Katyn -- 1952 US Congressional findings

VI. TESTIMONY OF OBSERVERS PRESENT AT KATYN WHEN THE BODIES WERE EXHUMED

Even before the Germans made their announcement, a leading Swedish correspondent, Christer Jaederlunt, correspondent of the Stockholm Tidningen, was invited by the German Ministry of Propaganda to visit Katyn. When he learned the purpose of the visit, the Swedish journalist admitted that he felt he was being used by German propagandists to spread their anti-Soviet themes. Yet this newspaperman, after viewing the Katyn graves and making such investigation as he himself wanted, refused to even consider that

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this could have been only a propaganda show staged by the Germans.

The committee explicitly asked Jaederlunt, when he testified in Frankfurt, if he, as a neutral newspaperman, could have conceived this Katyn affair as a German "propaganda show." Jaederlunt's answer was very significant, and it characterized the attitude of all the committee's witnesses who had visited the Katyn graves. Jaederlunt said:

"We actually went there with this suspicion [that Katyn was a German 'propaganda show']. We did not trust Goebbels and thought that it would be possible he would be capable of doing such a thing. * * * But when I stood in front of the mass graves and when I realized what an atrocious crime had been perpetrated there, all my suspicions vanished and my own newspaper, at first, was not prepared to publish this report, but I insisted upon the reports being published because I said: 'The world at large must know about this matter." (See pt. V of the published hearings.)

The testimony of the Swedish journalist Jaederlunt clearly established that he would have preferred to have considered the Katyn massacre as a German atrocity. Mr. Jaederlunt concluded his testimony as follows:

"Then and now I was and I am absolutely convinced that the Russians committed it. I do not wish to say the Russians. I would rather amend it to the NKVD." (See pt. V of the published hearings.)

During the Chicago hearings, Casmir Skarzynski reported on his official visit to the Katyn graves. This witness was the deputy chairman of the Polish Red cross in German-occupied Poland. The Polish Red Cross, when the Germans first informed them about the Katyn graves, refused to accept the German statement on the basis that "this is a pure propaganda move, and the Red Cross must keep away from any propaganda."

Skarzynski was directed by Polish Red Cross officials to go to supervise the exhumation and proper reburial of these Polish officers. While at Katyn, the Polish Red Cross official was moved by the facts he personally witnessed to admit that the German Army in this instance was innocent. (See pt. III of the published hearings.)

AMERICAN ARMY OFFICERS VISIT KATYN

The most significant testimony of the independent witnesses who visited Katyn shortly after the German announcement of the graves' discovery was provided by two American army officers, Lt. Col. Donald B. Stewart and Col. John H. Van Vliet, Jr.

These officers had been captured by the Germans in north Africa and were taken to Germany as prisoners of war. These two Americans with two British officers had been compelled by German authorities to visit Katyn in May 1943. Stewart's suspicions of the German purpose was indicated by his testimony to the effect "that I was there [Katyn] under orders; that I felt the matter was a propaganda effort, and, in any event, it was a political effort. * * * I had no desire to have anything to do with a propaganda effort or a political matter." (See pt. I of the published hearings.)

Similarly, Van Vliet in his written report stated:

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"I hated the Germans. I didn't want to believe them. * * * When I became involved in the visit to Katyn I realized that the Germans would do their best to convince me that Russia was guilty. I made up my mind not to be convinced by what must be a propaganda effort

Likewise, in his oral testimony to the committee, Van Vliet stated:

"As a prisoner of war, I had a personal grudge against them [the Germans] and as an American army officer I had a professional grudge against them. * * * So the German story was one that I did not want to believe. * * *" (See pt. II of the published hearings.)

It is particularly noteworthy that both officers independently emphasized the same convincing factor, which they both stated had not been brought to their attention by the Germans but which was an independent deduction from their own observations. This was the evident fact that the clearly undisturbed corpses were clothed in winter attire which was in an excellent state of repair, showing practically no wear. The two officers also independently made these same observations about the condition of the boots of the Polish officers. In both instances the officers stated from their own personal experience as prisoners of war in a German camp that clothing could not have remained in that condition if it had been worn for a year in a prison camp.

Hence, Colonel Stewart stated:

"The decision I reached, I can never forget. My decision was that those [Polish] men were killed by the Russians while they were prisoners of the Russians * * *." (See pt. I of the published hearings.)

