Katyn Forest Massacre
Katyn Forest was home to the graves of over 4,300 Polish officers. The German army discovered these graves in March of 1943. The deceased Polish officers were Prisoners of War following the aftermath of the invasion of the Soviets and occupation of the Polish Eastern provinces between 1939-1941. Unfortunately for the Germans, the Soviets completely denied the massacre and blamed it all on the Germans. Katyn Forest is located near Smolensk in Russia. The murders that occurred in Katyn Forest are known as the Katyn Forest Massacre.
The mass execution of Polish military by the Soviets during the Second World War triggered the severance of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government. Following Germany and the Soviet Union’s completion of the Nonaggression Pact of 1939, the Soviets occupied the eastern half of Poland. As a result, many Polish officers were kept in prison camps inside the Soviet Union.
The Katyn Massacre left a deep wound in Polish-Soviet relationships during the rest of World War II and afterward. For the Polish people, Katyn became a symbol of the many victims of Stalinism.
Bibliography:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrBte0SC3Iw
http://www.britannica.com/event/Katyn-Massacre
http://www.warsawuprising.com/katyn.htm
http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1943-2/katyn-forest-massacre/
http://theneworder.org/media/83154/katyn-observers.jpg
March 21, 2016 @ 3:23 pm
Great post. For me, I learned a good deal from your description and the video, as I was previously unfamiliar with this particular event. It is easy to see how such a tragedy would have seriously negative affects on the Soviet-Polish relationship, as you stated above. The video helped me understand how serious this event was. Overall, great job.
March 21, 2016 @ 4:45 pm
When people here of genocide during World War II they almost always think about the Holocaust and the Japanese atrocities in China during the 1930s. Stalin’s extermination of the Ukrainian people through the Holodomor and his extermination of Polish prisoners are right up there with them though. Thanks for sharing about a very dark part of Russian history. The video was great too!
March 21, 2016 @ 11:16 pm
Massacres like this are devastating. I don’t see a reason for it especially with prisoners of war. It is not acceptable for this to happen and it is terrible that the Soviets blamed Poland for the massacre. It says a lot about the Russian leadership.
March 22, 2016 @ 12:03 am
Great post, I would just point out the the Germans were extremely concerned with people thinking this was an atrocity of their making, not that they didn’t have enough of their own. I have read about how Germany brought Gen. Patton’s son-in-law to the Katyn site in order to make sure the Allies did not blame the Nazi regime.
March 22, 2016 @ 1:21 am
Nice blog post. Like Nick said^ it is pretty ironic the Germans were so concerned about not taking the blame for this tragedy when you consider all the death and suffering they produced on their own (i.e. the Holocaust). Also, I figure that covering up and lying about an atrocity of this magnitude would be just about impossible in today’s world when you consider the vast degree of multimedia resources and globalization of communication that now exists.
March 22, 2016 @ 1:21 am
Vasily Blokhin, the chief executioner during the Massacre, may have been responsible for the majority of the deaths himself. During de-Stalinization Blokhin was cast out, and he later sunk into alcoholism and committed suicide.
March 22, 2016 @ 1:54 am
This was very interesting. I wonder if the Russian government has ever apologized for the act?
March 22, 2016 @ 1:47 pm
Great post, your description of the events was helpful as well as the video. It seems that for the most part the Russian atrocities of World War II get swept under the rug. Great job bringing them to light.
March 22, 2016 @ 2:29 pm
I also wrote about the Katyn Forest Massacre. It’s interesting that typically we only hear about the mass murders committed by Hitler in World War II. I think it is important to note, as you did in your post, that these atrocities were also committed by the USSR and Japan.