The Katyn massacre was a series of secret mass executions of the Polish officers taken prisoner during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland and arrested intelligentsia: teachers, lawyers, doctors, officials or priests. The massacre was prompted by NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all captive members of the Polish Officer Corps, dated 5 March 1940, approved by the Soviet Politburo and its leader, Joseph Stalin. The shootings were carried out from 3 April to 16 May 1940. The victims were murdered in the Katyn Forest, Mednoye, Kharkiv, and other, unknown places. The number of victims is estimated at about 22,000. The Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Katyn Murder is celebrated on 13 April, marking the anniversary of the discovery of mass graves in Katyn.
Photo from 1943 exhumation of mass grave of polish officers killed by NKVD in Katyń Forest in 1940. Photo: unknown, probably Polish Red Cross delegation / Wikimedia / Public domain
Katyń massacre
Photo from 1943 exhumation of mass grave of polish officers killed by NKVD in Katyń Forest in 1940. Photo: unknown, probably Polish Red Cross delegation / Wikimedia / Public domain