USSR. History has shown where this led the world to. The Polish ruling elite prevented the defensive union of England, France and the USSR that may have prevented German military adventurism. They welcomed their destruction upon themselves.


Polish aggressiveness did not stop at wrecking security plans. When Germany marched into the Sudatenland in 1938, Poland followed suit, annexing parts of Czechoslovakia for itself. On March 11, 1938 Poland instigated an incident at the Polish-Lithuanian border. The Polish military elite rose up, moving their armies on the Lithuanian border and inviting the Germans to join them in an invasion of Lithuania. They made provocating speeches with the slogans "Forward to Kaunas" (the capital of Lithuania at the time was Kaunas). But on March 18, the USSR declared that it would not stand by peacefully if Poland attacked Lithuania. The Polish rulers backed down. The Polish elite still maintained hopes of conquering more Soviet territory. Its dream was of annexing the Baltic countries and reaching the Black Sea by annexing parts of Ukraine. In January 1939, the Polish Foreign Minister J. Bek held a meeting with Hitler and Robbentope. According to the memoirs of the last, Bek told the Germans the Polish intentions were to reach the Black Sea. The purpose of the meeting was to lay out a plan for a joint Polish-German invasion of Czechoslovakia and Lithuania.
Having seen the unwillingness of the western imperialists in creating a defensive pact against Germany, and having been left alone and in a vulnerable position, the USSR entered into a non-aggression pact with Germany, its mortal enemy. If they could not stop the Germans with an alliance, they would do it by themselves. It was agreed in the non-aggression pact that the sphere of influence of the USSR, where Germany should not interfere were the Baltic states and the land Poland had occupied from Russia in 1920. The Polish elite in essence, had signed its won destruction by rejecting defensive plans and approaching the Germans.


In March 30 1939, after having rejected the Soviet proposal for a defensive plan, Poland accepted the British offer to defend her. Immediately, the arrogant Polish rulers broke off its non-aggression pact with Germany. It arranged for deportation of the German population in Poland and moved the Polish Army on the borders with Germany. This was in essence a provocation of war. Poland now felt invulnerable, because the French and British would come to its defense.

On September 1 1939, Germany launched its invasion of Poland. The Polish government and military elite collapsed within days. 5 days after the start of hostilities, the Polish government ran from Warsaw to Lublin. They moved to three other cities until by September 16, abandoned the Polish people and ran into Romania. In September 30, 1939 they established a government in exile in France, under the leadership of General Sikorski. The Polish officers acted no differently. Most ran away with their government in exile, abandoning their soldiers and their country. Those that stayed offered token resistance, not because they could not, but because they would not. To them, it was more important to save their skin than their people.
To demonstrate the actions of the Polish officer elite, it is necessary to look at their casualty lists. In the USSR, in the years of 1944-1945, the ratio of soldier and officer casualties was 1:10.3. In previous years of the war, the ratio was often 1:2. In the French Army defending against the German invasion, the ratio was 1:2.3. By contrast, in the Polish Army defending against the German invasion in September, the ratio of soldiers and officer casualties was 1:32.2. These officers ran away from the fight, letting their soldiers be slaughtered and their nation conquered. This was the true nature of the elitist landlords, gentry and militarists ruling Poland at the time.


The Soviet Intervention 


On September 17 1939, following the escape of the Polish government into Romania, the Red Army marched into the territory Poland stole in 1920. The Red Army was welcomed as liberators by the local population, who were only too happy to see the rule of the Polish gentry broken. Even the Polish soldiers themselves welcomed the Red Army, which met virtually no resistance. The territory that was stolen from Ukraine and Byelorussia was restored to them and become part of the USSR. The territory of Lithuania was restored to it, including its capital, Vilnius.

In the Soviet intervention into Poland, the USSR detained between 250-300 thousand Polish soldiers and officers. Most were released from detention centers. However, some 130,242 persons were maintained in detention camps of the NKVD, before their situation changed.

In November 1939, the Polish government in exile, as arrogant and bullish as ever, declared war on the USSR, supposedly in reply to the Soviet-Finish War. The Poles went as far as creating a special brigade to be send to fight the Red Army in Finland. By this act of war, the Polish government changed the status of the Polish soldiers still detained in the USSR. They now become automatically prisoners of war, and thus those still remaining in NKVD camps could not be released. According to international law, the prisoners of war could be forced to work on construction projects. However, officers could not be forced to work. Therefore, the Polish soldiers were put to work on constructing highways, such as the Novograd-Volynski-Lvov road.

After the official inclusion of the territory captured by Poland in 1920 into the USSR, the Polish prisoners of war automatically become citizens of the USSR. By decision of court, it was named illegal for the NKVD to detain and force these soldiers to work. Therefore, most soldiers and petty officers were all released into civilian life as citizens of the USSR. However, there was a group of people that could not be released. These were those charged with crimes against the non-Polish and Polish population in the newly liberated areas as well as for war crimes against the USSR. This group comprised members of Poland's military and governmental elite, gentry, landlord and manufacturers. There were plenty of war crimes committed by these people, such as the mass execution of Soviet prisoners of war in 1920 and active support for diversionary and terrorist groups against the USSR. It was decided to keep these individuals, numbering more than 20,000, in detention camps of the NKVD until a Special Commission of the NKVD examined their cases and decided upon a sentence for them.


The Decision of the Special Commission of the NKVD


The action of sentencing these foreign officers to war crimes was against international laws of the time. It was also not the time for the USSR to take such steps. War would soon come, and to publicly announce that some of the Polish officers were being considered as war criminals, could not help the USSR. Foreign imperialists, who were only looking for an opportunity to attack the USSR, would see this as an opportunity. Therefore, it was decided to keep this as secret as possible. A Special Commission of the NKVD was organized to individually investigate each case of the persons accused of crimes against the people or war crimes. Starting from December 1939, the administration of each camp in which the prisoners were being detained, started selecting those prisoners to be investigated by the Special Commission of the NKVD. On December 31, 1939 L. Beria send the order for the camps to deliver the names of the suspected officers. By February 20, 1940 the order was issued to release from camps all those individuals who were sick, invalid or representatives of the working intelligentsia. After a lengthy review by the members of the Special Commission, a decision was reached. The first time the conclusion of the NKVD was made publicly available in its entirety was in September 1993 in the "Military-Historical Magazine." This document was found in the Archives of the USSR. The decision of the Special Commission of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) was the following:

1. To give the status of war criminal to the persons considered socially dangerous; to exile for the period of up to 5 years under public supervision in the districts specified by the NKVD; to sentence them for the period of 5 years under public supervision with the prohibition of residing in the capitals, large cities and industrial centers of the USSR; to imprison in correctional-working camps and isolate in the camps for a period of up to 5 years, and to send outside the limits of the USSR foreign citizens considered socially dangerous.


