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

Report of the Technical Commission of the Polish Red Cross to the International Committee of the Red Cross. October 12, 1943

October 12, 1943 [1]

Copy

Translation from French

Polish Red Cross, Warsaw, 12.X.43

Main board Smolny 17,V

Warsaw

№3681

International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva

In addition to our telegram of 20.IV.43, and to our letter of 3.V.43 No. 1840, we decide to transmit to the International Committee of the Red Cross the report of the technical commission of our information bureau, which was delegated to Katyn to identify the corpses found there Polish military personnel, which follows.

In the case of Katyn, the position of the Polish Red Cross was extremely uncomfortable. The Polish Red Cross was not invited to participate in the investigation of the Katyn tragedy, and any raising of the issue on its part would be an excess of its powers. At the same time, without any doubt, participation in the exhumation work in order to identify victims, inform relatives and replenish the file of losses of the Polish army belonged to the sphere of authority and duty of the PKK.

In assuming only this task and unconditionally limiting ourselves to technical cooperation, we openly refrained from any propaganda action.

The technical commission, temporarily composed of three members, began its work on April 17, 1943. The work was divided into the following types:

1) one member checked the documents found on the bodies of those killed in the working room of the headquarters of the field police, which was located 10 km from the place of the murder,

2) two members undertook the search and preservation of documents at the place of exhumation.

The work was carried out under the control of Lieutenant of the German Wehrmacht Slovenetsik, the commandant of the "active propaganda group", which was located in Smolensk, and were dependent on the orders of this officer.

On April 19, the commission tried to get in touch with Lieutenant Slovencik in order to clarify the details of the work. Due to the complete lack of means of communication, these attempts were unsuccessful.

On April 20, after waiting until 2 p.m., the head of the commission went on foot to the field police to contact Lieutenant Slovencik. However, he came back, because on the way he met a car with three more members of the PKK commission, who were traveling to Katyn.

They left Warsaw the day before at noon. During the negotiations that took place with Lieutenant Slovencik, the following matters were discussed:

1) Quartering of the members of the technical committee of the PAC;

2) Place of work;

3) Means of communication;

4) Organization of work;

5) Storage of documents;

6) Choosing a new burial place.

Given the distance of 14 km between Katyn and Smolensk and the lack of means of communication, the members of the technical commission settled in a barrack in a village near Katyn at 3? miles from the murder scene. By that time, this place was the field hospital of the organization "Todt".

Members of the technical commission stayed in this place from April 15 to May 20, 1943. After May 20 until June 7, they lodged in a rural school, not far from the Katyn railway station. Members of the technical commission ate at the officer's casino (organization "Todt"). There they were supplied as army units in the front line. It should be noted that the provision was sufficient. The search for documents and the transfer of corpses took place on the spot, in the Katyn forest, a preliminary check of the documents was carried out at the headquarters of the field police, at a distance of 6 km from the Katyn forest in the direction of Smolensk. Oberleutnant Slovencik was of the opinion that the PKK could send its own vehicle to Katyn. After clarifying that all PKK vehicles had long been confiscated, the matter of the means of communication was adjusted as follows:

a) On the way to the place of work, members of the commission received the right to stop military vehicles on the street (and drive up to them). They could do the same on the way back.

b) For a trip to the headquarters of the field police, which was 10 km away from the village, the head of the commission received a motorcycle at his disposal.

The work was distributed as follows:

a) One member of the technical commission was present at the exhumation of the corpses,

b) Two members assisted in the search and sorting of documents,

c) One member checked the current numbers of corpses, which were then sent to the place of new burials,

d) One member was present at the burial,

e) Two or three members assisted in transcribing the documents

f) Since April 28, since the arrival of the other members of the commission, the forensic doctor, with the help of a dissector, carefully examines unidentified corpses.

The work itself was carried out as follows:

a) Excavation and removal of corpses.

b) Seizure of documents.

c) Preliminary check of documents.

d) Checking unidentified corpses.

e) Burial.