In similar fashion Colonel Van Vliet in his oral testimony stated:

"If those Polish officers had been alive and in prison camp until the Germans overran the Polish prison camps, and if the Germans had in fact killed these Polish officers, then by the very virtue of the fact that their clothes had been worn and their shoes had been walked in, they would show much more wear. * * *
Likewise in his written report, Van Vliet explicitly recorded his sincere conviction:

"The sum of circumstantial evidence, impressions formed at the time of looking at the graves, what I saw in peoples' faces—all force the conclusion that Russia did it." (See pt. II of the published hearings.)

SOME VICTIMS BURIED ALIVE

Zbigniew Rowinski, who testified in London, said he had been taken to Katyn by the Germans in April of 1943. Rowinski at the time was a German prisoner of war interned at Woldenberg. He said not all the victims were shot in the head:

"I suppose only those people who tried to defend themselves were bound, because I saw some bodies with the sawdust in their mouth and some of them had even their heads covered with their overcoats, then a string round the neck connected with string at the hands. So when they started to struggle to free the hands, they must have choked themselves." (See p. 692 pt. IV, of the published hearings.)

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In London the committee heard the testimony of Ferdinand Goetel, an official of the Polish Red Cross who visited the graves at Katyn. The following is an exact quotation of the conversation the Polish Red Cross group had with Lieutenant Slovencik who was in charge of receiving of members of all delegations of all nationalities who went to Katyn at the time of the exhumations:

"Another even more interesting detail of our conversation with Slovencik was that although he was inclined to describe the whole case as a most dramatic incident from the Polish point of view—he had no idea where could have come from all these bodies of Polish officers. All he knew was what the local inhabitants had told him that they had been brought in transports arriving from the direction of Smolensk. As he already had in hand photographs and, I think, even originals of some of the letters and postcards found on the bodies he asked us whether we could explain why the address of Kozielsk repeated itself so often on many of the cards. I told him in short what I knew about the camps of Kozielsk, Ostashkov, and Staroblelsk and I closely watched his reaction to this piece of news. It was most lively and convinced me beyond all doubt that Slovencik had learned about Kozlelsk only from us.

It was the only detail of our conversation of which he made a note. A moment later, after we had finished our talk, I heard him repeating the news about Kozielsk to Olenbusch and to the other Germans. * * * (See p. 845, pt. IV of the published hearings.)"

Thus, from the above-quoted testimony, it is evident that the Germans were unaware of the camp in Russia where these Polish officers had been imprisoned during the period, September 1939 through May 1940.

VII. OTHER WITNESSES

This committee heard several witnesses whose testimony will be grouped under a special heading.

Among these was a Pole who testified as an eyewitness to the massacre. His identity had to be concealed with a mask to prevent reprisals against his relatives still living in Poland. However, all the committee members are familiar with his identity.

Testifying as "John Doe" at the committee's second hearing in Washington, this witness maintained that he and two of his compatriots personally viewed the execution of 200 Poles by Russian soldiers in what he believed to be the Katyn Forest. These observations were made by the witness and his friends at the beginning of November after the trio escaped from a Russian prisoner-of-war camp at Pavilschchev Bor. (See p. 143 of pt. II.)

After relating how the trio observed the Poles being led into the forest, the witness continued:

"Two of them [Russian soldiers] seized their hands and held them in back and one of the Russian soldiers lifted his chin up [the victim's] took him by the head, opened his mouth and shoved a handful of sawdust into his mouth."

"John Doe" said most of the victims were executed with a shot through the back of their heads. Some, however, according to his testimony, were thrown into the graves alive and left to suffocate.

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"John Doe" further stated he saw the Poles' hands being bound in the back with wire prior to the execution.

This witness introduced new factors hitherto unknown to the committee: he said the executions he witnessed were in the early part of November; he said the victims' hands were bound with wire; he said their mouths were stuffed with sawdust; and he said some of the victims were left to suffocate rather than shot in the head.

These observations, up to the time that John Doe testified, had never been published in any of the material prepared by the Polish Government during its lengthy research on the Katyn massacre. Subsequently, however, they were substantiated by witnesses appearing before this committee.

Colonel Grobicki, testifying in Washington, said groups of Polish officers were evacuated from Kozielsk as early as November. In London, Mr. Rowinski, an observer at the graves taken there as a German prisoner of war in 1943, testified he observed several victims with their mouths stuffed with sawdust. In Frankfurt, Dr. Tramsen, a member of the German International Medical Commission, testified several victims had their hands bound with wire. During the same hearing, Dr. Naville, of Switzerland, and also on the same Commission, said he believed some of the victims died of suffocation instead of gunshot wounds. Several German witnesses likewise observed the victims' mouths stuffed with sawdust and hands tied with wire.

