Russian Katyn Forest Massacre
Jaden Gonzalez
The Massacre
The Katyn forest is a wooded area near Gnezdovo, west of Smolensk. The Katyn forest was used to bury the bodies of over 400,000 Polish soldiers. September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. France and Britain, having had an alliance with Poland in case of such an attack, demanded that the Germans left immediately. On September 3rd, after they had failed to make Germany withdraw, France, Britain, and other countries in the British Empire, declared war on Germany, but offered Poland little military help. On September 17, the Soviet Union Began its own invasion of the Polish. The Polish put up little resistance as they were order not to engage with the Soviets. About 400,000 Polish officers and soldiers were captured and imprisoned in camps run by the NKVD. Of these prisoners, mostly of Ukrainian and Belarusian decent, were released in October. 43,000 soldiers that had lived in western Poland were transferred to the Germans. In return, the Soviets received about 13,000 Polish prisoners from the Germans. Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviets demanded that the Polish were executed in the Katyn forest. The bodies were buried, but were later discovered by the German Nazis in 1943. The Nazis blamed the Soviets for the deaths of so many Polish officers. The soviets, trying to look innocent, blamed the Nazis for the deaths of the Polish a year later. In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev admitted that the Soviets had murdered the Polish officers. After admitting to the massacre, the Soviet power collapsed.
Bodies found in Forest
Polish officers found dead
Katyn Forest
KATYN MASSACRE execution of Polish officers