Work began daily at 8 o'clock in the morning and continued until 18 o'clock with the same 1 hour lunch break.

The commission found that the exhumations were very difficult; the corpses were tightly pressed together, randomly thrown into pits; part with hands tied behind his back, part in overcoats thrown over his head and tied with a rope around his neck. The hands were tied behind and again with a neck rope. The corpses bound in this way were primarily located in a grave filled with groundwater, from which the members of the commission personally removed 46 victims, while the German military authorities, in view of the difficulties that arose, wished to abandon the exhumation and fill this grave. Only in one layer [the victims] lay face down.

During the exhumation work, the shortage of rubber gloves made itself felt, since the supply of them in sufficient quantities was not feasible due to difficult communications. The excavations themselves were carried out by the local population mobilized by the German authorities. The dug up corpses were taken out on a stretcher and stacked in rows. Then there was a search for documents in the presence of a member of the PAC commission. Two workers searched each corpse. The pockets were cut open and their contents handed over to a commission member. Documents, as well as individual found items, were placed under the current numbers in different envelopes, and the same number, stamped on the block, was tied on the outside. For the purpose of an accurate and thorough search, linen and boots were often cut. If there were no documents or individual items, monograms were cut out of linen and dresses (as they were).

Members of the commission did not have the right to view and sort documents, but were required to put the following in the envelope:

a) wallets with their full contents,

b) all freely found papers,

c) signs and souvenirs,

d) medallions, crosses, etc.,

e) shoulder straps,

f) money wallets,

g) all values.

However, they had to destroy freely found banknotes, newspapers, small money, pouches, cigarette paper, cigarette cases made of wood and tin. The German authorities gave these orders to avoid overfilling the packages.

The packages filled in this way were tied with wire or rope and, according to the numbers, were stacked on a table specially installed for this purpose. Then they were handed over to the German authorities, who forwarded them twice a day, at noon and in the evening, by motorcycle to the headquarters of the field police. If the envelope could not contain all the documents, a second one under the same number was prepared.

A preliminary check of documents and decryption was carried out in the presence of three German soldiers and a representative of the technical commission of the PKK. Envelopes were opened in their presence, and the documents were carefully cleaned with a wooden stick from traces of dirt, grease and rot. First of all, they tried to find documents from which one can undoubtedly establish the names of the dead. This purpose was served by personal signs of military personnel, identity cards, service cards, mobilization cards and vaccination certificates issued in Kozelsk. If these documents were not available, writing materials, business cards, notes, notebooks, etc. were checked. Wallets and purses with Polish money were burned, foreign money (with the exception of Russian), all coins and things made of gold were placed in envelopes.

The Technical Commission explains why the first lists were produced only in German. The German authorities announced that the lists would be submitted immediately and forwarded directly to the PAC. The Commission, therefore, did not consider itself obliged to prepare a second list, especially since at the beginning the number of its members was very small.

As soon as there were difficulties in deciphering personalities, the word “unknown” was entered under the current number, but with reference to all documents found. The German authorities sent these documents to a special chemical laboratory, where they were subjected to precise verification. If this check led to the clarification of the victim's name, that name was added to an additional list. It should be noted that some corpses were not identified either by documents or memories. They were also included in the list with the current number and the mark "unknown".

After the contents of the envelope were added to the list, the documents and individual items were placed in a new package, to which we attached an inventory and description of the contents with the same number. This activity was carried out by a German soldier. Checked, ordered and numbered envelopes were placed in a box and were at the exclusive disposal of the German authorities.

The lists printed by a German soldier on a typewriter were no longer checked by the commission, since they no longer looked into these originals. This labor activity was carried out in the presence of the first head of the commission and covered numbers from 0421 to 0794. The verification of subsequent numbers 0795-04243 took place in the presence of 1-3 members of the commission. Its implementation was identical, with the difference, however, that similar lists were prepared in Polish and were intended to be sent to the main leadership of the PAC. Identification was carried out before the arrival of the technical commission and exclusively by the Germans.

