The Katyn massacre refers to an event that led to the execution of Polish soldiers and civilians by Nazi Germany in 1940 during the Second world war.
The massacre took place in the forest of Katyn, Poland, and is attributed to the USSR and particularly the NKVD by bourgeois historians. However, there is growing material evidence that the massacre was perpetrated by Nazi Germany. The victims were left in various mass graves and in 2012, the Polish government announced that no more excavations could take place at the sites after the badge of a purported victim at Katyn (marked on the "official" Soviet documents) was found at another massacre site in Ukraine, attributed to the Nazis and committed no earlier than 1941.
Context
Nazi Germany conquered Poland in 1939 and committed many massacres that looked very similar in nature to Katyn's in the following years; it was their modus operandi across Europe to shoot civilians from the back in front of a mass grave and leave the sites uncovered.
In 1943, while Nazi Germany was advancing on the USSR, they "discovered" the site and alerted the public. They claimed the massacre had been committed in 1940, a claim that has been repeated by bourgeois historians since then. The forest of Katyn is located in what is now the Russian Federation, very close to the border with Poland.
By 1943, the Red Army was on the offensive and driving the Nazis back to Berlin slowly; they had surrendered at Stalingrad that same year and were losing ground. In North Africa, the Allied victory would allow an invasion of Italy just a few months later. Josef Goebbels, head of propaganda for Nazi Germany, launched an extensive campaign to publicize the massacre and attribute it to the Soviets. He likely hoped to drive a wedge between the Allied forces to buy some time from an imminent defeat.
Evidence of Nazi involvement
In Goebbels' diaries dated May 1943, he mentions that German munitions were found lodged in the bodies uncovered, but he seemed unaware of German involvement.[1] In September 1943, however, he recognized German involvement.[2]
At the time in 1940, there was no reason the USSR would use German ammunition in their weapons. The Red Army used 7.62mm calibre[3] while the SS and Nazi army used the 7.92mm calibre; thus the bullets would not be compatible with typical Red Army weapons that could chamber up to 7.82mm calibre.
Historical revisionism against the Soviets
After Germany "discovered" the site in 1943 and attributed it to the Soviets, the story was picked up by bourgeois states that fed it to their war-time media. In 1990, the dying Soviet Union under Gorbachev and soon to be under Yeltsin, "admitted" that they were responsible for the massacre and, under Yeltsin (after the illegal dissolution of the Soviet Union), produced documents signed by Stalin that "proved" Soviet responsibility. Anti-communist historians claim that the NKVD, for example, moved prisoners of war from the Kozel‘sk, Starobelsk, and Ostashkov POW camps to various sites, including Katyn, to be executed. The language about execution however was added by historians Anna M. Cienciala, Natalia S. Lebedeva, and Wojciech Materski (see reference).[4] The original documents however, procured by Grover Furr who translated them himself, refer to prisoner transport and not executions in the least.
The power of attributing the massacre to the Soviets in bourgeois history lies in anti-communist arguments that equate the USSR (and thus communism) to Nazi Germany. This narrative also erases a war crime potentially committed by the Nazis -- unsurprising once one learns the extent to which Nazi officers were rehabilitated, their past erased, to be used in the United States and German governments, as well as NATO. There is one simple question to ask, what would the Soviets gain from this massacre? Only bourgeois historians, feeding on their anti-communist delusions about Stalin, would find an answer: that the Soviets wanted to keep control of Poland and thus executed subversive elements. Principled marxist-leninists that have studied the Soviet Union themselves however know these delusions to be lies, and so this massacre would be the only one the USSR had ever committed; it would be completely out of place and was far more in line with the modus operandi of Nazi Germany. That is not to say however that the USSR did not have the death penalty and did not execute Nazi collaborators during war time.
References
- ↑ “Unfortunately German munitions were found in the graves of Katyn. The question of how they got there needs clarification. It is either a case of munitions sold by us during the period of our friendly arrangement with the Soviet Russians, or of the Soviets themselves throwing these munitions into the graves. In any case it is essential that this incident be kept top secret. If it were to come to the knowledge of the enemy the whole Katyn affair would have to be dropped.”
Joseph Goebbels (1970). The Goebbels diaries, 1942-1943 (p. 354). Praeger. [LG] - ↑ “Unfortunately we have had to give up Katyn. The Bolsheviks undoubtedly will soon "find" that we shot the 12,000 Polish officers. That episode is one that is going to cause us quite a little trouble in the future. The Soviets are undoubtedly going to make it their business to discover as many mass graves as possible and then blame them on us.”
Joseph Goebbels (1970). The Goebbels diaries, 1942-1943 (p. 487). Praeger. [LG] - ↑ Jerry D. Morelock. "Red Army Riflemen , 1941-45"
- ↑ “The final death transport left Kozielsk... The last death transport left Ostashkov for Kalinin (Tver) on 19 May... lists of those to be sent out of the camps to be shot (doc. 62)... and reporting on the number sent to their death (doc. 65).”
Anna M. Cienciala, Natalia S. Lebedeva, Wojciech Materski (2007). Katyn: a crime without punishment. Yale University Press.