This committee heard testimony of many witnesses whose revelations were of a circumstantial nature.

But in order to get the atmosphere surrounding all the facts of the Katyn massacre, their testimony was accepted and placed in the record.

Among these was Jerzy Lewszecki who testified in London. He said he was a German prisoner of war interned at the prison camp near Lubeck. In 1943 he had occasion to discuss the Katyn massacre with Stalin's oldest son by a prior marriage who likewise was a German prisoner of war interned in the same camp.

Lewszecki said he discussed the disappearance of the Polish officers with Stalin's son, who frankly admitted that the Poles were executed by the Soviets. "Why those were the intelligentsia, the most dangerous elements to us, and they had to be eliminated," Lewszecki quoted Stalin's son as saying. (See p. 777, pt. IV.)

During our latest hearing here in Washington, this committee heard testimony from Boris Olshansky of New York, a former Soviet army officer who escaped to this country in 1946. Olshansky related conversations he had in Moscow with N. N. Burdenko, director of the Special Soviet Commission which made an investigation for the Russians in January 1944. Burdenko supervised the exhumation of 925 bodies for the Soviet investigation and in the official report stated all of the Poles were executed in the autumn of 1941.

Olshansky testified Burdenko told him the Soviet report was false. He quoted Burdenko as saying:

"I was appointed by Stalin personally to go to the Katyn place. All the corpses were 4 years old. For me, as a medical man, this problem was quite clear. Our NKVD friends made a mistake."

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Olshansky further stated he was told by Burdenko that there are more Katyns in Russia.

"Katyns existed and are existing and will be existing," Olshansky quoted Burdenko as stating in Moscow in April of 1946. "Anyone who will go and dig up things in our country, Russia, would find a lot of things that we had to straighten out the protocol given by the Germans on the Katyn massacre," the aging Burdenko further told Olshansky.

VIII. TESTIMONY OF INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION

The Germans formed an International Medical Commission, composed of the leading scientists, pathologists, and professors of criminology from 12 different countries of Europe. The committee heard testimony from 5 of these doctors who participated in the exhumation of the bodies. They were provided with the necessary instruments to perform their own individual autopsies. The five doctors are:

Dr. Edward Lucas Miloslavich (Croatia). (Part III of the published hearings.)

Dr. Helge Tramsen (Denmark). (Part V of the published hearings.)

Dr. Ferenc Orsos (Hungary). (Part V of the published hearings.)

Dr. Francois Naville (Switzerland). (Part V of the published hearings.)

Dr. Vincenzo Mario Palmieri (Italy). (Part V of the published hearings.)

All of the above-named doctors categorically and unequivocally stated to the committee that they had complete freedom of action in performing whatever scientific investigation they desired. Also, that they had complete freedom to interrogate any individual they considered appropriate.

Their unanimous conclusion was that the Poles were murdered at least 3 years ago—thus placing the time of death as the spring of 1940 when the Katyn area was under Soviet control.

Dr. Tramsen presented as an exhibit for the committee the original protocol signed by the 12 doctors in their own handwriting. He also presented a photograph of the 12 doctors signing the protocol to prove that there was no duress.

Dr. Orsos, Dr. Naville, and Dr. Tramsen definitely identified this protocol and stated that they had signed it and that they were of the same opinion today as they were when they signed this protocol on April 30, 1943.

Dr. Miloslavich gave the following testimony to the committee relative to the condition of the bodies as they were found in the mass graves:

"One body was placed on top of the other one, with their faces down. They were close together, nothing between them. All the bodies were dressed in Polish officers' uniforms, the clothing being winter clothing, underwear, and the uniforms; and coats on some. The heads were downward. One body like this, the next one like this, and the next one like this [indicating]. This was the width of the grave. Then 12 layers down, and then multiply by the length. I

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don't remember how many we found in the length. Anyway, at that time when I was examining and making my own estimations I didn't follow anybody, and no one tried to give me any advice because I knew what to do. I estimated approximately 2,870, something like that, a little less than 3,000 officers.

They were packed completely together by decaying fluids of the human body, the decomposing fluids, with started to penetrate, to imbibe, to infiltrate every dead body in there. That was a solid mass in which you just saw skulls you could recognize and that they were human beings.

