The Katyn Massacre was a series of mass executions of Polish nationals carried out by NKVD, the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. Originally the term Katyn Massacre, also known as Katyn Forest Massacre, referred to the massacre at Katyn Forest, which was discovered first and was the largest execution of its type.
The massacre was prompted by NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria´s proposal to execute all captive members of the Polish Officer Corps, dated 5th March 1940, approved by the Soviet Politburo, including its leader, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin. The number of victims was 22,000. The victims were murdered in Katyn Forest in Russia, the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons and elsewhere. Of the total killed, about 8,000 were officers taken prisoners during the 1939 Soviet invasion in Poland, another 6,000 were police officers, and the rest were arrested Polish intelligentsia the Soviets deemed to be " intelligence agents, gendarmes, landowners, saboteurs, factory owners, lawyers, official and priests".
The government of Nazi Germany announced the discovery of mass graves in Katyn Forest in 1943. When the London based Polish government-in-exile asked for an investigation by the International Red Cross, Stalin immediately severed diplomatic relations with it. The Soviet Union has claimed that the victims had been murdered by the Nazis, and continued to deny responsibility until 1990, when it officially acknowledged and condemned the perpetration of the killings by NKVD,as well as the subsequent cover-up by the Soviet government.
The massacre was prompted by NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria´s proposal to execute all captive members of the Polish Officer Corps, dated 5th March 1940, approved by the Soviet Politburo, including its leader, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin. The number of victims was 22,000. The victims were murdered in Katyn Forest in Russia, the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons and elsewhere. Of the total killed, about 8,000 were officers taken prisoners during the 1939 Soviet invasion in Poland, another 6,000 were police officers, and the rest were arrested Polish intelligentsia the Soviets deemed to be " intelligence agents, gendarmes, landowners, saboteurs, factory owners, lawyers, official and priests".
The government of Nazi Germany announced the discovery of mass graves in Katyn Forest in 1943. When the London based Polish government-in-exile asked for an investigation by the International Red Cross, Stalin immediately severed diplomatic relations with it. The Soviet Union has claimed that the victims had been murdered by the Nazis, and continued to deny responsibility until 1990, when it officially acknowledged and condemned the perpetration of the killings by NKVD,as well as the subsequent cover-up by the Soviet government.
This is the Katyn-Kharkiv-Mednoye memorial in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains.