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Decree by President Gorbachev, in Connection with the Visit of Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Krzysztof Skubiszewski, on Speeding Up the Investigation of the Fate of the Polish Officers Held in...

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By Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich

Katyn: A Crime Without Punishment

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Document 118

3 November 1990, Moscow

Secret Decree of the President of the Union of Soviet Republics on the Results

of the Visit to the Soviet Union of the Minister of Foreign Affairs

of the Polish Republic, K. Skubiszewski.

Krzysztof Skubiszewski (b. 1926), professor of International Law at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, was foreign minister in the first, predominantly noncommunist Polish government formed by the prominent Solidarity leader Tadeusz Mazowiecki in September 1989.

… 8. [I recommend] that the Prosecutor's Office of the USSR speed up the investigation into the fate of the Polish officers held in the Kozelsk, Ostashkov, and Starobelsk camps. [The Prosecutor's Office] should, jointly

Page 346

with the Committee of State Security of the USSR and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, secure the search for and utilization of archival materials connected with the repressions regarding the Polish population on the territory of the USSR in 1939 and present the appropriate conclusions.

The dates should be 1939–1941. The search for documents by various government agencies had been ineffective thus far, mainly owing to obstruction by Kriuchkov, head of the KGB.

9. [I recommend] that the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Prosecutor's Office of the USSR, the Ministry of Defense, and the Committee of State Security, together with other departments and organizations, conduct investigative work by 1 April 1991 to reveal archival materials relating to the events and facts in the history of bilateral Soviet-Polish relations, which resulted in losses to the Soviet side.

Gorbachev might have had in mind Soviet counterclaims to possible Polish claims for compensation. Some Polish historians believe that his instruction encouraged Russian historians to find Polish “crimes” to balance Katyn. Whatever the case may be, a series of articles and a book were published in 1994 claiming that tens of thousands in the Soviet military, taken prisoner in 1920, had suffered a “Polish Katyn.” Despite Polish rebuttals, this charge has continued to be made occasionally in Soviet media, including other publications, ever since.

In absolutely necessary cases, utilize the material obtained in negotiations with the Polish side on the issue of “blank spots.”

See doc. 113.

The President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics M. Gorbachev Moscow, The Kremlin 3 November 1990 Distributed to: Coms. Gorbachev, Ryzhkov, Kriuchkov, Masliukov, Medvedev, Shevardnadze, Yazov, Sitarianov, Silaev, Kebich, Karamanov, Gubenko, Katushev, V. Pavlov, Yagodin, Marchuk, Geraschchenko, Moskovsky, Shkabardnia

Typewritten at the bottom of page 1: “To be returned to the Presidential Council of the USSR (limit—10 days). No. RP-979.” Handwritten at the bottom of page 1: “PS-980 not for distribution.” Handwritten at the bottom of the last page: “Results [?] p. 3.—see PS-952, 7 February 1991.”

To be returned

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Document TitleDecree by President Gorbachev, in Connection with the Visit of Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Krzysztof Skubiszewski, on Speeding Up the Investigation of the Fate of the Polish Officers Held in the Three Special Camps (Excerpt)

AuthorGorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich

RecipientN/A

RepositoryN/A

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DescriptionN/A

Date1990 Nov 3

AOC VolumeKatyn: A Crime Without Punishment

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