2. To give the status of war criminal to the persons convicted of espionage, sabotage, diversion and terrorist activity and to imprison for the period from 5 to 8 years.


3. For the realization of the actions specified in items 1 and 2, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs acts under the chairmanship of the Special Commission comprised of: a) the Assistant to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs; b) the representative of the NKVD to the RSFSR; c) the Chief of Central Administrative Board of Worker's and Peasant's Militia; d) the People's Commissar of the Union Republic on whose territory the action is carried out.


4. The public prosecutor or his assistant who in case of disagreement with both the decision or the direction of the Special Commission of the NKVD, has the right to protest to the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. In this case, the decision of the Special Commission of the NKVD is suspended pending a decision from the Central Committee of the USSR.

5. The decision of the Special Committee of the NKVD about the reference and imprisonment into correctional-working camps of each person should be accompanied by the instruction of the reason of the application of these measures, area of imprisonment and term of imprisonment.

Starting from March 16 1940, individual cases were reviewed by the Special Commission of the NKVD and sentences were established for them. Some individuals were found not guilty of wrong doing and were returned to the prisoner of war status or were released. It was decided by the Special Commission that the privilege of correspondence be removed from the prisoners that were sentenced. The reason for this was that they were no longer prisoners of war, but war criminals, and thus the Soviet authorities were under no obligation to allow this privilege. Furthermore, the fact that the Polish officer elite had been sentenced as war criminals could not be released publicly. Releasing such information to the world would have been damaging to the USSR, especially in this time when allies, even half-hearted ones, were necessary. However, not all the detained prisoners were sentenced. Those that were not, were placed in prisoners of war camps from where they could freely correspond.


Furthermore, the Special Commission of the NKVD issued orders to the Starobelsk prisoners of war camp, where the Polish officers were previously held, to destroy the documentation regarding their prisoner of war status. An order was issued from L. Beria on September 10, 1940 to the commander of the camp to destroy the stock-taking documents of the prisoners of war. This order from Beria had no security clearance, and therefore could be viewed by anyone. The existence of this order has been seen by the western "historians" as evidence that the officers had been executed and that the Soviets were trying to cover their tracks. This is not the case. In the order of Beria and in following orders to the Starobelsk camp, the camp administration is asked to make copies of the prisoner's photographs and some other additional files which were to be send to the Kharakov UNKVD. The reality of this order is that the status of the officers had changed, from prisoners of war to war criminals. They had moved from the jurisdiction of the NKVD to that of the UNKVD, which dealt with such cases. Documents about their prisoner of war status could be destroyed, since they served no more purpose. But the pictures of the prisoners were send to the UNKVD, where new criminal files were opened for the prisoners.

With this, the work and jurisdiction of the Special Commission of the NKVD was finished. The prisoners were moved from the Starobelsk camp to three separate camps near the Smolenks area. These camps were specially set up by the UNKVD for the Polish officers. They were camp 1ON, 23km from Smolensk on the Moscow-Minsk highway, camp 2ON 25 km from Smolensk on the Smolensk-Vitebsk highway and camp 3ON 45km from Smolensk in the Krasokem area. In these camps, the officers were placed in construction of roads, particularly the highway Smolensk-Lvov.

Since 1943, the USSR was forced to publicly admit that the Polish officers and other individuals were sentenced to imprisonment in correctional and working-camps for the period of 5 to 8 years without the right of correspondence. Since that time, the USSR has been accused of lying. Indeed, it was concluded by the Nazis and the western imperialists that the USSR had sentenced these individuals to death instead of imprisonment. However, the discovery of the actual decision of the Special Commission of the NKVD, has proved beyond a doubt that the USSR was not lying. The prisoners were indeed sentenced to terms of imprisonment, or as in the case of foreign nationals, to exile. The decision of the Special Commission of the NKVD should never have been doubted because in 1941 several individuals of foreign nationality were exiled outside the USSR. Among them was a Polish officer of German origins, R.Shtiller, who was deported to Germany and revealed information about the sentencing. Furthermore, those Polish officers found not guilty were returned to their prisoner of war camps, from where they could freely correspond. The entire investigation of the NKVD begs the question, that if the intention was to kill the prisoners, why carry out such a lengthy investigation of individual cases and release persons found not guilty? If the intention was to execute them, none of this would have been done. However, as with most truthful evidence on Katyn, this information is rejected and kept hidden as much as possible by the western and Russian revisionist historians. Instead, these "historians" and the Gorbachievite gang, resorted to forgeries and lies on the decision of the NKVD. About these, we shall talk latter on.


Relations with Poland During the War


On June 22 1941, Germany launched its invasion of the USSR. At the time, Poland still held its declaration of war against the USSR. It wasn't until after the war had started, that the Polish government in exile retreated its declaration. In July 30 1941, the government of Sikorsky entered into negotiation with the USSR about the release of the remaining Polish prisoners and about the organization of a Polish Army from these. By early August 1941, it was decided to create a Polish Army in the USSR under the command of Polish General Anders (who was one of the prisoners), called the Anders Army. Sikorsky promised Stalin that the Anders Army would remain in the USSR and fight against the Germans. All he wanted in return was that 25,000 Polish soldiers be send to the Middle East to join the British Army. Stalin agreed, and in 1941 the Anders Army was created and armed. Sikorsky also asked Stalin about the fate of the missing Polish officers. Stalin avoided the question, giving the answer that he did not know (while the Soviet press made up imaginative theories of what happened). But the truth was that Stalin indeed did not know what had happened. By that time the Germans had taken Smolensk and the Polish camps and the Soviets did not know what happened to them. Also, this was not a priority for the Soviet Union. In any case, Stalin organized a committee to find out what happened to the Polish officers. They could not find out what happened to them, except that they had been captured by the Germans. On this, we shall talk about latter.

Anders, being of the Polish military elite and as arrogant as usual, had a deep hatred for the USSR. The USSR was sacrificing much by arming these Polish soldiers. At a time when weapons had to be taken out of museums to arm the defenders of Moscow, the Anders Army was being armed with the best weapons. In an act of treachery, which was second nature for the elite Polish officers, Anders led his army of 114,000 into Iran. He abandoned the Red Army and abandoned the fight for his homeland to ran away to Iran to join the British. This was indeed a great blow to Polish-Soviet relations. Never again would Stalin trust the Polish government in exile, and proved once more their treacherous and cowardly nature. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers and officers still remained in the USSR. these were organized into the Polish People's Army, under the command of the PKKA. This was created in October 1941 and fought alongside the Red Army until the end of the war. By the Battle of Berlin, the Polish People's Army numbered 400,000. They were the only Polish troops to participate in the liberation of their country from the Nazis.


