Anti-Katyn

Exhumation of victims of theKatyn Massacre,1943

Soviet prisoners of war held nearRadzymin

Anti-Katyn(Polish:Anty-Katyń,Russian:Анти-Катынь) is adenialismcampaignintended to reduce and obscure the significance of theKatyn massacreof 1940 — where approximately 22,000Polishofficers were murdered by theSovietNKVDon the orders ofJoseph Stalin— by referencing the deaths from disease of thousands ofImperial RussianandRed Armysoldiers atPolish internment campsduring theInterwar period.

"Anti-Katyn" first emerged around 1990. After the Soviet government admitted that it had previously tried to cover up its responsibility for the massacre by claiming that it was perpetrated by theGerman Wehrmacht,previously neglected research into the fate of Soviet POWs in Poland in 1920s was revived to be used as a "tit-for-tat" argument in the discussions of Katyn.

Polish historianAndrzej Nowaksummarized "Anti-Katyn" as an attempt by certain Russian historians and publicists to "overshadow the memory of thecrimes of the Soviet systemagainst the Poles, creating imaginary analogies or even justification "because of the earlier deaths of the prisoners of war.

Background

Main article:Katyn massacre

In 1987, on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of theWarsaw Pactin the midst ofperestroika,Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachyovand Polish leaderWojciech Jaruzelskisigned a declaration about cooperation in the issues of ideology, on the base of which a Poland–Soviet commission on the history of Polish Soviet relations (ru:Советско-польская комиссия по изучению истории двух стран).

One of the most "difficult issues" was theWorld War IImassacre of approximately 22,000 Polish citizens, who were executed and buried in mass graves in several places includingKatyn,Smolensk Oblast,less than a year after the coordinated Nazi-German andSoviet invasion of Poland.In 1943, by which time Smolensk had become German-occupied Soviet territory, the Katyn mass graves were discovered by German telephone and communication workers.The Soviet Union officially denied responsibility; aSoviet commissionblamed the deaths on Nazi Germany during theNuremberg Trials.

Under subsequent communist regimes in Poland and the Soviet Union, the Katyn massacre was not subject to further investigation for decades even as a potential war crime committed by the Germans.Georgy Smirnov,head of the archivalInstitute of Marxism-Leninism,was tasked with leading a full investigation. In 1990, the Soviet Union officially admitted that theNKVDcommitted the massacre on the orders ofJosef Stalinfollowing a recommendation byLavrenty Beria.Gorbachev condemned it as another example ofStalinism.

"Anti-Katyn"

After the official admission of the fact that the Soviet government was responsible for the massacre, some Russian historians and journalists responded by alleging mass executions of Soviets in post-World War I Polish internment camps. The early Soviet deaths became the subject of, according to the Polish government, "various propagandist campaigns" purporting that the massacre of the Poles was "justified" in the eyes of Stalin.

ProfessorAleksandr Guryanov,of theMemorial Society,namedMikhail Gorbachevas one of the instigators of "anti-Katyn" when Gorbachev demanded an investigation into the deaths of the Soviet citizens in Polish custody and other damages to the Soviet Union from the side of Poland, with results to be used in talks with Poland about "blind spots" in history.

In 2011, Russian historianInessa Yazhborovskayawrote:

The fear of clarifying the circumstances of the Katyn case, in particular the issues of responsibility for the party and state leadership, created a new problem, the so-called "anti-Katyn" – finding ways of glossing over the truth and avoiding admission of guilt on the Soviet side concerning the criminal, secret mass murder of Polish prisoners of war, by finding "balance" and presenting a "counterclaim."

— "The Katyn Affair: On the Way to the Truth" (Questions of History,May 2011)

In 2004, a joint Polish-Russian research team estimated that approximately 60,000 to 80,000 Russian and Soviet army members were held in Poland from 1919 to 1924. An estimated 16,000 to 20,000 died because of disease, mainlytyphus,choleraanddysentery.

Others have countered that the "anti-Katyn" arguments concerning the deaths of the Soviet POWs are irrelevant to the discussion of Katyn. HistorianNikita Petrovof Russia's "Memorial"society said," This is about that simple Russian 'correct' way of perceiving and absorbing the Katyn crime. This message should be: 'Stalin was, of course, bad. But he was no exception. He killed the Poles, but the Poles also killed us...' "

The subject was discussed during the 2011Capitol Hillconference "Katyn: Unfinished Inquiry".John Lenczowski,president of theInstitute of World Politics,noted that Soviet POWs were invaders and while suffering harsh treatment in the camps, they mostly died of communicable diseases, while the victims of Katyn were deliberately shot and murdered.

In the 2010 documentaryWhat Can Dead Prisoners Do,Russian, British, and Polish historians were invited to talk about these accusations.

In 2017, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested against Russian plaques placed in Katyn, "featuring false information about the Bolshevik prisoners of the 1919-1921 war, who had died in Polish captivity".Institute of National Remembrancealso protested.

See also

• Poland–Russia relations
• And you are lynching Negroes,a Soviettu quoquecliche in response to various accusations
• Double genocide
• Holocaust denial
• Holodomor denial