"Then I went into the graves and studied which ones of them would give me the best information, what the dead body could tell us. With the help of two Russian peasants I picked a body, and slowly and gradually—it took them close to an hour—they removed the body and brought it out. I examined it very carefully to find out two main points. First, what was the cause of death. Second, how long a time was this individual buried. Third, who he was?

"In examining the body I found a gunshot wound at the boundary between the back of the neck and the head. The Germans gave the expression `nacken schuss.' That is the precise description of the shot which was fired. The majority of them had just one shot, because it entered in here [pointing with finger] and came out here at the root of the nose, which means the head was bent downward. It was administered with such precision that the medulla was completely destroyed. (See pt. III of the published hearings.)"

Both Tramsen and Naville presented to the committee numerous papers, military buttons, officers' insignia, and, in the case of Dr. Naville, a cigarette holder, which they had taken from the Polish bodies in Katyn at the time of their own individual autopsies. Both of these doctors had preserved this material since the day they left Katyn and voluntarily offered these items to the committee. (All of this material has been made part of the permanent record and may be found as exhibits in part V of the published hearings.)

Dr. Palmieri testified as follows:

"In the bodies, at least in many of the bodies, Professor Orsos observed the presence of growths (corns)—in the inside of the cranium, pseudo growths in the internal part of the skull, which are due to manifestations of reduction of the mineralization of the brain—of the cerebral tissues and of the other substances contained in the skull."

Dr. Palmieri stated when interrogated by the committee as follows:

"Question. What conclusion did you arrive at?

"Dr. PALMIERI. I came to the conclusion especially similar to Orsos' theory on the formation of cerebral growth.

"Question. Was Dr. Orsos' conclusion that the deaths occurred not later than April or May 1940?

"Dr. PALMIERI. Yes.

"Question. Do you agree?

"Dr. PALMIERI. Yes, based on the researches that Dr. Orsos had made (see part V of the published hearings)."

The five doctors heard by this committee stated emphatically that many of their observations were made independently and outside the presence or possible influence of German authorities who were supervising the exhumations.

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Before the committee held its hearings in Europe, word was received that Drs. Markov and Hajek, who are today in countries behind the iron curtain, were giving radio talks implying that they were not in full agreement with the German International Medical Commission's protocol which they had signed on April 30, 1943.

In the published hearings of this committee—particularly parts III and V—there is contained the testimony of five international doctors. Categorical statements are made by all five doctors who testified before this committee that all members of the International Medical Commission signed the protocol of their own free will and without duress. The five doctors specifically stated that both Drs. Markov and Hajek had made no objections and were in full agreement with the protocol when they signed it.

IX. RUSSIAN REPORT

While the testimony heard by this committee is conclusive in itself to establish that the Polish officers were massacred by the Soviets, nothing appears as incriminating against the Russians as their own report published in 1944 following an investigation of Katyn by an all-Soviet commission.

The committee has made a careful analysis of the Soviet report (which is exhibit 4 in part III of the published hearings). This analysis was important because when the Soviets declined this committee's invitation to participate in the investigation, they maintained that their own report conclusively established the Germans were responsible for the Katyn massacre.

It is interesting to see how the Soviet's official findings stand up under the light of facts uncovered by this committee.

At the very outset, the Soviet claim is incongruous with the facts. The Soviets quote Russian natives who allegedly saw Polish officers working on road gangs and construction projects in the Smolensk area prior to the German invasion. These witnesses are quoted to substantiate the Soviet allegation that all the officers were transferred from Kozieisk, Starobieisk, and Ostnshkov by the Russians in March and April 1940 to three camps in the Smolensk area designated only as ON1, ON2, and ON3. If the Polish officers worked on road gangs—as the Russians maintain—it is logical to ask of their boots and uniforms would have shown as little wear as Colonel Van Vliet observed when he examined their bodies in Katyn.

While conducting hearings in London, this committee was fortunate in obtaining the testimony of Mr. Joseph Mackiewicz who visited the Katyn Forest on instructions of the Polish underground in May 1943 and observed the German exhumations. Mr. Mackiewicz is an authority on the Katyn massacre having tirelessly studied all related facts for the past 9 years. Some of his observations (starting on p 867 of part IV) follow:

"The Russian communiquй claims that there were found at Katyn 11,000 bodies, but actually there were found only slightly more than 4,000. The Bolsheviks, therefore, used the figure 11,000, because even if assuming that those 4,000 that were found in Katyn had been murdered by the Germans, the question arises: What happened to the rest? Furthermore, the question of the corre-

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spondence becomes associated here. The Russians claimed that they had found correspondence on these bodies which indicated that these men had corresponded with their families in Poland up to 1941. If there were 11,111 bodies in Katyn, each one of them then most probably had some family in Poland ranging anywhere from 1 to 6 people.

