A historical account of Katyn discoveries and the Day of Remembrance
April 13 marks the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Katyn Crime. In 1943, information emerged in Berlin about mass graves of Polish officers found at Katyn, believed to have been killed by the Soviet NKVD under a Politburo directive of the CPSU. Since 2008, April 13 has been observed in Poland as a day dedicated to remembering those victims.
But the truth behind the Katyn massacre began to crack long before the German propaganda exposed the killings. In the summer of 1941, it became clear that only a small portion of the Polish officers had enrolled in the new Polish Army formed in the East. Józef Czapski, one of the few survivors of the Starobielsk camp, was tasked with locating fellow prisoners and POWs from the other camps. His interviews extended beyond Polish POWs and Gulag inmates to include Soviet officials and NKVD operatives. Some of them hinted that the missing prisoners had been sent to distant Arctic islands. This possibility resonated with several detainees who avoided admission of their fate for years.
Months later, a conversation between General Władysław Sikorski and Stalin raised another claim. The Soviet leader allegedly told the Polish Prime Minister that thousands of Polish POWs had escaped to Manchuria. In 1942, Polish authorities sought British support in locating the missing officers. British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden blocked diplomats from becoming involved in the Polish–Russian dispute over the matter. A report prepared for the War Department by Lt. Col. Leslie Hulls stated the stark figure: 8,300 prisoners from Kozelsk, Starobielsk, and Ostashkov had vanished by 1940, and none had been heard from since then. The fate of these officers remained a mystery in the eyes of the Allies and their Polish allies.
A pivotal and shocking turn
In spring 1942, a partial unveiling of the truth came from Polish forced laborers who learned of executions from locals. The cross they placed could have pointed German investigators toward the murder site, and local testimonies played a critical role in identifying the death pits.
On April 11, 1943, the German news agency Transocean published a telegram describing the discovery of roughly 3,000 corpses near Katyn in the Kozie Góry forest. These were Polish officers captured by the Soviets in 1939. The finding launched a large German propaganda campaign aimed at fracturing the Soviet–Western alliance and undermining Polish resistance. The propaganda apparatus sought to demonstrate the futility of Polish battles alongside the Western Allies. Within weeks, Goebbels and his staff pressed the point, though their effectiveness would prove limited. In a diary entry, the Führer’s propaganda minister noted that mass graves had been found and emphasized the need for neutral verification to bolster credibility for the German narrative.
A special press conference at the German Foreign Ministry followed, revealing initial details of the excavation and naming some of the victims. Radio Berlin soon reported the discovery in explicit terms. Local witnesses and the Polish leadership provided corroboration as the German account circulated. The diary of a Polish official records the date and scale of the discovery, while the wider press in the General Government carried the narrative forward.
Polish representatives from Warsaw and Kraków joined the examination of the burial site. Their testimonies left little doubt about the massacre’s authenticity. Public opinion grew unsettled as details emerged in the ensuing days. A week later, a delegation was arranged to London to share the findings and describe the work conducted by the Germans, including how to date the executions to the spring of 1940.
The propaganda machine intensified. Goebbels argued that the Katyn affair could become a major political event with far-reaching consequences, and he stressed the dramatic impact of the imagery tied to Katyn. He attached importance to having neutral observers verify the excavation to maintain credibility, a strategy the General Government authorities supported while the Polish leadership retained a central role. By mid-April, the Polish Red Cross sent a Technical Commission to Katyn, led by Kazimierz Skarżyński, to assess the situation on the ground.
On April 19, Skarżyński filed a report confirming that Polish officers had been executed in March and April 1940. A few days later, the International Red Cross was asked to help clarify the issue. Earlier, on April 17, 1943, Poland submitted an official note to Geneva, unaware that the Germans had already requested an ICC investigation. Moscow responded sharply to the ICC proposal, while Pravda published an article accusing Polish collaborators of aiding Nazi crimes. The broader implication was that Soviet authorities used the Katyn revelations to sever diplomatic ties with the Polish government-in-exile. In parallel, the Kremlin began building alternate Polish armed formations and shaping a future power center in Poland.
In late April, Stalin sent secret messages to the leaders of the United States and Britain accusing Sikorski’s government of hostility toward the Soviet Union in league with Hitler. Diplomatic exchanges continued as Western officials urged a cautious approach to the investigation. The exchange concluded with a strong denial of Polish fault and a reaffirmation of a path toward peace between the Allies and the Soviet state. The Polish side eventually faced a hard political reality as diplomatic ties drifted apart and contested historical narratives persisted.
German researchers organized a forensic assessment to counter Soviet denials. On April 28, 1943, a team of international forensic experts arrived to examine the site, led by Dr. Ferenc Orsós from Budapest. The team jointly concluded that Polish prisoners were executed in early 1940, aligning with the initial German findings. Meanwhile, Soviet authorities pursued a competing account that blamed German forces for the crimes. This period saw a manufactured dichotomy: the Katyn narrative as a tool in international politics, with survivors and witnesses providing a human dimension to the tragedy.
The Katyn massacre was formally recognized as a national tragedy when the Polish Sejm established a Day of Remembrance on November 14, 2007. The events surrounding Katyn remain a stark reminder of how history can be shaped, contested, and used in the service of political aims. The remembrance continues to honor the victims and preserve the memory of those who endured the upheavals of this era.
Note: The information presented reflects historical records and archival materials that have been cited by researchers and historians who studied the Katyn events and the ensuing international responses.