Meanwhile, the Polish military elite continued in its characteristic ways. In August 11 1941, the Sikorsky government ordered the Craiova Army (the Polish resistance under the control of Sikorsky) to begin the Warsaw uprising. The Red Army was only a short distance from Warsaw, but could not carry out an attack on the city at the time. They had just finished a 400km advance and had exhausted their resources. It was necessary to halt in front of the city in face of the German resistance. Instead of organizing their uprising in Warsaw with the Red Army, Sikorsky never told the Soviets about the planned uprising. He was trying to prove his authority as the legitimate ruler of Poland. Instead, the uprising resulted in a disaster for the Polish people, with the Germans massacring 200,000 people as a result. The arrogance and opportunistic nature of the Polish ruling elite had cost the Polish people countless losses, while its officers found it more convenient to run away to England instead of fighting to directly liberate their homeland.


Nazi and Revisionist Evidence


On July 10 1941, 62 German divisions, numbering some 1 million men, launched an assault against the city of Smolensk. In 2 months of heavy fighting, the Germans advanced 100km into Soviet territory and managed to capture the city of Smolensk. The three camps where the Polish officers were held were also captured in the German advance. What really happened to these officers we shall talk about latter. For now, only the German version of the story will be told.


In March 1942, the Germans announced that they had learned from Soviet prisoners that the Polish officers missing since 1940, had all been executed by the Soviets and buried in the Katyn forest. This German announcement was made at the same time when Poland and the USSR were organizing the creation of the Anders Army. Its aim was to destroy Soviet-Polish relations, which it achieved. The burial places of the officers were found and the Germans placed a cross in the area. On February 18 1943, the Germans announced that the burial places of the Polish officers would be excavated and examined. In April 11 1943, members of the Polish Red Cross (PKK), were invited by the Germans in their investigation of the Polish officers. Between April and June 1943, the PKK and a German team of forensic experts, headed by German Doctor G. Buttsu, investigated 4143 corpses. Between April 29 and 30 1943, an International Commission of 12 countries was organized. These included mostly satellite states of Germany as well as Switzerland. The 12 members of the International Commission, in their 2 day stay, investigated 9 corpses. On May 1 1943, the 12 members finished writing their reports of their findings, which were published on May 4 1943. By June 1943, the excavation and investigation of the bodies stopped, supposedly because of fear of epidemics.
According to the investigatory reports of the German, Polish and International teams, there was left no doubt that as many as 12,000 Polish officers were executed by the Soviets between the spring months of May and April 1940. The murders, according to the three parties, were carried out in the Katyn woods, near the NKVD vacation house situated in the woods. The Katyn forest is 15 km from Smolensk. The bodies were buried in an area 200m from the main Smolensk-Vitebsk highway and 700m from the two-story NKVD vacation house. This area, according to the Nazis, was very remote and closed off to the public. It was an area where no one ventured into. According to them, it had been used as a main execution grounds for the NKVD for 5 to 15 years, since bodies of executed Russians were found to be dated at 5-15 years. The Polish officers were buried in a number of graves, stacked 9-12 bodies high and covered by 1m or more of earth. On the bodies themselves, the forensic investigators found many documents belonging to the victims, such as passports and photos. None of the documents found on the 4143 bodies examined had dates beyond May 1940. Therefore, the date of execution was determined to have been in May of 1940. The bodies of Polish officers examined by the forensic experts were determined to have been in the ground for a period of at least 3 years, thus placing their execution time in the Spring of 1940. Bodies of Russians were also found. Their time in the ground was determined to be 5-15 years, thus proving Katyn had long been a place of executions.

Physical evidence was also found by the investigating commissions. Directly next to the burial grounds, there was a small cabin, where it was suspected the executions were carried out. The dead officers were found to have their hands tied on their back and to have been shot by a low-velocity pistol round on the back of the head. The bullet round on most bodies exited on the front of the head. Type and caliber of the bullet was not determined precisely, except that the bullet cases had Soviet inscriptions on them and production dates of 1939-1940. Further evidence of time of death were the birch leaves which had fallen inside the graves. These leaves were determined to have been fresh at the time of fall, and therefore were spring leaves.


The Nazi evidence on Katyn stopped at this. The documentation and evidence of the PKK was destroyed in 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising, while the German evidence was destroyed by the Germans in 1945 before their capitulation. However, the anti-Soviet propaganda did not end with the Nazis. Their work was continued by the revisionists ruling the USSR in the 80s and 90s. Already by 1989, Gorbachiev announced that it was the USSR that had killed the Polish officers. A witness was brought foreword by the revisionist "historians" assigned by Gorbachiev to "research" Katyn. This was a man named Tokarev, and in 1940 was the chief of the UNKVD of the Kalinin area. At the time of his "testimony", he was 89 years old. The old man was smart enough to tell Gorbachiev's investigators just what they wanted to hear. He told them he had attended a meeting with 15-20 other heads of UNKVD where they had received orders from the "highest authority" to execute "representatives of retaliatory bodies of the Polish republic." Tokarev went further to describe in detail how the executions were carried out. According to him, the executions were carried out inside the UNKVD building in the middle of Smolensk. 6000 officers were executed in one month; 300-200 officers per day. The prisoners were placed in the cellar of the building, where they were locked inside separate prison cells. They were pulled out in small groups of 10-40 persons and taken to a separate room. There, they were shot in the back of the head using a TT automatic pistol. They were loaded on 5-6 trucks and taken to the burial sites. In all, between the NKVD officers and drivers, 10 people were involved in the executions. In the first days, 300 officers were executed daily. But daylight started getting smaller, so the number was reduced to 250-200 officers per day. According to Tokarev, this was done in absolute secrecy and no one besides these 10 men were allowed to know about the executions.

Furthermore, the Gorbachevite "historians" brought forth an 83 year old man named Soprunenko. At the time he was a General-Major in the NKVD. He told the investigators about a meeting of 8-12 persons, which he attended, with Beria. There, they received an order signed by Stalin about the execution of the Polish officers. With this, the Gorbachevite "historians" had presented eyewitness proof that the Polish officers were executed by the Soviets.


Nazi Evidence Refuted


Of course, all the evidence presented by the Nazi and revisionist historians is false. It is false for the reason that the Polish prisoners were sentenced not to death but to imprisonment by the Special Commission of the NKVD and because they were very much alive until the German occupation of Smolensk. In this article the lies and propaganda of these "historians" will be examined and revealed to be what it truly is - lies!

