Na usługach stalinowskiej propagandy: Związek Patriotów Polskich w ZSRR wobec zbrodni katyńskiej
At service of Stalin`s propaganda: the Society of Polish Patriots in USSR in the face of the Katyń crime

Summary/Abstract: At service of Stalin`s propaganda: the Society of Polish Patriots in USSR in the face of the Katyń crime established at that time in Moscow by Polish communists, joined to propaganda campaign conducted by the authorities of the USSR with an objective to prove that the authors of the Katyń crime were Germans. This false thesis was present both in press articles by activists of the SPP and in post-war reminiscences published in the period of Polish People`s Republic. Special propagandist fame was given by the SPP to popularization of a report of the Special Commission to Establishing and Investigating the Circumstances of Execution by German Fascist Invaders of War Prisoners – Polish Officers in the Katyń Forest (Burdenko`s Commission). It “agreed” that the murder was committed by Germans. The text of the report was published in the USSR, among others in Polish, in form of a brochure, and was also discussed almost in all concentrations of Polish exiles and in units of Polish Corps – on specially arranged meetings. The apogee of this propagandist action was collection of money for a tank column “Avenger of Katyń”. Only not numerous Polish exiles in the USSR were then courageous enough to oppose to offi cial lie and show the Soviets as real perpetrators of the Katyń crime.

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