What happened at Katyn?
In April 1943, in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk in the Soviet Union, occupying German troops discovered eight large graves containing the remains of thousands of the Polish Army officers and intellectual leaders who had been interned at the prisoner-of-war camp at Kozielsk.
How many died at Katyn?
22,000
Katyn massacre | |
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Date | April–May 1940 |
Attack type | Mass murder |
Deaths | 22,000 |
Victims | Poles |
What country is Katyn?
Russia
Katyn (rural locality)
Katyn Катынь | |
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Country | Russia |
Federal subject | Smolensk Oblast |
Elevation | 167 m (548 ft) |
Time zone | UTC+3 (MSK) |
What is the significance of Katyn?
For Poles, Katyn became a symbol of the many victims of Stalinism. Although a 1952 U.S. congressional inquiry concluded that the Soviet Union had been responsible for the massacre, Soviet leaders insisted for decades that the Polish officers found at Katyn had been killed by the invading Germans in 1941.
Were there any survivors of Katyn massacre?
From April to May 1940, nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and academics were murdered by the Soviets in what became known as the Katyn Massacre. Only one Polish officer survived the systematic execution of tens of thousands of prisoners taken captive by the Red Army. Maj.
How did the Katyn massacre happen?
Sometime in the spring of 1940, thousands of Polish military officers were rounded up by Soviet secret police forces, taken to the Katyn Forest outside of Smolensk, massacred, and buried in a mass grave. In 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union and pushed into the Polish territory once held by the Russians.
When did Poland defeat Russia?
Polish–Soviet War
Date | Late autumn 1918/14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921 Peace of Riga signed on 18 March 1921 |
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Location | Central and Eastern Europe |
Result | Polish victory (see Aftermath) |