# When Did The Russians Acknowledge The Katyn Forest Murders? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744 "2010-04-11T17:09:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/1 "2010-04-11T17:09:23Z")
The loss of the Polish president (and many other Polish leaders) in the air crash made me wonder-when did the Russian government first acknowledge the murder of 20,000 Polish Army officers in the Katyn forest? As I recall, Stalin tried to blame the massacre on the German Army, but had to back off (when the Germans excavated the site). These horrible murders were ignored by the Allied leadership in WWII, because Stalin was needed to defeat the germans…but surely this monstrous deed must have given even dedicated communists pause-if the Russians were willing to commit such an atrocity , they could never really be trusted. When did the non-communist Russian government finally admit and apologize? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/2 "2010-04-11T17:18:46Z")
Wikipedia has a detailed entry. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/3 "2010-04-11T22:43:20Z")
I believe Gorbachev apologized in '89. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/4 "2010-04-12T21:26:03Z")
The detailed account in _Katyn_ by Cienciala _et al_ (Yale, 2007) accords with the Wikipedia article, but arguably slightly differs in emphasis. As the events of '89 unfolded in Poland, the Soviets began to take a softer line on the matter. Gorbachev then goes as far as expressing regret on 13 April 1990, but basically still blaims it all on Beria. There is then the murky matter of what Gorbachev tells Yeltsin as they transfer power. At this point, they do still seem to have regarded it as the great dirty secret that still had to be treated as special. It’s only in May 1992 that Yeltsin reveals the remaining big “smoking gun”: that the order went all the way up to the Politburo and Stalin. ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/5 "2010-04-14T01:29:18Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > As I recall, Stalin tried to blame the massacre on the German Army, but had to back off (when the Germans excavated the site). So far as I know, Stalin never backed off his claim that the Germans did it. Although Stalin did have to give up on prosecuting the Germans for Katyn at the war crimes trials, the official Soviet version was to blame the Germans right up until Gorbachev admitted NKVD responsibility in the late 1980s. Even in 1981, the Polish government officially called the dead at Katyn victims of Hitlerite fascism, not Stalinist communism. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/6 "2010-04-14T02:41:18Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Wikipedia has a detailed entry. Ah, a useful post. [The article is here and says that it was officially acknowledged in 1990](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/7 "2010-04-14T05:40:19Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Ah, a useful post. > > [The article is here and says that it was officially acknowledged in 1990](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre) I just can’t believe that people respond to **Ralph’s** laziness. He constantly asks questions that can be answered by a Google search. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/8 "2010-04-14T06:38:46Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I just can’t believe that people respond to **Ralph’s** laziness. He constantly asks questions that can be answered by a Google search. You don’t have to get all pissy!:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/9 "2010-04-14T10:01:18Z")
You don’t have to use the SDMB when Google and Wikipedia are up to the task. ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/10 "2010-04-14T19:37:20Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > You don’t have to get all pissy!:mad: Ignore the haters **ralph**. Whenever I see you an OP by you I know it is going to be a pretty cool topic to read and talk about- Which is the basic point of the board, right? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/11 "2010-04-14T21:18:44Z")
> [@Spit](#): > > Ignore the haters **ralph**. Whenever I see you an OP by you I know it is going to be a pretty cool topic to read and talk about- Which is the basic point of the board, right? Really. I find all kinds of things here that I wouldn’t think to Wiki. Keep it up. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/12 "2010-04-14T22:46:43Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I just can’t believe that people respond to **Ralph’s** laziness. He constantly asks questions that can be answered by a Google search. Good point, really. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/13 "2010-04-14T23:14:41Z")
The pain! The calumnies posted against me are terrible! Imagine…daring to ask a question? What became of “fighting ignorance”?:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/14 "2010-04-14T23:25:56Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > The pain! The calumnies posted against me are terrible! > Imagine..daring to ask a question? > What became of “fighting ignorance”?:rolleyes: the things posted against you are quite reasonable, not terrible at all. Nothing ‘became of’ fighting ignorance - but there’s nothing wrong with asking you that you don’t clog the board with questions that you could reasonably find the answer to very quickly by googleing it or looking it up on wikipedia. Such questions include what is 2 + 2, what is the capital of Russia, what is Khadafi’s first name, when was the First World War, and when did the Russians acknowledge the Katyń Forest murders. just my 2 cents ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-russians-acknowledge-the-katyn-forest-murders/535744/15 "2010-04-17T16:46:46Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > the things posted against you are quite reasonable, not terrible at all. Nothing ‘became of’ fighting ignorance - but there’s nothing wrong with asking you that you don’t clog the board with questions that you could reasonably find the answer to very quickly by googleing it or looking it up on wikipedia. Such questions include what is 2 + 2, what is the capital of Russia, what is Khadafi’s first name, when was the First World War, and when did the Russians acknowledge the Katyń Forest murders. Yeah, I mean, IMHO the GQ board is really supposed to be for questions that Cecil might tackle if he had infinite time. Hard, factual questions that require a bit of research and perhaps even expert opinion. I’m not perfect myself, but before I go to GQ, I try to always use Google and Wikipedia before posting.