"The number of potential witnesses in Poland who could have been summoned to testify that they had corresponded with any members of their family in these camps up to and including 1941 would have reached the figure, roughly, of 20,000 to 30,000. The Germans, who had, of course, capitalized on a tremendous propaganda to their own advantage, would have taken into consideration the fact that, in a country where the people were generally adversely disposed toward the Germans, the news that the Germans had lied would have certainly spread very quickly through Poland, and the Germans would have never permitted themselves to be compromised to that extent."

Mackiewicz adds further:

"The Russian Commission claims that these Poles had been brought to the rail station at Gniezdowo in the year 1940, that they were not murdered but instead placed into three camps, No. 1 ON, No. 2 ON and No. 3 ON at a distance of from 25 to 45 kilometers to the west of Smolensk, and that during the time of the German offensive they fell captive into the hands of the Germans. This, of course, is a lie, because there were no such camps in that locality. The Russian communiquй does not specify exactly where were those three camps. Naturally, if those three camps had actually existed, they could have notified Ambassador Kot, General Sikorski, General Anders, and Mr. Czapski, who had conducted a long search for these men."

The allegation made in the Russian report that the commanding officer of the three camps was unable to get transportation to evacuate the Poles from the camps while the Germans were advancing, conflicts with known facts. This committee had testimony presented in London which clearly spelled out that Russian commanders were ordered to save prisoners-of-war at all costs.

Statements taken by the committee here in Washington, from a former high Soviet official assigned to the Russian foreign office during World War II, also established that Russian prisoners of war were not to fall into enemy hands under any circumstances.

Macklewicz's comment on this point was:

"Furthermore, the Russian communiquй or report claims that the commanding officer of the Russian camp No. 1 ON was a major of the NKGB, Wietosznikow, and that when the Germans were approaching that area the commanding officer had communicated with the commanding officer of the transport forces in Smolensk, Iwannov, with a request for rail cars in order to evacuate these Polish prisoners. Since he was unsuccessful in obtaining these railroad cars, consequently these Polish prisoners fell into the hands of the Germans, but Wietoszikow himself remained with the Russian forces and did not fall into captivity of the Germans. Therefore, if Wietosznikow, who was the commanding officer of the security forces, knew about the whereabouts of these soldiers, why did not Stalin and Molotov and Vischinsky know about their presence vir-

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tually within the shadow of Moscow? And as a consequence, for 2 years they ostensibly searched to find an answer as to the whereabouts of these soldiers. Wietosznikow certainly must have reported to his superiors as to what happened to these prisoners, and when Czapski made his frequent inquiries to the NKVD, they would have immediately told him that these men fell captive to the Germans.

"Assuming that Wietosznikow could not get the rail cars from Iwannov as he had requested, he could have evacuated the soldiers from these prison camps by foot, especially when you consider that the claim is that Wietosznikow appealed to Iwannov for these cars on the 12th of July; but the official Soviet communiquй of the 23d of July 1941, claimed that the Russians were still in control and possession of Smolensk."

The Russians further claim their Polish camps were near the Gussino line and that trains could not be sent because that line already was under fire. If, in fact, these three camps were along the Gussino line, which is west of Smolensk and which leads right into Gussino, it is reasonable to ask why were these Polish prisoners removed at Guiezdovo, 45 miles away, after being evacuated from their original camps, and transported by truck the rest of the way when there are sufficient railway stops from Gniezdovo all the way to Gussino itself.

Mackiewicz testified:

"There actually were no camps in the location that the Russians claim that they had taken these men to, and I had substantiated that to any satisfaction on the basis of my conversations with inhabitants of the general area and my conversations with Kriwozercow. All of them told me that there had never been any such camps in that area. Furthermore, I would like to call your attention to one more little detail.

"The attitude in Poland and in Russia was so bitterly anti-German in 1943 that when they released the news of Katyn, that is, the Germans, in the spring of 1943, the announcement gave birth to a mess of various versions of what happened, which could have refuted the German version.

