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Excerpt from Protocol no. 13, Decisions of the Politburo: Decision on Guarding the State Borders of the UkSSR and BSSR

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By Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik), Bolshevik Party, Bolshevik Center, Central Committee, RKP(b), Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Executive Commission of the Bolshevik Party, Executive Committee of Bolsheviks, Provincial and Regional Party Committees of the RKP(b), Communist Party of the Soviet Union, CPSU, All-Union Communist Party, VKP(b), CC and CCC of the VKP(b), Central Control Commission of the VKP(b), Republic and Territorial (Regional) Control Commissions, Conference of the Russian Communist Party, Plenium of the Central Committee VKP(b) (Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party), RK VKP(b), Congress of the Communist Party, Central Committee of the VKP(b) (All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Dzhugashvili, Iosif Vissarionovich (Stalin)

Katyn: A Crime Without Punishment

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Document 45

Excerpt from Protocol no. 13, Decisions of the Politburo: Decision on Guarding the State Borders of the UkSSR and BSSR

2 March 1940, Moscow

2 March 1940

Extract from Protocol no. 13, Decisions of the Politburo, 13 February - 17 March 1940. Natalia Lebedeva believes that the decision to shoot the officers and police was made on 28 February; the documents show that it was approved by the Politburo on 5 March; see doc. 47. For a discussion of the timing and motives of the decision, see the introduction to Part II.

Top Secret

Special folder

114. On Guarding the State Borders in the Western Oblasts of the UkSSR and BSSR

Approve the following proposals by Comrades Beria and Khrushchev:

Nikita S. Khrushchev was then 1st Secretary of Ukraine and member of the Soviet Politburo.

1. Require the Councils of People's Commissars of the UkSSR and BSSR within two months' time: a) to deport residents from an 800-meter border zone, with the exception of the towns of Peremyshl [Przemyśl], Zaleshchiki [Zaleszczyki], Lisko, Ugnuv [Uhnów], Sokal, Ustilug [Uścilug], Druia [Druja], Druskeniki [Druskienniki], and Novogrud [Nowogród Wotyński] b) the removal from the 800-meter zone of the residents of the towns, enumerated in point “a,” to be carried out on the basis of the materials [held by] the NKVDs of the UkSSR and the BSSR c) to clear the 800-meter border zone of all structures belonging to the deported residents

2. Direct the USSR NKVD to [do the following]: a) by 15 April of this year, deport to the rayons [districts] of the Kazakh SSR for a term of ten years all the families of the repressed and those who are now in prisoner-of-war camps, former officers of the Polish Army, police, prison guards, gendarmes, intelligence agents, former landowners, manufacturers, and prominent officials in the former Polish state apparatus, numbering 22,000–25,000 families.

This order led to the second wave of deportation of people resident in these border regions as well as the families of the “repressed”—i.e., of those in the NKVD prisons of western Belorussia and western Ukraine. (The first ones to be deported, on 10 February 1940, were military settlers and their families; see note 224.) Estimates of the total number of Polish citizens deported in 1940-1941 vary. For the numbers of deportees in each of the three deportations according to NKVD figures, see Lebedeva, “Deportation of the Polish Population,” pp. 29–45; Ciesielski, Materski, and Paczkowski, Represje Sowieckie, pp. 13–17.

b) arrest the most malicious members of the families subject to deportation with respect to whom the NKVD organs possess materials about their anti-Soviet work in the past or present, with subsequent preparation of their cases for examination by the OSO.

This suggests that they would be either deported to labor camps or shot.

c) deport all prostitutes who were registered with the organs of the former Polish police and now continue to work in prostitution. d) within twenty days' time, to work out and submit for approval to the USSR Council of People's Commissars a procedure for the deportation of the families specified in point “a.”

3. Establish that the real estate, trade, and industrial enterprises of the

Page 115

deported families enumerated in point 2 are subject to confiscation and that the latter have the right either to sell or to take with them to their place of deportation all the remaining property, not exceeding 100 kilograms for each family member.

