Propaganda over the Graves.
The 80th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Mass Graves at Katyń
Text by Dr Bartłomiej Bydoń
Graphic design by Grzegorz Jakubczyk
© Katyń Museum, 2023.
The Katyń Massacre – 1940
On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Just over two weeks later, on 17 September, the Soviet Union launched its own invasion from the east. Acting in accordance with the secret provisions of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the two totalitarian powers joined forces to dismantle the independent Polish state.
Both occupiers systematically pursued policies aimed at destroying Poland’s social and intellectual leadership. Their objective was clear: the elimination of the Polish elite.
Hundreds of thousands of Polish military personnel, police officers, border guards, and members of other state services were taken prisoner by the Soviets. In prisoner-of-war camps and NKVD prisons, citizens of the Polish Republic—regardless of their faith, social background, or wealth—were labelled “enemies of Soviet power”.
Ultimately, nearly 22,000 Polish citizens were imprisoned in the camps at Kozelsk, Ostashkov, and Starobilsk, as well as in prisons located in territories annexed by the USSR. Following a political decision issued by the Soviet authorities on 5 March 1940, they were sentenced to death and subsequently murdered by the NKVD.
The Discovery of the Mass Graves in Katyń Forest – 1943
Eighty years ago, Nazi Germany officially announced to the world the discovery of mass graves in Katyń Forest. This was not an act motivated by a commitment to truth. Rather, it marked the beginning of a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign.
The German authorities cynically exploited the discovery in an attempt to sow division among the Allied powers and to divert international attention from their defeat at Stalingrad. At the same time, these efforts coincided with the intensification of Nazi operations aimed at implementing the systematic extermination of the Jewish population in occupied Poland.
The nature of German interest in Katyń was succinctly captured by Kazimierz Skarżyński, Secretary General of the Polish Red Cross:The aim of the Polish Red Cross was for the bodies of the Polish officers—after the difficult and complex processes of exhumation and identification—to be laid to rest as soon as possible in new graves. The German authorities, however, were concerned solely with propaganda…