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Poles pleaded with Hitler to free them from Stalin's grip New documents on attempts to Polish officers from Soviet POW camps have been found in the archives of the German Foreign Office. Russians continued negotiations concerning freeing a few hundreds Polish army officers even long after they had been shot death in the spring of 1940 - a Polish institute probing Nazi and Stalinist crimes has found out. Families of a few hundreds of Polish officers wrote letters to German Foreign Office pointing out their German origin or other kinds of connection to get their husbands, brothers and fathers back...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Poland calls on Russia to recognize Katyn massacre as crime against humanity 17.04.2005 Poland's president called on Russia to recognize the massacre of thousands of Polish soldiers during WW II in the Katyn forest in western Russia as a crime against humanity. Several hundred people attended commemorative ceremony at Warsaw's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Prime Minister Marek Belka both laid wreaths of red and white flowers. Members of parliament, the Roman Catholic Church and the Katyn Committee, an organization of relatives of those killed, also paid homage to the victims. 22,000 Polish military officers,...

Day of Remembrance of Katyn Victims 2005-04-13, 17:24 April 13th marks the 62nd anniversary of the discovery of mass graves in the Katyn Forest containing the bodies of Polish officers. Some 22 thousand Polish prisoners of war are believed to have been killed there and in a number of nearby locations by the Soviet NKVD police in the spring of 1940.The World Day of Remembrance of Katyn Victims commemorates the date of the discovery of the mass graves by the Nazis in 1943. Masses were said in Warsaw and candles lit on the memorial stones today. The Katyn massacre is...

Russia: Rights Group Urges Moscow To Reopen Polish Massacre Investigation By Claire Bigg, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty A leading Russian human rights group has urged the country's authorities to reopen an investigation into the massacre in 1940 of thousands of Polish citizens by the Soviet secret police. This tragedy has long been a bone of contention between Russia and Poland. Now it threatens to further sour their relations ahead of the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Moscow, 7 April 2005 (RFE/RL) -- In 1943, German soldiers discovered a mass grave in the Katyn forest near...

Poland lobbies Russia over Katyn By Adam Easton BBC News, Warsaw More than 21,000 army officers and intellectuals were executed at Katyn The Polish parliament has called on Moscow to publish the names of any surviving perpetrators of a World War II massacre. Members of parliament passed a resolution demanding the killing of thousands of Polish soldiers in the Katyn Forest be recognised as genocide. Moscow only took responsibility for the killings in 1990, after previously blaming it on the Nazis. Polish legislators stood for a minute's silence before passing the resolution. Members of the victims' families were also present...

Russia says executions of Poles not genocide MOSCOW, March 11: Russian prosecutors who investigated the 1940 execution of nearly 15,000 Polish prisoners of war by Soviet security forces said on Friday the killings were not genocide. Poland has long pushed for Moscow to bring to account those responsible for the Katyn massacre of Polish officers, with victims' families and Polish war crimes prosecutors calling for the killings to be treated as genocide. Russian investigators closed the case last year, however, without pressing any charges. "The version of genocide was examined, and it is my firm conviction that there is absolutely...

Polish Minister Criticizes Russia Wed Mar 9, 3:16 PM ET Europe - AP WARSAW, Poland - Poland's foreign minister sharply criticized Russia on Wednesday for withholding documents that could shed light on the 1940 massacre of 21,000 Polish officers and intellectuals by the Soviet secret police, a news agency reported. "I can only imagine that there is only one reason for it — disgrace and shame," Poland's PAP news agency quoted Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld as saying in the southern city of Krakow. Poland's state-run National Remembrance Institute is investigating the World War II-era killings in the Katyn forest and...

Poles Mark Stalin's Katyn Forest Massacre By ELA KASPRZYCKA ASSOCIATED PRESS WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poles on Saturday attended a Mass, sang patriotic songs and lay flowers on a monument to more than 21,000 military officers and intellectuals massacred by Soviet agents in Katyn Forest, marking the day 65 years ago that dictator Josef Stalin ordered the killings. Along with the homage at Warsaw's St. Ann's Church, the Katyn Committee, an organization of relatives of those killed in Katyn Forest in western Russia and at other sites in 1940, demanded more Russian attention to the massacre. A recent Russian investigation...

'The holocaust no one talks about' Poles mark 65th anniversary of mass Second World War deportations Nick Lees The Edmonton Journal February 28, 2005 EDMONTON -- An armed Soviet guard tore the tiny, dead infant from his mother's hands and hurled the body into the snow. Its mother's scream was cut off by the cattle-car door slamming closed, a bolt was pushed into place and the train lurched on, carrying her away. "The mother lost her mind and ended up in an asylum, but she wasn't the only woman who went mad," says Janina Chodkiewicz-Muszynska of Edmonton, who travelled with...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Polish war crimes prosecutors have opened an investigation into the 1940 massacre in the Katyn forest of more than 21,000 Polish officers and intellectuals by the Soviet secret police, authorities said Wednesday. Leon Kieres, the head of Poland's National Remembrance Institute, told a news conference that the investigation by 16 of his specialized prosecutors will attempt to add names to the fragmentary records of the Soviet officials and secret police agents who issued, passed on, or carried out the orders to kill the Polish prisoners. Deputy Justice Minister Andrzej Kalwas said the investigation was an act...

WARSAW - Russian prosecutors will not press criminal charges in connection with the 1940 Katyn massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and intelligentsia by the Soviet NKVD secret police in Russia's western Katyn forest, Polish PAP news agency reported Wednesday. After 64 years, Russian justice officials regard the statute of limitations on the crime as having expired. Polish authorities, however, see the massacre as a crime against humanity and therefore not subject to any limits. Russian authorities agree to release records of the investigation, Professor Leon Kieres, the head of Poland's Institute for National Remembrance War (IPN) crimes authority, told PAP....

Russia: Katyn massacre is not genocide Russian prosecuting attorney does not consider Katyn forest massacre as genocide. According to the Russians, so may years after the crime no actions, suits, or prosecutions concerning the Katyn massacre cannot be brought in the courts. President of the Institute of National Remembrance Leon Kieres, who visited Russia to discuss the Katyn issue, described his talks in Moscow as difficult. However, one important decision has been made during Kieres’ visit - Polish prosecutor and historian shall come to Moscow to familiarize with 156 files gathered during Russian investigation. Leon Kieres informed that Russian investigation...

IPN to begin its investigation to Katyñ massacre The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) will launch an investigation into the Katyñ crime at the beginning of August. "More and more information we had no idea about is cropping up. We will do everything to explain the crime, which according to our law was genocide," said Leon Kieres, IPN's president. He added that "public expectations and honesty" are the reasons behind initiating an investigation. Katyñ, where the Soviet NKVD murdered 25,000 Polish army officers, is a sensitive issue in Polish-Russian relations, as the Russians do not consider crimes committed in the...