Russia / Poland / Katyn Massacre

Secret Documents on Katyn Massacre Published Online
By Andrey Volkov & Juliana Kim
The Epoch Times, April 28, 2010
"The electronic copies of secret Katyn documents were published Wednesday on the Russian Federal archive website, revealing details on the 1940 massacre of Polish officers by the Soviets. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the publishing of the documents, as he promised Poland following the tragic plane crash in Russia on April 10, which killed the Polish first couple and 94 others. During the incident, 20,000 Polish officers and members of the intelligentsia were murdered on Soviet territory by the People's Commissariat Internal Affairs (NKVD) with Stalin's approval.
In 1943 the Germans discovered the mass graves near the camps, as well as prisons in Katyn Forest, which have now become a memorial site. Stalin accused the Nazi regime of the crime. This propaganda has still circulated in Russia since the regime fell in 1991. The secret documents contained in 'Special File No. 1,' were originally kept in the archives of the Soviet Union's Communist Party and were only available to a select few. The archives were later handed over to the political and social department of the Russian federal archive, where Stalin's main documents are kept. Among the seven secret documents -- which include the signatures of Stalin and other officials from the top political bureau -- there is a reporting notice written by People’s Commissary of USSR Lavrentiy Beriya to Stalin suggesting that they shoot the jailed Polish prisoners. [...]"