First, let’s begin with the "proofs" of the Nazis. Following the liberation of Smolensk from the Germans in September 1943, a Special Commission was established, headed by Academician N.N. Burdenko. Following a lengthy investigation of the area, questioning of witnesses and the excavation and study of 925 bodies, the Burdenko Commission wrote a 56 page report. This report was made public in 1944. Since then, the revisionist historians have accused the report of being simply a propaganda document with no truth in it. However, this assessment does not hold. In 1990, a "Top Secret" version of the Burdenko report was discovered. This "Top Secret" document was send by Burdenko to the heads of the Soviet government. Truly, if the report made public was simply propaganda, the government in this "Top Secret" report had received the truth. Such documents don't serve propaganda purposes because they are not made public, and lying to your superiors is not a very good idea. However, the "Top Secret" version contained the same information as the publicly available report. The "Top Secret" report was published by the "Military-Historical Magazine" in 1990, No. 11 and 12.

The Burdenko Commission refuted all the points of the German and International investigation, except for the fact that there were 12,000 bodies. First to be examined was the location of the burial itself. The Germans claimed that the Katyn forest was an isolated area which had served as an execution ground for many years. In reality, Katyn was a popular area of vacationing. The NKVD vacation home was located only 700 away from the burial places. There resided the wives and children of the NKVD officers on vacation there. The city and surrounding population frequented the Katyn forest as a place of vacationing. Villagers came to the forest for picking mushrooms or for pasturing their animals. The area was not closed off the public in any way.

Furthermore, the burial was only 200m from the Smolensk-Vitebsk highway. This was a heavily traveled road, with thousands of people crossing it every day. Could this be an area where executions were carried out for many years? Could this be the area where for months, 12,000 people were buried? It was not possible for the Soviets to carry out this act in such a place. Surely the NKVD could have found an area which was far more secure than this, an area where the only witnesses would have been bears. Most importantly, this revelation about Katyn proves the Germans were lying. According to the findings of the Burdenko Commission, it wasn't until the Germans occupied the area that the woods were closed to the population. Signs were put up, warning anyone who entered that they would be shot. A German military unit was stationed on the grounds of the Katyn forest, closing off the area.


And about the cabin found by the Germans directly next to the graves (where the Germans said the executions had been carried out). It was in actuality a cabin for the Pioneers! It appears, that the exact area of the burials was a favorite ground for the Pioneers to set up their summer camp. Therefore, a permanent cabin was build on that area for housing materials for their use (while the Pioneers themselves slept in tents).

The Burdenko Commission also answered the question of what had happened to the Polish prisoners after their camps were overrun by the Germans. The directors of the prisoner camps were located and questioned.

The director of camp 1ON, Major of Security V.M. Vetoschinikov, testified about what happened. According to him, he received orders about the evacuation of the prisoners from the camp. However, he had not received any instructions on how to carry this out, since phone connections had been cut off. He and some employees of the camp drove to Smolensk to clarify the situation. He meets with Engineer S.V. Ivanov, head of transportation on the western stretch of the Smolensk railway. Vetoschinikov asked Ivanov for a few train cars to transport the prisoners. However, at the time the evacuation of the city population was being carried out. Therefore, Ivanov told him not to expect any train cars since none were available. Vetoschinikov tried to contact Moscow about permission to evacuate of foot, but could not contact them. By that time, the 1ON camp was cut off from Smolensk and the director had no idea what had happened to the prisoners or their guards.


Officer Ljubodzetsk witnessed what occurred in the 1ON camp after Vetoschinikov did not return. According to him, the evacuation of the camp started to be carried out by foot. However, the Polish officers rebelled. They said they wanted to wait for the Germans and surrender to them. At least the Germans, they thought, would treat them in accordance to international norms. The majority of the prisoners decided to remain in the camp and wait for the Germans. Only a few of the prisoners agreed to the evacuation - those of Jewish origin.


Therefore, it has been proven that the Polish officers were alive and in the camps by the time the Germans captured them. The Burdenko Commission gathered testimonies from a number of other eyewitnesses from the neighboring villages. According to several of them, they had seen Polish prisoners in the area near Smolensk as late as September 1941.


The Burdenko Commission went on to investigate if anyone had actually seen the process of execution of the Polish officers by the Germans. They found three women, the cooks of the NKVD vacation house, A.M. Aleksejava, O.A. Michailova, and S.P. Konachovskaja. At the time, the house was the base for a German military unit. According to the women, this was the Staff building for a Construction Battalion No.537-1. There were 30 persons stationed at this place, according to the cooks. They could not remember the names of all of them, except for a few. The commander of the battalion was Lt. Colonel Arnes. Others were Lt. Colonel Rekst, Lt. Hott, Sgt.Luemert and few others whom the women could remember. They witnessed the entire procedures of the Germans. Though they never witnessed an execution, they were aware of what was going on. According to all three women, several trucks regularly arrived at the residence starting from September 1941. They would not come directly to the residence at first. Coming off the main highway, the trucks would stop somewhere between the highway and the residence. The officers of the 537th would go into the woods. About half an hour latter, individual shots in succession begun to be heard. About 1 hour after the trucks had stopped, they reached the building and all would disembark. They would go into the house and wash themselves in the bathroom. They would then proceed to drink heavily. The women were not allowed out of the kitchen when the drivers and the other members of the convoy arrived. They were kept in the kitchen, cooking meals for them. On several occasions, the women noticed fresh blood stains on the uniforms of at least two officers. The cooks usually left their work in the evening. According to them, the officers had the unusual habit of sleeping until 12 o'clock. They suspected that they conducted the same business during the night. They also saw Polish officers on at least two occasions. In one occasion, one of the women was allowed to go home after her usual hours, in the evening. Walking on the road, she noticed a group of 30 prisoners. She recognized them as Polish because she had seen their uniforms before, while they were conducting construction work for the Soviets. On another occasion, two of the women accidentally saw two Polish officers inside the residence, surrounded by German officers. The women were chased back into the kitchen and there was a large fuss around the officers. A few minutes latter, the women heard two shots. They had been warned several times to be careful about what they saw and not to tell anyone. As punishment for their intrusion, one of the women was locked in the basement of the building for 8 days while the other two for 3 days. After they realized what was going on, they quit their jobs on various excuses.