"At that time, because communications, especially radio communications, had been severely curtailed, many people had not heard the German version. As a consequence, the Russian agents, who were very actively operating in all these parts started rumors of their own version, merely to destroy and discredit the German version.

"As an example, when I was in Katyn, there were with me two Portuguese correspondents. One of these men told me that he had been taken to look at a little village, to which the Germans had taken him, and then he asked me repeatedly whether I felt certain that this was the work of the Russians. I asked him, 'Why do you ask?' He said that he had talked to a young girl in this village, who told him that those murdered men 'are really Jews who have been dressed in Polish uniforms.'

"Even such fantastic stories were circulated when if, in effect, and in actuality, there were those three camps in this area, they would have said that the Poles were in these camps and the Germans came by and captured these Poles and that they murdered

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them. Nobody at all has ever heard of any such camps in that area."

In the Russian report, witness T.E. Fatkov testifies that round-ups of the Polish war prisoners took place up until September 1941. And, he goes on to say in the Russian version that, "After September 1941, the round-ups were discontinued and no one saw Polish war prisoners any more."

Thus, Fatkov fixes the last possible date of the executions at September 1941. If this is true, and it must be true, since it is in the Russian's own report, why then were all of these Polish war prisoners found in winter garb in the Katyn Forest? Weather reports show that the temperatures during August and September of 1941 in the Smolensk area ranged between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. It is inconceivable that the Polish prisoners of war would have had scarfs tied around their necks and would be wearing overcoats if they actually were massacred in August and September of 1941.

Russian witnesses further testified that they knew that the men they say were Polish war prisoners because they wore the same Polish uniforms and their characteristic four-cornered hats. This committee has photographs of Poles who reported to General Anders from other camps in 1941 when he was forming his Polish army. None of these men reported in their original Polish uniforms since they were worn out during their 2-year captivity.

The Russians claim that Witness Kisselev, who had testified before the German Commission, had been brutally beaten to say that he actually had seen and witnessed the executions. The Germans never claimed to have an "eyewitness." Any allegations which the Russians attribute to Kisselev, therefore, are false.

The Soviet report is inconsistent with the facts in its claim there were 11,000 Poles massacred at Katyn. The Polish Red Cross has definitely and conclusively established in the minds of this committee that there were no more than 4,143 bodies exhumed at Katyn, and another 110 found but not exhumed.

The Polish Red Cross had made a thorough search of the area in order to find more graves and no additional graves or bodies could be found.

Out of some 11,000 bodies which the Russians claim that they had found in Katyn, they were able to find only nine documents which showed a date later than May of 1940.

RUSSIAN REPORT CONTRADICTORY

Furthermore, the Russian report quotes a citizen, Moskovoskaya, who claims she talked to a man named Yegorov in March of 1943. He reportedly said that in April of 1943 he had been sent into the Katyn Forest by the Germans to remove all documents which were dated subsequent to May of 1940 from the bodies of the dead soldiers. It is interesting to note that her conversation was in March of 1943 and Yegorov was describing activities in which he allegedly had participated a month later, in April of 1943.

Yegorov allegedly stated that there was some 500 Russian natives from the area in all who were ordered by the Germans to remove these records. After the task was completed, according to

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Yegorov, the 500 Russians were executed by the Germans. Nowhere in its report does the Soviet Commission claim that the graves of these 500 Russians ever were found.

Evidence before this committee already has substantially established that only 4,253 bodies were buried in Katyn. If the Russian claim that there were 11,000 Poles buried in that forest is to be accepted, why then didn't the Russians recover the additional 7,000 bodies?

It is also significant to note that while not a single Russian witness mentions a date later than September 1941 as the time of the alleged massacre by the Germans, in their final report the Soviets claim "September to December" as the period of the executions.

Henry Cassidy told this committee that the correspondents taken to Katyn by the Russians pointed out this inconsistency, and he said further:

"Thereupon, the text of the Soviet Atrocities Commission report, which was to be released simultaneously with our dispatches, was held up for a couple of days, I suppose to be rewritten, and our dispatches were released when that report was finally read, and it was then that we got our copy into the telegraph office. (See p. 214, part II, of the published hearings.)

In all the allegations in the Soviet Commission's report, not once do they make mention of the type of ammunition used. The type of ammunition, was manufactured in Germany by Genschow & Co. But testimony heard before this committee clearly proved that the German-made ammunition had been sent to Russia and the Baltic states for many years before World War II. Mr. Genschow, president of the Gustav Genschow & Co., as a witness before the committee in Frankfurt, testified as follows:

"Mr. Genschow.' * * 'The cartridges of the shells of this pistol ammunition carried, since the year 1933-34, the word "Geco" on the bottom of the shell, and underneath the "Geco" was '7.65.'

