Katyn

The Katyn massacre stands as one of the most chilling and consequential atrocities of the 20th century. What began as a secret execution of the Polish elite by the Soviet Union evolved into a decades-long saga of propaganda, denial, and a search for historical justice. The Execution: Spring 1940

The Soviet Union officially acknowledged that the NKVD had carried out the executions. The Katyn massacre stands as one of the

The USSR immediately blamed the Nazis for the killings, claiming the Poles were executed during the German advance in 1941. The USSR immediately blamed the Nazis for the

Locations of other mass burial sites discovered later. Following the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939,

Home to the Katyń Museum , which preserves the memory of those lost.

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.