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.
[As stated earlier, we know today that about 10,000 other Polish officers, policemen, and civic leaders were also murdered in the “Katyn” atrocity. Those from southeastern Poland are buried at Bykovnia near Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and many or all of their names are known. Those from the northeast were presumably executed in present-day Belarus, but their names and whereabouts as still a mystery. The information about drownings in the White Sea may relate to the deaths of Gulag prisoners, many of whom labored in that desolate part of Russia.]
No one could entertain any doubt of Russia guilt for the Katyn massacre when the following evidence considered:
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 at 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, [Foreign Minister Vyacheslav] 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.