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

The secret of the Zhagan forests. August 28, 1968

Warsaw, August 21 (TASS). The Main Commission for the Investigation of Hitler's Crimes in Poland has completed an investigation into the case of the former Nazi prisoner of war camps and mass graves from the Second World War, discovered near Žagan in the Zelenogursky Voivodeship of Poland.

Based on a thorough study of the materials collected during the investigation, including the testimony of 50 witnesses, it was established that in the forest near the town of Zagan (former German name Zagan) during the Second World War there were a number of prisoner of war camps with branches in Sventoszow (Neuhammer) and Konin - Zhagansky (Kanau).

These camps initially held Polish prisoners of war, then Belgian, British, French, Yugoslav, Italian and Soviet prisoners of war. In the Stalag camp No. 308, the prisoners were exclusively Soviet citizens.

According to the Polish press agency, 100,000 prisoners of war passed through each of the camps.

The investigation showed that the treatment of prisoners of war was an unheard of violation of international law. The Nazis treated Soviet prisoners of war with particular brutality: they were starved, tortured, tortured, and killed.

Near the camps, a significant number of mass and single burials were found, some of them buried prisoners of war. This was established on the basis of the testimony of witnesses and official German documents, as well as material evidence found in the graves - identification marks of soldiers and officers of prisoners of war of the armed forces of certain countries, remnants of uniforms, buttons, etc. The discovery of the graves was fraught with great difficulties, since the Nazis planted a forest on the mass graves.

The facts revealed during the investigation testify to the criminal treatment of prisoners of war by the Nazis and the unprecedented violation of international rights. The actions of the Nazis in relation to Soviet prisoners of war bore signs of genocide.

According to the PAP, on September 3, a monument to the victims of Nazi barbarism will be unveiled on the territory of the former camp in Zhagan.

Newspaper "Socialist Donbass". 1968. No. 200. August 28.