"Question. Can 7.65 ammunition of the type manufactured by this firm be used in various kinds and makes of pistols?

"Mr. Genschow. 'Yes, it could; because it was a standard type cartridge which could be used in very many different makes of pistols.'

"Question. Was it used internationally by various nations, police, or armed forces, in pistols?

"Mr. Genschow. 'Yes certainly.'

"Question. Did this firm ever export pistol ammunition of the caliber 7.65 to Eastern Europe?

"Mr. Genschow. 'Yes; that is the case."

(See part V of the published hearings.) From the foregoing testimony it is evident that both Russia and Germany had access to this type of ammunition.

Finally, this committee cannot accept the Russian claim that these Polish officers fell into German hands during the Soviet retreat because there isn't an iota of proof in the Soviet report that any Russian soldiers or officers guarding these alleged camps had fallen captive to the Germans. It is inconceivable that these 15,000 Polish officers would have waited around these three camps to be taken prisoners by the Germans while their Russian guards themselves fled the impending German onslaught. There should be no

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doubt that the moment the Russian soldiers abandoned the camps the 15,000 Poles likewise would have fled for freedom.

X. NUREMBERG

This committee reports that during the International Military Trials held in Nuremberg after World War II, evidence was heard relative to the Katyn massacre.

The committee has heard testimony from two of the attorneys who participated in the Nuremberg trials. (See pt. V of the published hearings.) In accordance with the London agreement of 1945, the Soviets were in charge of war crimes which were allegedly committed in the eastern areas, such as: U.S.S.R., Poland, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia. Hence the Katyn massacre, since it occurred in Soviet territory, was the direct responsibility of the Government of the U.S.S.R. to prosecute the individuals responsible for this crime.

The Katyn massacre appears in the Nuremberg trials as a charge against Herman Goering since he was the highest ranking German officer. The Soviet prosecutor produced three witnesses to establish the Germany guilt for the Katyn massacre. The German defense counsel produced three witnesses for the defense. These are all the witnesses the tribunal would hear. Witnesses for both the Germans and the Soviets were duly examined and cross-examined.

This committee in the course of the hearings at Frankfurt heard testimony from the three German witnesses who appeared at Nuremberg, that is, Colonel Ahrens, General Oberhaeuser, and Lieutenant Von Eichborn. (See pt. V of the published hearings.)

These three witnesses testified that they were with German Signal Regiment 537, not the Five hundred and thirty-seventh Engineer Battalion as alleged in the Russian report. (See p. 247, pt. II of the published hearings.)

SOVIETS FAIL TO PROVE CASE AT NUREMBERG

All of them arrived in the Smolensk area after September 1, 1941. In the case of Colonel Ahrens, he testified that he did not arrive in the Katyn Forest until early November 1941. He was specifically named in the Russian report as the individual who directed the mass shootings of the Polish prisoners. (See p. 247, pt. III of the published hearings.) Colonel Ahrens was again accused before the International Military Tribunal by the Soviet prosecutor and it is significant to note that he was never indicted by the tribunal nor was his indictment requested by the Soviet prosecutor. (See pt. V of the published hearings.)

This committee heard testimony from Col. Albert Bedenk who was the predecessor to Colonel Ahrens as commanding officer of Signal Regiment 537. He testified that he arrived in the Smolensk area on July 28, 1941, several days after the fighting front had moved many miles east of Smolensk on the way to Moscow. Colonel Bedenk set up the headquarters of Signal Regiment 537 in the Dneiper Castle about the middle of August 1941. He testified: "the total strength of the regiment at that time was 17 of which 5 or 6 were officers, 4 were noncommissioned, and the rest were enlisted men." (See pt. V of the published hearings.)

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The Russian report states, "The Polish prisoners of war who were in the three camps west of Smolensk employed on road building up to outbreak of war, remained there after the German invaders reached Smolensk, until September 1941." (See p. 247, pt. III of the published hearings.) Colonel Bedenk categorically denied ever seeing a Pole in the area, as did General Oberhaeuser and Colonel Ahrens. Colonel Bedenk also testified that Colonel Ahrens relieved him as commanding officer of Signal Regiment 537 on November 20, 1941, as did General Oberhaeuser. (See pt. V of the published hearings.) Thus the testimony taken before this committee under oath speaks for itself.

