The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau, 1939-1945 - part 12

September 28, 2015

Carolyn reads chapter 21, "Katyn" and chapter 22, "Vinnitsa."

The mass graves discovered in the Katyn Forest in 1943 are the most widely publicized of the political murders and war crimes committed by the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1945, but are just one of innumerable examples from the bloodthirsty regime of Josef Stalin. In the town of Vinnitsa, 10,000 bodies were exhumed from three major burial sites, but more remained in the ground. 1h7m.  Some highlights:

• At Nuremberg, the Soviet prosecutors tried to indict the Germans for the killing of thousands of Polish officerrs at Katyn, but had to abandon the effort due to the obvious falsity of their case:

• Details of the U.S. Congressional investigation, which also found the Soviets responsible;
• Other research, investigations and books exculpated the Germans for the killing of 22,000 Polish military and police officers;
• In Vinnitsa, the murders of political prisoners held in the NKVD prisons began in 1937-38; rumours of what some had seen taking place were mentioned only in whispers;
• In 1943, Germans dug up mass graves in three separate locations in Vinnitsa, but had to end the digging when the Soviets reoccupied the area in 1944;
• International medical committees were formed for both Katyn and Vinnitsa, and found unanimously that the vast murdering took place when the Germans were NOT there, but the Soviets were in control.

Above: One of the mass graves found at Katyn, Even today the establishment tries not to credit the Wehrmacht for discovering and publicizing this horrendous crime against the Poles. Enlarge

Right: close up of tied hands of Polish officer. Enlarge

Below: International expert investigators studying exhumed victims laid out at one site of the Vinnitsa massacre. Enlarge