Katyn massacre

In 1943, the Germans discovered what happened in Katyn. This is an original picture from 1943: it shows exhumed bodies waiting to be examined.

The Katyn massacre is the name of a series of killings by the Soviet army during World War II. Members of the NKVD killed about 22,000 Polish prisoners of war, in a forest near Katyn, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Smolensk. Most of the prisoners killed were officers. The Katyn massacre happened in May 1940, and was ordered by Stalin himself on Beria's recommendations. Between 4,000 and 5,000 people were killed in Katyn. It took until 1990 for the Soviet Union/Russia to say it was responsible. In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev officially apologised. The Katyn massacre is one in a series of similar massacres where up to 100,000 people were killed. Between 400 and 450 prisoners survived. Using their stories, Soviet history books were rewritten after the apology.

In the 1980s, Michail Gorbachev declared that Beria and Vsevolod Merkulov had been responsible, and that the Karyn massacre was one Stalin's atrocities. Beria was accused of treason (in the 1920s, with the British), and executed, in 1953. Merkulov was also executed, in 1953, for being close to Beria.

Neither Beria nor Merklulov were ever tried for what they had done at Katyn.