4. Transfer all housing and commercial buildings standing empty after the deportation to the disposition of the local Soviet organs. The UkSSR and BSSR Councils of People's Commissars are to ensure their preservation, and that they are properly utilized, first of all, for the settlement of RKKA servicemen, party and Soviet workers, and those sent to work in the western oblasts of Ukraine and Belorussia.

5. Forbid individuals (refugees) who have arrived on the territory of the western oblasts of Ukraine and Belorussia since the start of military actions in Poland (September 1939), and who have expressed the desire to remain on the territory of the Soviet Union, to reside in the 100-kilometer border zone for a term of five years. When issuing passports, issue to this category of citizens passports with the appropriate notations.

The regulation for the removal of refugees from the border area also applied to most members of the former Polish Communist Party who had fled from the Germans. However, refugees from German Poland who had been convicted of illegally trying to enter or leave the USSR—a crime according to Soviet law—were ordered by Beria to be deported to the Sevvostlag [Northeastern labor camps, Vladivostok]; see KD1/204; KDZ1/204.

6. Instruct the USSR NKVD that refugees who have expressed the desire to leave the Soviet Union for territory now occupied by the Germans, and who have not been accepted by the German government [that] in accordance with the current agreement, [they shall] be sent within one month's time from the western oblasts of Ukraine and Belorussia to the northern districts of the Soviet Union to be utilized in logging and other operations.

A German-Soviet agreement regarding population exchanges was signed on 15 November 1939; see DVP, vol. XXII, book 2, no. 787; additional protocol, no. 788. The Gestapo set up an office in Lvivto process Polish refugee applications to return home to German Poland but rejected most Jewish applicants. Soviet authorities deported not only the Jewish refugees but also some 90,000 Jews resident in the former eastern Poland, probably those classified as “socially dangerous elements.” Thousands of others fled ahead of the German Army in summer 1941. It seems that most of the deported Jews survived.

7. Within twenty days' time, the USSR NKVD shall work out and submit for approval by the USSR Council of People's Commissars the procedure for the eviction and deportation of the refugees specified in points 5 and 6.

8. Within twenty days' time, the USSR NKVD shall submit to the USSR Council of Ministers estimates of the essential expenses involved in carrying out the proposed measures.

Copies sent to: Com. Beria; CC Ukrainian Communist Party (b); CC Belorussian Communist Party (b); Com. Khlomov Secretary of the CC CPSU(b) J. Stalin [Here, a facsimile signature, “I. V. Stalin,” embossed with a round, red seal and the legend “All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks,” with “CC” in the inner circle of the seal.]

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Document TitleExcerpt from Protocol no. 13, Decisions of the Politburo: Decision on Guarding the State Borders of the UkSSR and BSSR

AuthorRussian Communist Party (Bolshevik), Bolshevik Party, Bolshevik Center, Central Committee, RKP(b), Members of the Central Committee of the; Communist Party, Executive Commission of the Bolshevik; Party, Executive Committee of Bolsheviks, Provincial and Regional Party Committees of; the RKP(b), Communist Party of the Soviet Union,; CPSU, All-Union Communist Party, VKP(b), CC and CCC of the VKP(b), Central Control Commission of the; VKP(b), Republic and Territorial (Regional) Control; Commissions, Conference of the Russian Communist; Party, Plenium of the Central Committee VKP(b); (Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party), RK VKP(b), Congress of the Communist Party, Central Committee of the VKP(b) (All-Union; Communist Party (Bolsheviks); Dzhugashvili, Iosif Vissarionovich (Stalin)

RecipientN/A

RepositoryRGASPI

ID #f.17, op.162, d.27, ll.48-49

DescriptionN/A

Date1940 Mar 2

AOC VolumeKatyn: A Crime Without Punishment

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