The Commission considers itself obliged to state that during the verification of documents by the German authorities, memoirs (memoirs), military orders and separate letters were extracted for the purpose of translation into German. The Commission was no longer in a position to determine whether these documents were returned in the appropriate envelopes.

Throughout the work of the technical commission in the forest near Katyn, from April 15 to June 7, 1943, a total of 4243 corpses were exhumed. Of these, 4233 were recovered from 7 graves that are close to each other and were discovered by the German authorities in March 1943. These 7 graves were completely emptied. The 8th grave is located 200 m to the south and was discovered on June 2, 1943. 10 corpses were removed from it, and then work in the then still open [pit] was postponed until September due to sanitary precautions, and the 8th grave was covered up. In the whole neighborhood, the German authorities made a truly accurate sounding of the soil. These works suggest that no other graves will be found. Judging by the size, the 8th grave could contain several hundred corpses.

The corpses of 4241 killed were buried in 6 new collective graves. The two generals are interred in two separate graves. These graves are on a hill with dry and sandy ground. The terrain on both sides of the collective burials is low-lying and humid. The sizes of the graves are not the same due to the terrain and technical difficulties that manifested themselves during the work. The ground of all the graves is completely dry. Each grave contains, depending on its depth and width, several rows of corpses, which each time are made up of layers lying one above the other. The upper layers of corpses lie at least at a depth of 1 m from the surface of the earth. Thanks to the filling of 1 m of the height of the grave mound, the total cover of the upper layer of corpses is up to 2 m. All the graves had an equal height, and their sides were covered with turf. A pine cross was placed on each collective grave 2 ? m in height, forest flowers are planted at the foot of each cross. A large turf cross adorns each collective grave. Graves in a row, after they arose, were numbered in order to maintain the current numbering of the buried corpses. The corpses lie in rows, with their heads slightly raised, facing east; arms folded across chest. Each row is covered with a layer of sand 20-30 cm thick. Depending on the directions of transport followed by the carriers of corpses, the corpses in graves I, II, III and IV were located from right to left and in graves V and VI - from left to right. The unacceptable shift in the current numbering of the corpses in grave II occurred due to the later return of the very corpses that were left by the German authorities for selective examination by professors, members of the international commission.

A listing of all the corpses buried in each grave, as well as a layout plan with all measurements of the 2160 m2 cemetery, is attached to the report.

On June 9, 1943, on the day the commission left Katyn, the last members of the technical commission of the PKK hung a large iron wreath on the largest cross of grave IV, which was proposed by one of the members of the commission. This handmade wreath, made in elementary conditions, nevertheless makes an aesthetic impression. It is painted black, in the middle is a crown of thorns made of barbed wire, surrounding a Polish eagle from an officer's cap. After the laying of the wreath, the members of the commission expressed their respect with a brief silence and prayer and said goodbye to the fallen in the name of their relatives and fatherland. Leaving the cemetery, the commission expressed its gratitude to Lieutenant Sloventsik, German officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers, as well as Russian workers for participating in the 2-month exhumation work.

The Commission determined the following:

1) The corpses removed from the graves were in a state of decomposition, so that their recognition was impossible. On the contrary, the uniforms are quite well preserved, especially metal details such as insignia, award badges, eagles, buttons, etc.

2) The victim was killed by a shot in the back of the head.

3) From the documents found, it appears that the murders were carried out between the end of March and the beginning of May 1940.

4) The work of the commission was under the constant control of the German authorities, who during the working hours assigned a sentry to each member of the commission.

5) So, all the work was carried out jointly by the members of the technical commission of the PKK and the German authorities with the help of the local population, the number of participants in which varied daily from 20 to 30 persons. In addition, fifty Bolshevik prisoners of war were employed in earthworks.

6) Working conditions were very difficult and exhausting. Along with the tragedy of the murder itself, the decaying corpses and thus the poisoned air created an atmosphere of the highest torment.

