Germans in Katyn

Germans in Katyn. Documents on the execution of Polish prisoners of war in the autumn of 1941.
Compiled by: R. I., Kosolapov, V. E. Pershin, S. Yu. Rychenkov, V. A. Sakharov

Responsible for the issue: S. A. Lozhkin.

Moscow: ITRK Publishing House, 2010 - 280 p. ISBN 978-5-88010-266-2

Communiqué of the Minister of Defense of Poland M. Kukel in connection with the German statement about the discovery of mass graves of Polish officers in Katyn. April 6, 1943

source: Germans in Katyn. M.: ITRK. pp. 29-32

On September 17, 1940, the official organ of the Red Army, Krasnaya Zvezda, stated that during the fighting that took place after September 17, 1939, 181,000 Polish prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet side. Of these, 10,000 were regular and reserve officers.

According to the information that the Polish government has, in the USSR in November 1939 three camps of Polish prisoners of war were formed: 1) in Kozelsk, east of Smolensk, 2) in Starobelsk, near Kharkov, and 3) in Ostashkov, near Kalinin, where units were concentrated military police.

At the beginning of 1940, the administration of all three camps informed the prisoners that the camps were going to be disbanded, that the prisoners of war would be allowed to return to their families, and that, allegedly for this purpose, lists of places where individual prisoners of war could return after liberation were compiled.

At that time, the camps contained: 1) in Kozelsk - about 5,000, of which 4,500 were officers; 2) in Starobelsk - about 3970, including 100 civilians, the rest were officers, and some of the military medical service; 3) in Ostashkov - about 6570, of which 380 people were officers.

On April 5, 1940, the disbandment of the camps began, and groups of people from 60 to 300 people moved out of them every few days until mid-May. From Kozelsk they were sent in the direction of Smolensk. And only 400 people from all three camps were transferred in June 1940 to Gryazovets, in the Vologda region.

When, after the conclusion of the Polish-Soviet treaty on July 30, 1941 and the signing of the military agreement on August 14 of the same year, the Polish government began to form the Polish army in the USSR, it was expected that prisoners of war from the camps mentioned above would form junior and senior officer cadres in the emerging army. At the end of August 1941, a group of Polish officers from Gryazovets arrived in Buzuluk to join the Polish units; however, not a single officer from those deported in other directions from Kozelsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkov appeared. Altogether, therefore, about 8,000 officers disappeared, not counting the other 7,000 policemen, soldiers and civilians who were in these camps when they were disbanded.

Ambassador Kot and General Anders, concerned about this state of affairs, turned to the competent Soviet authorities with a request to find out and report on the fate of the Polish officers from the above-mentioned camps.

In a conversation with Mr. Vyshinsky, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Kot on October 6, 1941, asked what happened to the missing officers. Mr. Vyshinsky replied that all the prisoners of war had been released from the camps and, therefore, were free at the present time.

In October and November, in conversations with Premier Stalin, Messrs. Molotov and Vyshinsky, the Ambassador from time to time returned to the question of prisoners of war and insisted on providing him with lists [of prisoners of war], which were kept by the Soviet government carefully and in detail.

On December 3, 1941, during his visit to Moscow, Prime Minister Sikorsky, in a conversation with Prime Minister Stalin, also emphasized the need to release all Polish prisoners of war, and, not having received lists with them from the Soviet authorities, handed over to Prime Minister Stalin a preliminary list of 3845 officers, who managed to make up the prisoners of war who were kept with them. Premier Stalin assured General Sikorsky that the amnesty decree was comprehensive, that it applied to both military and civilians, and that the Soviet government released all Polish officers. On March 18, 1942, General Anders presented Prime Minister Stalin with an additional list of 800 officers. However, none of the mentioned officers returned to the Polish army.

In addition to mediation negotiations in Moscow and Kuibyshev, the fate of the Polish prisoners of war was the subject of several discussions between Minister Rachinsky and Ambassador Bogomolov. On January 28, 1942, Minister Rachinsky, on behalf of the Polish government, presented a note to the Soviet Ambassador Bogomolov, drawing his attention to the painful fact that thousands of Polish officers had not yet been found.

Ambassador Bogomolov informed Minister Rachinsky on March 13, 1943[1942] that, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 12, 1941, and in accordance with official statements of November 8 and 19, 1941, the amnesty was fully implemented and that it extended to both civilians and military personnel.

On May 19, 1942, Ambassador Kot sent a memorandum to the NKID expressing his regret at the refusal to provide him with lists of prisoners of war, as well as his concern for their fate, emphasizing the great value that these officers would have in military operations against Germany.

Neither the Polish government nor the Polish consulate in Kuibyshev ever received an answer about the approximate whereabouts of the missing officers and other prisoners who were deported from the three camps mentioned above.

We are accustomed to the lies of German propaganda and we understand the purpose of its latest revelations. However, in view of the abundant and detailed German information regarding the discovery of the bodies of many thousands of Polish officers near Smolensk and the categorical assertion that they were killed by the Soviet authorities in the spring of 1940, it became necessary to investigate the discovered mass graves by a competent international body, such as the International Red Cross. Thus, the Polish government approached the Red Cross to send a delegation to where Polish prisoners of war are believed to have been executed.

Katyn. March 1940 - September 2000 Execution. The fate of the living Echo of Katyn. The documents. M., 2001. S.450-452.