The conclusion that can be drawn from the testimonies of these three women is that the Polish officers were being executed by the Germans in the autumn of 1941. Apparently, several trucks were carrying groups of 30 or so prisoners to the Katyn woods. Stopping "between the highway and the residence", or approximately 200m from the highway, the prisoners were unloaded. There awaited them the 30 members of the 537th in addition to the drivers and escorting soldiers. The prisoners were individually executed directly above their burial grounds and were thrown into their graves. This is a scene which can be seen many times in German footage of executions, where a German officer stands behind a kneeling prisoner, shoots him in the back of the head and throws him into an open grave. Following their work, all the German officers, soldiers and drivers went into the residence to clean off the blood or dirt and to celebrate with drinks. Now it was finally proven what had happened to the Polish officers.


The Burdenko Commission started excavation of the burial grounds in Katyn on January 16, 1944. The Commission dug up 925 bodies from those which had not already been examined by the Germans. There was a multitude of physical evidence on the bodies themselves. An obvious feature of the bodies was the heavy gray overcoat of the Polish officers. The question must than be asked, if the Polish officers were shot in the spring of 1940, as the Germans claim, why were they wearing coats? The only explanation for this is that they were not killed in the spring, but in a cold season, perhaps in autumn.

The hands of some Polish officers had been tied using a white braided cord. At the time, the USSR was the largest producer of hemp rope. In fact, the only kind of rope produced in the USSR in the per-war years was hemp rope. Smolenks was one of the main centers of production. Therefore, the conclusion can be drawn that this was not rope produced in the USSR, but in some other foreign country.

The most obvious forensic evidence to look for in a murder case is the bullet and the bullet case. It was determined by the investigation on the 925 bodies, that most bullets had made an exit whole in the front of the head or in the face. In 27 cases, the bullet had remained inside the head. It was determined, the kills were made with low-velocity pistols. Many bullet cases were found in the graves. These were primarily of a 7.65mm caliber, but there were also a few 6.35mm caliber and even fewer 9mm bullets. The inscription on the 7.65mm bullets were "Genshov and K", a German producer of cartridges known also as "Geko". So the bullets were produced in Germany! The question must than be asked, did the USSR make use of such weapons? Perhaps there was some export of 7.65mm cartridges to the USSR from Germany? The truth is the USSR made no use of any kind of gun with a 7.65mm caliber. The standard bullet size for Soviet pistols, including the TT, was 7.62mm. The USSR did make use of several types of guns with a 6.35mm caliber, but Germany also produced 59 types of pistols with a 6.35mm caliber. Also, USSR did not have a 9mm pistol until after the war, the Makarov pistol. Therefore, it is proven beyond a doubt that the executions were carried out with bullets produced in Germany and with guns which the Soviet Union did not posses. The only explanation is of course that these were carried out by the Germans. As for the German claim of having found bullet cases with Soviet inscriptions on them, this can only be propaganda since no producer, caliber or type of case was mentioned (on all Soviet cartridges the name of the factory of production is mentioned).

The bodies were searched for documentation of any sort. Many documents and papers were recovered. Among them, were at least 9 documents with dates from 12 November 1940 to 20 June 1941. These included 2 letters, one received and another not send out, one icon and a number of camp receipts. The existence of these papers is proof that the prisoners were still alive until at least the German invasion started.

And what about those leaves the Germans supposedly found in the graves? If these leaves had fallen into the graves, and 3 years latter (the Germans claimed the Poles were killed in 1940) they were still distinguishable to be birch leaves, than they must have been dry at the time of their fall. A fresh leaf would decompose very quickly and there would be nothing left of it. A dry leaf, especially birch leaves, can maintain their form for a long time if buried. But even they, cannot maintain their shape after 3 years. So there must be a different explanation. If the murders happened in the spring of 1940, than there would have been no dry leaves. And as is known leaves fall from the trees in the fall. Perhaps in the fall of 1941, or one and a half years before they were exhumed.


Investigation of the PKK and International Commission


Even more physical evidence about the bodies in Katyn comes from the investigators of the International Commission itself, who examined the bodies in 1943 under German supervision. Two members of the forensic team of the International Commission, Czechoslovakian Professor of forensic medicine F. Gaek and Bulgarian forensic scientist Marko Marks, were questioned on the matter. Marks was arrested in 1944 by the Bulgarian People's Government and accused of lying on his Katyn investigation. Instead, Marks told them he did not lie, but that his real report was never made public by the Germans (thus Marks was freed). According to his experience, on May 1 1943, the team was flown from Katyn to Berlin. On the way to Berlin, their plane landed in an isolated military airfield. There, the members of the commission ate dinner. They were then given a prepared report on what they saw, which they had to sign. According to Marks, the report the Germans made public was only signed by the members of the commission, but not written by them. Instead, as Marks accounts, the members wrote individual reports which the Germans did not make public. In these reports, the conclusion of the commission was that the bodies in Katyn were too well preserved to have been buried 3 years earlier. Instead the commission concluded the bodies had been killed one to one and a half year earlier, in late 1941 or early 1942.


The findings of the Polish Red Cross (PKK) were also the same. On the death certificates they made for the victims at Katyn, they specified no date of death. According to its members, who testified after the war, they could not agree on a conclusion. Most though the killings had been carried out one to one and a half years earlier and not 3 years as the Germans claimed. However, they could not wrote such a thing. Therefore it was decided to leave the time of death simply blank.

The PKK and the International Commission, as well as experts invited from other countries, examined in detail the bodies the Germans had laid out for them. The way in which these examinations were carried out was bizarre. The PKK members were present in the exhuming of the 4143 bodies they examined. The Germans had rounded up people from the neighboring villages to dig out the bodies. Once the bodies were out, the peasants were forced to search their uniforms for documents and papers of any kind. Once these were found, they were placed in individual folders with a number. The same number was placed on the body with a metal tag. The documents found in the bodies were not given to the PKK. By order from Berlin, all diaries, letters, receipts and orders were to be send to Germany immediately for translation into German. The PKK members were given only the passports and other identification papers of the prisoners. Now it becomes obvious why the investigators found no documents with dates after the spring of 1940. Any document which would have contained a date was taken to Germany for "translation", and only than made public. The PKK and other commissions were given only documents which did not contain any dates or hints of when they were killed.

The examination of the bodies themselves was even more revealing as to their time of death. According to the pathologist and forensic experts, the bodies were in a good condition. The tissue on the bodies was still attached. The skin on the hands, face and neck had turned gray, and in some cases greenish brown. There was no complete decomposition of the bodies and no putrefaction. In the bodies, muscles and tendons were still visible. Limbs were also still attached. When the bodies were carried out by the peasants, no parts of the bodies came apart. The uniforms of the bodies was still in good condition and held together well. The metallic parts of their uniforms, such as belts, buttons and nails, was still metallic and shiny in some areas. They were not rusted completely.

