The Katyn Tragedy

January 18-24, 1944 BOX 1. Ruined and dilapidated buildings of residential and industrial buildings in the city of Smolensk Excavations of killed Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn forest in the presence of members of the Extraordinary Commission academician NN Burdenko (chairman of the Commission), writer A.N. Tolstoy and others. The soldiers dig up the corpses and carry them on a stretcher. Chief forensic expert of the USSR People's Commissariat for Health Viktor Ilyich Prozorovsky, professor of forensic medicine at the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute, Doctor of Medical Sciences Vladimir Mikhailovich Smolyaninov examine, examine corpses at the excavation site and in a special tent. NN Burdenko in a tent watching the work of medical experts. The laboratory assistant of the chief expert N.P. Uvarova keeps a protocol of the examination. On January 23, 1944, a group of foreign correspondents visited the excavation site in the Katyn Forest. BOX 2. VM Smolyaninov and other medical experts examine and examine the corpses in the tent. V. I. Prozorovsky gives explanations to a group of foreign correspondents who visited the excavation site. N. N. Burdenko, A. N. Tolstoy examining the corpses. BOX 3. Members of the Extraordinary Commission are questioning witnesses in the presence of foreign journalists. Among the witnesses: the former coupler of the station "Smolensk" Zakharov (sinhr.), The former head of the station "Gnezdovo" Ivanov (sinhr.), A resident of the city of Smolensk Moskovskaya (sinhr.), A peasant of the farm "Kozyi Gory" Kiselyov (sinhr.), A resident Smolensk Alekseeva (sinhr.), doctor A. S. Kolachev (sinhr.). At the table in the meeting hall, Metropolitan Nikolai, Chairman of the All-Slovenian Committee, Lieutenant-General Alexander Semenovich Gundorov, People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR Academician V.P. Potemkin, Chairman of the Smolensk Regional Executive Committee R.E. Melnikov and others. BOX 4. Foreign correspondents in the exhibition hall of material evidence testifying to the execution of Polish prisoners of war. Witness Alekseeva answers the questions of the Extraordinary Commission (in German). V.P. Potemkin, A.N. Tolstoy at the table in the meeting hall. Funeral service in the Katyn Forest is performed by Ksendz Franzyszek Kubsch. The delegation of the 1st Polish Corps in the USSR lays wreaths at the mass grave. The city of Smolensk. Two priests inspect the dilapidated church and the dome that fell in the explosion. Monument to the defenders of Smolensk in 1812

B&W

4

1944