By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the online publication of the once-secret files pertaining the 1940 massacre of roughly 22,0o0 members of the Polish elite by Soviet forces.  The files, labeled “Packet No. 1”, had previously only been available to researchers.  The move is part of a campaign by Moscow to warm relations with Poland, and is seen as another step towards Russian acknowledgment of Soviet-era atrocities.

Medvedev told reporters in Copenhagen: “I think this is our duty . . . Let everyone see what was done, who made the decisions . . . all the signatures are there.”

The April 1940 killings, which transpired largely in the Katyn forests near Smolensk, Russia, were carried out by Soviet secret police acting upon Stalin’s orders.  Those killed in the massacre included members of the Polish elite, such as officers, politicians and artists.  The men were shot in the back of the head and dumped into mass graves.  Along with the remains of the Polish prisoners of war are mingled the remains of roughly 10,000 Soviet citizens shot in the Stalinist purges of the 1930s.

The Soviets had blamed the massacre on Nazi Germany for decades before acknowledging responsibility in 1990.  Documents confirming the Soviet’s role were declassified by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1992.

Despite Russian acknowledgment that the the Soviet Union was behind the massacre, there remained lingering speculation that the massacre was, in fact, an act of the Nazis.  According to the WSJ, a poll taken in March revealed that more Russians blamed the massacre on the Germans than the Soviets.

Since historians have already had access to the files for nearly twenty years, the decision to publish the documents on the state archive website is seen largely as a symbolic gesture.

In response to the online publication of the documents, Polish ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski told the BBC: “It’s yet another symbolic step testifying to the fact that we are witnessing an obvious change in the Russian attitude and handling of the Katyn issue.”

There has been an ease in tension between Poland and Russia recently, and early this month leaders from both states marked the seventieth anniversary of the massacre together in a joint ceremony attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Former Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, was killed in a plane crash on the way to another event marking the massacre.  The way in which Russian officials handled the aftermath of the crash has been well received in Poland.

Russian state archive chief, Andrei Artyzov, said: “We on the Russian side are showing absolute openness in telling what happened in Katyn and other places with Polish prisoners of war. . . All the basic documents about these events have been published.”

The Russian state, however, still possesses confidential files regarding a Russian investigation into the massacre which began in the 1990s. Russian human rights activists have pressed the government to make these files public as well.

Atyzov also stated that Russian and Polish investigators should work jointly to research the victims to “restore truth to every last surname and to find all those who were shot and killed at Katyn and other places.”

One of the documents that will be published online is a letter addressed to Stalin and dated March 5, 1940 from the then-head of the Soviet secret police, [known as the NKVD], Lavrenty Beria. In the letter, Beria recommends the execution of the Polish prisoners of war and the concealment of their remains.  Beria described the prisoners as “steadfast, incorrigible enemies of Soviet Power” and stated that “each of them is just waiting for liberation so as to actively join the struggle against Soviet Power.”

The letter also shows Stalin’s signature in blue pencil, with the comment: “In favor.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Russia publishes Katyn massacre archives – 28 April 2010

RIA Novosti – Russia to reveal Katyn documents to end speculation – 28 April 2010

Times Online – Russia releases secret papers on Katyn massacre signed by Stalin – 28 April 2010

Wall Street Journal – Moscow Releases Katyn Documents – 28 February 2010