The Soviet prosecutor in his summation of the charges against Goering never mentioned the Katyn massacre. Testimony before this committees reveals that the Soviet prosecutor failed to prove his case against the Germans, therefore the matter was dropped by the tribunal.

XI. CONCLUSIONS

This committee unanimously finds, beyond any question of reasonable doubt, that the Soviet NKVD (Peoples' Commissariat of Internal Affairs) committed the mass murders of the Polish officers and intellectual leaders in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk, Russia.

The evidence, testimony, records, and exhibits recorded by this committee through its investigations and hearings during the last 9 months, overwhelmingly will show the people of the world that Russia is directly responsible for the Katyn massacre. Throughout our entire proceedings, there has not been a scintilla of proof or even any remote circumstantial evidence presented that could indict any other nation in this international crime.

It is an established fact that approximately 15,000 Polish prisoners were interned in three Soviet camps: Kozielsk, Starobielsk, and Ostashkov in the winter of 1939-40. With the exception of 400 prisoners, these men have not been heard from, seen, or found since the spring of 1940. Following the discovery of the graves in 1943, when the Germans occupied this territory, they claimed there were 11,000 Poles buried in Katyn. The Russians recovered the territory from the Germans in September 1943 and likewise they stated that 11,000 Poles were buried in those mass graves.

Evidence heard by this committee repeatedly points to the certainty that only those prisoners interned at Kozielsk were massacred in the Katyn Forest. Testimony of the Polish Red Cross officials definitely established that 4,143 bodies were actually exhumed from the seven mass graves. On the basis of further evidence, we are equally certain that the rest of the 15,000 Polish officers—those interned at Starobielsk and Ostashkov—were executed in a similar brutal manner. Those from Starobielsk were disposed of near Kharkov, and those from Ostashkov met a similar fate. Testimony was presented by several witnesses that the Ostashkov prisoners were placed on barges and drowned in the White Sea. Thus the committee believes that there are at least two other "Katyns" in Russia.

No one could entertain any doubt of Russia guilt for the Katyn massacre when the following evidence considered:

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1. The Russians refused to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to make a neutral investigation of the German charges in 1943.

2. The Russians failed to invite any neutral observers to participate in their own investigation in 1944, except a group of newspaper correspondents taken to Katyn who agreed "the whole show was staged" by the Soviets.

3. The Russians failed to produce sufficient evidence a Nuremberg—even guilt for Katyn by the International Military Tribunal.

4. This committee issued formal and public invitations to the Government of the U.S.S.R. to present any evidence pertaining to the Katyn massacre. The Soviets refused to participate in any phase of this committee's investigation.

5. The overwhelming testimony of prisoners formerly interned at the three camps, of medical experts who performed autopsies of the massacred bodies, and of observers taken to the scene of the crime conclusively confirms this committee's findings.

6. Polish Government leaders and military men who conferred with Stalin Molotov, and NKVD chief Beria for a year and a half attempted without success to locate the Polish prisoners before the Germans discovered Katyn. This renders further proof that the Soviets purposely misled the Poles in denying any knowledge of the whereabouts of their officers when, in fact, the Poles already were buried in the mass graves at Katyn.

7. The Soviets have demonstrated through their highly organized propaganda machinery that they fear to have the people behind the iron curtain know the truth about Katyn. This is proven by their reaction to our committee's efforts and the amount of newspaper space and radio time devoted to denouncing the work of our committee. They also republished in all newspapers behind the iron curtain the allegedly "neutral" Russian report of 1944. The world-wide campaign of slander by the Soviets against our committee is also construed as another effort to block this investigation.

8. This committee believes that one of the reasons for the staging of the recent Soviet "germ warfare" propaganda campaign was to divert attention of the people behind the iron curtain from the hearings of the committee.

9. Our committee has been petitioned to investigate mass executions and crimes against humanity committed in other countries behind the iron curtain. The committee has heard testimony which indicates there are other "Katyns." We wish to impress with all the means at our command that the investigation of the Katyn massacre barely scratches the surface of numerous crimes against humanity perpetrated by totalitarian powers. This committee believes that an international tribunal should be established to investigate willful and mass executions wherever they have been committed. The United Nations will fail in their obligation until they expose to the world that "Katynism" is a definite and diabolical totalitarian plan for world conquest.