The 1943 International Katyn Commission was the first formal investigation attributing Soviet responsibility for the massacre of ~22,000 Polish nationals, deepening Allied fractures.
Key Facts
- Polish victims
- ~22,000 Polish nationals killed
- Commission formed
- April 1943, at Germany's request
- Participating countries
- 11 European countries represented
- Commission finding
- Soviet Union held responsible
- Soviet response
- Denied responsibility; blamed Germany via counter-commission
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In 1940, Soviet forces executed approximately 22,000 Polish officers, intelligentsia, and other nationals during the occupation of eastern Poland. Their mass graves in the Katyn forest near Smolensk were discovered by German forces following Operation Barbarossa, prompting Germany to request an international investigation in April 1943.
An international commission of anatomy and forensic pathology experts drawn from 11 European countries, mostly Nazi-allied or occupied states, examined the mass graves at Katyn. The Commission concluded that the Soviet Union was responsible for the killings, based on forensic and documentary evidence gathered at the site.
Germany exploited the findings for propaganda aimed at dividing the Allied coalition. The Polish government-in-exile's support for the inquiry led the Soviet Union to sever diplomatic relations with it. The Soviets established their own Extraordinary State Commission tasked with falsifying evidence to shift blame onto Germany, a deception that persisted officially for decades.