КАТЫНСКИЙ ВОПРОС НА НЮРНБЕРГСКОМ ПРОЦЕССЕ

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КАТЫНСКИЙ ВОПРОС НА НЮРНБЕРГСКОМ ПРОЦЕССЕ

Journal Title: Przegląd Wschodni - Year 2014, Vol 13, Issue 50

Abstract

In accordance with the decision of the Soviet Politburo on 5 March 1940, 21,857 Polish officers, police officers and other prisoners were murdered in Katyń; shot in the back of the head. On 13 April 1943, Radio Berlin informed the world of 10,000 Polish officers buried in Katyń Forest. On 15 April 1943, the Soviets responded by blaming the Nazis. During the period from September to December 1943, the NKVD was once more operating in the area of Katyń. The notes of Interior Affairs Commissar W. Merkulov and his subordinate, B. Kruglov, were the basis of the “Burdenko Commission’s” report. The Soviet authorities planned to support their version of the Katyń Massacre with the findings of the International Military Tribunal (IMT). In the event the prosecutors, as well as judges from the USA, Great Britain and France, did not agree with the Soviet opinion. On 14 February, the assistant prosecutor of the USSR, J. Pokrovsky, entered the findings of the Budrenko Commission into evidence in the form of an official report, which, in accordance with a resolution of the IMT, did not require supporting evidence. On 3 March, Göring’s defence attorney, O. Stahmer, attempted to put the German officers named in the Budrenko Report before the court, in order to prove their innocence. On 12 March 1946, the IMT accepted this justification and the charges, paying no heed to the objections of I. Nikichenko, a member of the IMT. On orders of the Government Commission, the head Soviet prosecutor, R. Rudenko, protested the decision and on 6 May, the IMT reviewed and upheld its decision. The prosecuting committee only supported Rudenko in his attempt to get the court to agree to hear witnesses in the case. Around 11 June, the National Commission approved 5 witnesses that gave evidence to the Budrenko Commission, including a pathologist belonging to the Budrenko Commission W. Prozorovsky, a Bulgarian, M. Markova and a German prisoner of war, L. Schneider. Nonetheless, the IMT decided to hear only 3 witnesses each from the prosecution and defence. Judging by the statements of the members of the IMT, they did not believe either side. During the debate over the layout of the charges by the judges and their assistants, the question of the Katyń Massacre was never even raised. In the ruling of the IMT and the opinion of Nikichenko, the Katyń Massacre did not even exist. The establishment of the truth concerning the Katyń Massacre by the Stalinist regime has key significance in mutual understanding and reconciliation between Poles and Russians.

Authors and Affiliations

Natalia Lebedewa

Keywords

Katyń Proces Norymberski

Raj zbudowany na ziemi, czyli koniec utopii i początek antyutopii. Totalitarny paradoks w antyutopii rosyjskiej (Jewgenij Zamiatin, Władymir Wojnowicz, Władymir Sorokin)

The subject of this article is Russian 20th century literature. The author focusses on three authors belonging to different generations: Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), Vladimir Voinovich (1932) Vladimir Sorokin (1955). Th...

EP ID EP332496
DOI -
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