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

Telegram from the Department of Internal Administration from Warsaw to the government of the General Government dated April 19, 1943 Regarding the organization of a survey by the Polish Red Cross of the camps for prisoners of war for Polish officers.

Germans in Katyn. M.: ITRK. pp. 101-103; Nuremberg Trials. Collection of materials. T. I. M, 1954. S. 481-482.

[Document USSR-507,402-PS]

Urgently. Krakow.

The local propaganda department and I tried to form a delegation of representatives of the Polish Red Cross to inspect the camps of captured Polish officers in Germany. The Polish Red Cross responded to us in the following way:

“In connection with the proposal to create a delegation of representatives of the Polish Red Cross to inspect the camps of captured Polish officers in Germany, the main board of the Polish Red Cross declares its readiness to take part in this and asks the relevant authorities to grant these representatives the appropriate rights within the framework of international conventions. Therefore, we ask you to consider the following points:

1. The Information Bureau of the Polish Red Cross must again carry out such work as is provided for in the conventions.

Prohibitions and restrictions that are not in the interests of the security of the armed forces must be lifted. It is about the following:

a) the activity of the information bureau of the Polish Red Cross should again extend to all areas where prisoners of war or their relatives live, that is, to those areas whose inhabitants were conscripted into the Polish army, regardless of the current administrative borders,

(b) The information office of the Polish Red Cross should regain the right to correspond directly with prisoners of war and their relatives and vice versa.

This correspondence will be checked by an authorized Polish Red Cross. The bureau should also be given the right to send parcels in accordance with the rules existing in the camps. Finally, the right to take care of the families of prisoners of war.

2. Prisoners of war released from camps for health reasons must be allowed to return to the territory of the Government General. POWs from Schildberg must be prohibited from returning.

3. Prisoners of war from the camps may not be placed at the disposal of the civil and police authorities for the purpose of investigating and convicting them of misconduct allegedly committed before the war, they should only be subject to a military court in accordance with international conventions, and they should enjoy the legal protection provided for in the conventions, and protection from other states. Prisoners of war who have already been convicted shall be re-transmitted to prisoner-of-war camps and placed at the disposal of the appropriate military authorities. The sentences passed must be reviewed.

4. The cases of reserve officers arrested and sent to concentration camps should be checked as soon as possible, and if it turns out that they have not personally committed any offenses, they should be released immediately.

In connection with the foregoing, the General Board of the Polish Red Cross is requesting a review of the case of Mrs. Maria Bortnowska, head of the information desk of the Polish Red Cross, who was arrested six months ago and sent to Berlin.

If it is impossible to release her immediately, then the main board of the Polish Red Cross hopes that higher authorities will consider the request of the Polish Red Cross in letter No. 1474 of April 1, 1943 to the Presidium of the German Red Cross and release Ms. Bortnowska on bail of the members of the Presidium of the Polish Red Cross ".

Judging by this statement, it seems to me impossible to induce the Polish Red Cross to undertake an inspection of the camps of captured Polish officers in Germany. I request that this matter be contacted and discussed as thoroughly as possible with the head of the local propaganda headquarters, Heinrich.