The current work was complicated both by the appearance of numerous businessmen, the constant visits of German soldiers, and by the autopsies carried out by German military doctors and members of various scientific delegations.

The commission consisted of the following members:

1. Roykevich Ludwig. Leader from 17.IV to 1.V.43.

2. Kassur Hugo. Head from 19.IV to 12.V.43.

3. Vodzinovsky Georg. Head from 12.IV to 12.VI.43.

4. Stefan Kolodzeisky. Member from 14.IV to 1.V.43.

5. Yavorovsky Gratian. Member from 19.IV to 9.VI.43.

6. Godzik Adam. Member from 19.IV to 11.VI.43.

7. Dr. Wodzinsky Marian. Member from 27.IV to 8.VI.43.

8. Buchak Ladislav. Member from 27.IV to 12.VI.43.

9. Franz Krol. Member from 27.IV to 12.VI.43.

10. Plonka Ferdinand. Member from 27.IV to 12.VI.43.

11. Gupriyak Stefan. Member from 28.IV to 7.VI.43.

12. Mikolajczyk Jan. Member from 28.IV to 10.VI.43.

The activity in Katyn was influenced by the fear of the approaching summer heat, which caused a certain work rush. It should also be borne in mind that the excavations were carried out in the occupied region and the front line. Despite the help of the competent German authorities, the technical conditions were more than difficult, and the connection of the commission with the main board of the PKK was almost completely absent. This connection was limited to single, very rare and irregular trips from Warsaw to Katyn and back, which could not meet the need. The claims of the main board on this issue were received favorably by the German authorities, but remained, however, to no avail.

Due to unsatisfactory communication, the lists of exhumed victims held by the headquarters in Warsaw did not have the character of a final document. Some were hastily compiled and written in pencil. Documents and various objects found on the corpses are still not in the hands of the main board, which so far only has a promise to receive the documents after using them for propaganda purposes.

In such relations, two issues are especially acute and require the decision of the main board of the Polish Red Cross:

1) What victims of Katyn could be considered finally identified?

2) In what way could the relevant relatives be notified?

These issues were discussed at many meetings between the PKK and the German authorities in Warsaw and Krakow. The propaganda caused by the Katyn case began with the announcement of the lists of victims through loudspeakers and the press, published in Polish. Thanks to the intervention of the Polish Red Cross, the dynamics in this regard were no longer used, however, despite our protests and the promises received, the press continued and still continues to publish the lists. The GAC is of the view that the relatives of the victims should have been notified only through the mediation of the Red Cross and in an appropriate manner, which would be consistent with the dignity and tragic nature of this communication.

On the other hand, even if the PKK had all the results of the exhumation and identification work, including documents and memoirs, it would not be able to officially and definitively testify that these officers died in Katyn. The unrecognizable condition of the corpses, the fact that in many cases two corpses contained documents that undoubtedly belonged to the same person, the minimum number of identification marks, the only impeccable evidence that was on the corpses, and finally, the pre-murder situation that the soldiers killed in Katyn, fell not on the battlefield, but during a period in which changing uniforms, changing clothes and trying to escape were on the agenda, all these primary conditions give the PKK only reason to confirm that certain documents were on these corpses. must be given to the courts

Our negotiations about this matter with the authorities of the German Red Cross are still ongoing.

In concluding this report, the GAC General Board considers itself bound to declare that the GAC, by statute and by the duty that is incumbent upon it by international conventions, has consistently maintained a purely apolitical stance.

The report contains only the facts in their full accuracy. We believe that we must emphasize this, since reports and publications of any kind appearing in the press, as well as lists of victims, could give the impression as if they came from us.

Since we have no influence on these publications, we must disclaim any GAC liability for them.

presiding

W. Lacher

Director

sub. Dr. Vl. Gorchitsky

For correct translation

(signature illegible)

Applications:

1. list of the exhumed,

2. layout plan,

3. drawing of a new cemetery,

4. 20 characteristic photographs.

7 October 43.

[1] The mistakes of the previous translators in the German version were not corrected. - Ed.