Bodies decompose faster in the warm seasons of the year, spring and summer. In winter bodies decompose very little and are as if in refrigeration. If the German version of the story were true, and the officers were killed in the spring of 1940, than there would have been 3 summer seasons between that time and April 1943. However, if the bodies had been killed in the autumn and winter of 1941, as the Soviet version of events goes, than there would have been only 1 summer season between that time and April 1943. In 3 summer seasons, the bodies would have been in a far more advanced stage of decomposition than the commissions found. For this reason the conclusion of both PKK and International forensic experts was that the bodies were killed one to one and a half years earlier, during the German occupation of the area. However, such a conclusion could not be made public by Germany.


The decomposition of the bodies was also the reason for the German delay in excavating the area. According to them, the location of the graves was discovered in March 1942. Excavation of the bodies started more than 1 year latter. The Germans knew that since the bodies had been buried in the autumn and winter of 1941, they were still not decomposing by March 1942. Therefore, it was necessary to wait at least one summer for the bodies to decompose, and than excavate them in the spring of 1943.


Revisionist Evidence Refuted 


The two eyewitnesses presented by the Gorbachevites are indeed lying about what really occurred. But it is not them who are to be blamed. They had no other choice. Soprunenko refused to admit that he received such an order for several months. The daughter, fearing for her and her father’s safety, said it was true that her father had seen an order from Stalin to kill the prisoners. The old man denied it, until after months of intimidation and threats was forced to tell them what they wanted to hear. But the Gorbachevite inspectors had not taken into consideration one detail. Soprunenko had already been asked the question of what happened to the Polish officers. He was asked this by the Committee that Stalin organized in the fall of 1941 to find out what happened to the Polish officers (on behalf of Sikorsky). The documentation the general-major received and send on this matter was found in the Archives of the USSR as "Top Secret" documents. The truth, what Soprunenko had said in the fall of 1941, was finally found out and shattered the lies of the revisionists. One of the first persons questioned in 1941 on what happened to the Polish officers was precisely General-Major Soprunenko. Soprunenko wrote several documents under the title "Top Secret". In these documents Soprunenko says the UNKVD "is at a loss" about what happened to the Polish officers. It did not know! He also wrote a document about the release of prisoners of German origin to Germany in a prisoner exchange program. But his reply to the Commission was that the UNKVD did not know. If the general-major had indeed been ordered by Beria to execute the Polish officers, he would have replied "on the indication of Comrade Beria, the Polish officers were shot." Remember that the documents were "Top Secret". No one would have seen them, except for people who would have send such on order themselves! Why hide an order of Stalin and Beria...from Stalin and Beria? Yet Soprunenko made no such comment. He never received or saw such an order. He placed the responsibility for the disappearance of the prisoners on himself and on the UNKVD. So the truth of what the old man knew become known in the "Top Secret" documents, and the testimony he was forced to give to the Gorbachevite inspectors was proven to be false.

The testimony of Tokarev was false as well. He knew the Gorbachev inspectors would not quit until they heard what they wanted to hear. So Tokarev, being smarter than these revisionists, told them exactly what they wanted to hear, and at the same time hinted in his testimony he was only pulling their tail. The whole story of how the executions were carried out makes absolutely no sense. Even according to the German investigation, the pistols used in executing the Poles were low-velocity pistols. Tokarev says the executioners used TT pistols. TT pistols are very high-velocity guns, with a muzzle velocity of 420m/s. It is very powerful, and at a point blank range, it would not have produced a simple entry and exit wound. At that range, it would have carried away with it half the head! To give an impression of its power, even today the only hand guns that compare to its power are magnum revolvers. Furthermore, when shooting indoors against brick or cement walls, it ricochets off the walls and hits the executioners themselves! Therefore, TT pistols are never used for executions at close range and inside buildings. TT pistols also have a caliber of 7.62mm. No such bullets were found in the Katyn graves. Of course, Tokarev was aware of this, but his questioners were not.

The most obvious aspect of Tokarev's false testimonial is his description of the execution process. Tokarev says the executions were carried out in the UNKVD building in the middle of Smolensk. How can executions of 300 prisoners per day be kept secret in a large prison in the middle of a city? It cannot. The executions, if they were 6000 per month, went on for 2 months. If the executions were to be carried out in absolute secrecy, the building had to be emptied of personnel for 2 months. All the other prisoners, the guards, the office personnel, the telephone operators, the genitors, the cooks and storekeepers of the complex had to be send home for 2 months and operations of the UNKVD had to be shut down for that period. Guards would have to be placed outside the building, indeed a long way out of the building, to keep people from coming near enough to hear the shooting. Could all this have been carried out in secret in the middle of a city? Of course not. It makes no sense, and Tokarev knew this. Furthermore, is it possible for 10 guards to execute 300-200 prisoners every day? According to Tokarev, they were executed in groups of 10-40 people. The entire process, as according to Tokarev, was to take them out of their cells, take them to an office room to be identified and to complete necessary documentation, take them to special room to be executed. Afterwards, they were loaded into trucks from the back door of the building and taken to their burial sites. This entire process would have taken a very long time, especially for a small group of 10 guards. The prisoners would have been less then cooperative. It is hard to drag 10-40 men who know that they are going to be executed. So the time elapsed in this process is even longer. If there are 10 hours of daylight in April, and Tokarev said the executions were carried out during the daylight hours, than there was a 2 minute time period for the execution of every person in order to kill 300 persons per day. This is the time if the guards take no breaks and eat nothing during this process. Furthermore, if the prisoners were killed in the UNKVD building in the middle of the city, why were there bullet cases in the graves of the Polish officers? It is simply impossible. The Burdenko Commission already showed how the Germans, who were master executioners, carried out their actions.


Nürnberg Tribunal 


During the Nuremberg Trial in 1946 of Nazi war criminals, the USSR added to the war crimes of Germany the murder of the Polish officers. The Nuremberg judges, however, decided not to accuse Germany of this crime. By the admission of the judges themselves, they had received orders from their government not to accept Soviet evidence. The west wanted the responsibility to fall on the USSR. Also, by the admission of the judges themselves, they had already read the German reports on Katyn and had accepted these as authentic (how authentic they were has already been described above.)

