Katyn May 2026

Following the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, thousands of Polish prisoners of war were held in camps in the USSR. On March 5, 1940, Joseph Stalin and other Soviet leaders signed an order to execute "nationalists and counter-revolutionaries" held in these camps.

NKVD officers shot victims individually in the back of the head, often using German-made Walther pistols to potentially deflect future blame. Discovery and the "Big Lie" Following the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939,

Despite evidence of Soviet guilt, the U.S. and UK largely avoided the issue during the war to maintain their alliance with Stalin against Hitler. Discovery and the "Big Lie" Despite evidence of

The USSR immediately blamed the Nazis for the killings, claiming the Poles were executed during the German advance in 1941. The primary site of discovery and a major memorial

The primary site of discovery and a major memorial.

For Poland, Katyn is more than a historical event; it is a symbol of national martyrdom. This trauma was tragically compounded on April 10, 2010, when a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczyński and 95 others crashed in Smolensk while they were en route to a 70th-anniversary commemoration of the massacre. 📍