Nevertheless, the specific individuals who had carried out the crimes had to be identified and brought to justice. Courts were set up in all European countries for the investigation of specific crimes. Katyn was investigated by a court made up of Polish judges (remember that at the time Poland was not a socialist country.) The USSR brought forth its evidence as to who the killers were. The three cooks of the NKVD vacation house testified that on that residence there was the 537th Construction Battalion and named its commanders, Arnes, Hott and a few others. Lt. Colonel Arnes was identified and brought in front of the tribunal. According to him, he did not serve in the 537-1 Construction Battalion, but in the 537-1 Communication Battalion. Furthermore, Arnes testified that he did not become commander of the 537-1 until November 1941, and therefore did not know about the killings. The commander of Army Group " Center ", to which the 537th was attached, General E. Oberkhoyzer, testified that the 537th had arrived in the Katyn forest in September 1941, but that Arnes become its commander only in November 1941.

Without carrying out an investigation on the truthfulness of these testimonies, and without examining any orders of the command to the 537th, the Polish tribunal found the men Not Guilty. The tribunal simply accepted the testimonies of people who were the killers. Does a killer admit to his crime immediately? Indeed, nothing was proven in this trial. It was only proven that the cooks had been wrong. The German unit was not the 537 Construction but rather the 537 Communication. Therefore these men were innocent. No one thought that perhaps those three women, who were not particularly knowledgeable in identifying military units, had simply made a mistake. Indeed, it cannot be a coincidence that there was a 537 unit in Katyn with the same officers the cooks described. Furthermore, it was claimed Arnes was not the commander of that unit until November 1941. But that still does not exclude the possibility that he was in that unit, perhaps as a junior commander. Perhaps Arena, Hott and others had received special orders? Perhaps they were placed temporarily in command for this task? These are the questions the tribunal should have investigated. Instead, it simply chose to believe the words of the killers and end its investigation at that. The western imperialists and the arrogance of the Polish ruling elite, again sabotaged the quest for the truth. The pinpointing of the individuals who carried out this act is, however, less important than proving that it was the responsibility of the Nazis.


Forged Documents 


As a final chapter to the Katyn drama, the Gorbachevite "historians" announced in 1992 the discovery of three documents, undeniably proving Soviet guilt in Katyn. The first document was a request by Beria to the Political Bureau, to give the order to execute the Polish officers. The second document is the protocol of the Political Bureau for its Session No.13, where the request of Beria is noted. The third document is a letter from Shepelin to Khrushchev dated March 3 1959, informing him that all documentation on Katyn would be destroyed.


All three of these documents are false, and this article shall prove so. The letter of Beria to the Politburo is of most importance. It is also the most obvious fake. In the letter dated March 5 1940, Beria says he thinks it necessary that "the NKVD" propose to "the NKVD" to transfer the cases for 14,700 prisoners of war and 11,000 arrested people. It asks the Politburo in request I, to order "the application to them of the highest measure of punishment - execution". In request II, it asks that the sentences for the persons be carried out without their presence and without representation for them. In request III, it asks the Politburo to appoint this matter to a "troika" made up of Kabulov, Merkulov and Bashtakov. This letter is under the title "Top Secret". On the first page of the document, it is signed by Stalin, Molotov, Mikoyan, Voroshilov. The names of Kaganovich and Kalinin are added under these, where they express "after".


The mistakes and inconsistencies in this letter are many. To start, the letter is "Top Secret". Standard procedure for a "Top Secret" letter were to write on the letter the name of the person who typed it, the names of all the persons who have seen the document, the names of all persons to whom this letter is to be send, the number of copies made of this letter, the carbon paper used to make a copy of it and finally the tape of the typewriter used to make this paper. For the "Beria document", none of these exist. Without these precautions, it is not a "Top Secret" letter. The forger of this document either was not aware of the requirements of a "Top Secret" paper, or such requirements could not be forged by them. Either way, this paper immediately looses its value, and furthermore shows it is a forgery.

But the mistakes do not stop here. The signatures of the members of the Politburo go against the form. In this letter, 4 members of the Politburo have simply signed their names. By this act, they have rejected the request of Beria. You see, if the members of the Politburo agreed to send out an order or to carry out a request, it was necessary of them to sign the document, and to write next to their signatures "agreed" or "after". In order for the request to be agreed and the order to be send out, the members had to express their agreement to the request or their agreement to an order being send. If they simply signed the paper, it meant that the members had read the document, but had not agreed to it and had not sent out any orders. The forger was obviously not aware of this and has made the mistake. Even if this request is authentic, which it is not, it was not accepted by the Politburo.

On the first page of the document, along with the four signatures of Stalin, Molotov, Mikoyan and Voroshilov, the forger added the names of Kaganovich and Kalinin underneath these. What the forger was not aware of, is that both Kaganovich and Kalinin were absent from the 13th Session of the Politburo in March 1940. They could not have placed their signatures on this document.

Beria's requests contain even more proof that it is a forgery. Beria's requests that he finds it necessary for the NKVD to propose to the NKVD, makes no sense. Why would Beria find it necessary to propose to Beria? This is a mistake which the forger accidentally made. Why he made this mistake shall be discussed below.

In Beria's third request, he ask for the creation of a "troika" of three individuals mentioned by name. This entire request makes no sense. When a troika is created, its members are never mentioned by name. They are mentioned by their post. What was to happen if one of the members died or was removed from his post? Was the troika destroyed or was this person, who was no longer in position, still in the troika? It could not have been done in this way. For an example, the reader should refer to the above decision of the Special Commission of the NKVD, where its members are identified only by their post. It is not important who the individuals are. The individuals in the posts may change, but the troika still stands.


Furthermore, this document gives no indication as to who should receive or should be informed of the decision of the Politburo. The only person mentioned is L. Beria. But in a document such as this, the names of the persons to receive it are also included. Otherwise, how is Kabulov to know he is a member of the "troika"? This document is "Top Secret". It is given to him only by the Politburo. Furthermore, the persons in charge of carrying out the orders of the Politburo, in this case the people or organs to carry out the executions must also be named. Otherwise, if it is simply announced to them by a second or third party, it is no longer a "Top Secret" decision, but something for the whole world to know. This document contains no such names.

The request for execution to the Politburo is a further mistake of the forger. Such a request would never have been made. The Politburo did not have the authority to make such an order. The only body capable of issuing an order for execution was the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, specifically the Supreme Court of the USSR. Only by decision of the Supreme Court could an execution be carried out. The Court also established special "troikas", which by authority of the Court had the power to sentence to execution. In this document, Beria is asking the Politburo to create a "troika" to sentence people to death. It was impossible! Only a decision of the Supreme Court could have created such a "troika". An example of how such a process was carried out happened in 1941. The German advance was threatening to capture the prison at Orel, where important members of anti-Soviet groups were being held. It could not be allowed for them to fall into the hands of the Germans, who would use them against the USSR. Therefore, a meeting of the Supreme Court was called where it issued an order for execution, and only then were the prisoners executed. Even in the most pressing of times, 1941, the rule of Soviet law was not broken. So why was Beria asking the Politburo for such a decision?


The question must be asked, why did the forger make such mistakes? The reason for them is that the forger used an original document from Beria to the Politburo. The forger needed an original document to have a document number and to keep the same characteristic style of Beria. He did not change the first page, except for adding the names of Kaganovich and Kalinin (which the forger thought should have been there). However, the forger changed the second page, Beria's requests. So in the original document of Beria it read "...the NKVD finds it necessary to propose to the Special Commission of the NKVD..." Than it would make sense. The forger however, removed the Special Commission, since its decision was to sentence the officers to a maximum of 5 years of imprisonment. Therefore, in the original document, Beria's request was not to execute the prisoners, and thus disagree with the conclusion of the Special Commission. It was in agreement with the Special Commission. Instead of ordering an execution, the original document should have read " with the application to them of the sentence of 5-8 years of imprisonment as specified by the Special Commission of the NKVD". Also, in the original there was no request for the creation of a troika. Only then would this document make sense. It was only asking the members of the Politburo to agree to allow the NKVD to propose to the Special Commission of the NKVD the transfer of files to them and to allow the NKVD to propose to the Special Commission to carry out its investigation of individuals without their presence and without the presence of their representation. This original request of the document is supported in the fact that on March 16 1940, the Special Commission started receiving personal information on the prisoners and begun its individual sentencing. This is the exact request of Beria's original letter to the Politburo.

If the original document had read as such, than the signatures on the first page are transformed into an agreement. This is not bizarre, but if the Politburo was not asked to carry out an order or to take any action, but only to agree, than a simple signature would have sufficed. If there were no orders or actions to be carried out, than none had to be specified next to the names. So by changing the requests of Beria, the forger also changed the decision of the Politburo. Nevertheless, this document so proudly displayed by the revisionists is no doubt a fake.

The second document is the protocol of the Politburo on the request of Beria. It confirms all the requests of Beria, the execution of the prisoners and the creation of the "troika" with the members Beria mentioned. This is the letter that is taken from the logs of the Politburo and send to the persons specified in Beria's request are to receive it. However, since no such persons were indicated on the letter of Beria, to whom was this protocol send to? Furthermore, since by their simple signatures, the members of the Politburo did not agree to Beria's request, why was a protocol of the Politburo made for it? Also, it does not contain the signature of the Secretary of the Politburo. Without the signature, it means nothing. This second document is simply a continuation of the first one, an attempt of the forgers to show the Politburo agreed and send out an order. Just as the forger changed the original Beria document to suggest execution, so was changed the original protocol of the Politburo.

The third document is very poorly made and seems to have the purpose of telling all other historians not to search documents on Katyn any more, Khrushchev has destroyed them all! On this letter of Shepelin to Khrushchev, there is no number at all and there is no signature. It follows no form. Nevertheless, in this letter Shepelin tells Khrushchev that all documents on Katyn will be destroyed since they have no "historical value" to anyone. How did Shepelin think that documents on executions of thousands of foreign nationals, had no value to anyone? Among the documents Shepelin mentions, are the stock-taking documents of the prisoners of war from their camps, mentioned among them is Starobelsk camp. As we have already seen, an order was send from Beria to the commander of Starobelsk in September 1940, to destroy the stock-taking documents of the prisoners of war since criminal cases for them would be opened. How did these stock-taking documents reappear in 1959 for Shepelin to destroy? For the prisoners of war sentenced to prison by the Special Commission of the NKVD, criminal cases were opened and there existed no more documents of their prisoner of war status. Also, in this document, the protocol to execute the Poles is said to have come from the Politburo of the CPSU. Shepelin simply refers "to the protocol of the Politburo of the CPSU to execute..." The problem with this is that the CPSU did not exist until 1952. In 1940, there was no such government body! In 1940, it was called the Politburo of the AUCP(B) (All Union Communist Party - Bolshevik). Also, Shepelin cannot simply refer to such a "Top Secret" document without quoting it or without including a copy of it for Khrushchev. Otherwise, how would Khrushchev know what Shepelin was talking about. Yet all these simple mistakes are made by the forger.

All three documents are forgeries. There are only a few authentic documents recovered on Katyn (the resolution of the Special Commission, the orders to Starobelsk ext.) Any additional documents on Katyn, such as the criminal cases of the prisoners, were located in the Smolensk Archives. Unfortunately, the Smolensk Archives were captured by the Germans during WW2 and latter by the Americans. If these documents exist anymore, they are in the hands of the Americans, and will thus never be revealed. Nevertheless, it is important to show that the revisionists have no documents implicating the USSR, but instead resort to forgeries and lies.


Conclusion


What conclusion can be drawn from the evidence, counter-evidence, documents, forgeries and heaps of propaganda on Katyn? For 60 years the anti-communist forces of the world have told us Katyn was a Soviet responsibility. The Nazis proclaimed this as a crime of the Jewish communists. They used it as one of the many pretexts for placing into concentration camps and slaughtering tens of millions of Soviet citizens and Jews. The western imperialists used the Nazi pretext in the 1950s, to place on trial communists. They used it to launch a crusade against communism, to protect their empires and colonies, slaughtering more millions. The anti-communists and scoundrels ruling the USSR in the 80s and 90s used Katyn as a pretext for destroying the USSR and throwing the Soviet people into the brutal exploitation of capitalist and Mafiosi gangsters. Millions more died. Today, the modern revisionist "historians" would like to exult the Nazis of any responsibility. Today they use Katyn as yet another pretext to show how the Soviets "fabricated" the Holocaust and how they "fabricated" Auschwitz and all the other unimaginable crimes of the Nazis. Katyn has always been used as a weapon of the fascists and imperialists for justifying their murderous campaigns.
The truth on Katyn however is far from what these Nazi sympathizers and scoundrels would like us to believe. Katyn was the work of the Nazis. It is they who killed the Polish officers after capturing them from Soviet camps. The conclusion one should draw simply from the heaps of lies, propaganda and forgeries the imperialists and Nazi-sympathizers, is that Katyn is their responsibility. Otherwise, there would have been no reason for the Nazis to conduct their "international" investigation as they did and for the Gorbachevite revisionists to create fake documents. But beyond their lies and forgeries, one should look at the truth on Katyn. The truth stands that the Polish officers were sentenced to terms of prison for their various war crimes. To tell the truth, no one should feel sorry for these Polish officers. They were traitors and cowards in the face of their country and people. However, they did not deserve a German bullet in the back of their head. Only a Polish bullet would have sufficed for their crimes against the Polish people.