Out of gratitude to the Russians? The Katyn lie as a tool of Soviet totalitarianism in Czechoslovakia Cover Image

Z vděčnosti k Rusům? Katyňská lež jako nástroj sovětského totalitarismu v Československu
Out of gratitude to the Russians? The Katyn lie as a tool of Soviet totalitarianism in Czechoslovakia

Author(s): Petr Hlaváček
Subject(s): History, Special Historiographies:, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Katyn massacre; Soviet propaganda; Czechoslovakia; Edvard Beneš; František Hájek; Mikhail Gorbachev;

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the Katyn massacre, a war crime committed by the Soviet NKVD in 1940, where Polish officers were executed. It explores the Soviet Union's use of the massacre as a propaganda tool and the subsequent geopolitical sovietization and mental Russification of Eastern Bloc countries. The piece also examines the role of Czechoslovakia's exiled government in London, led by Edvard Beneš, in supporting the Soviet narrative. Additionally, it delves into the strategies of survival employed by individuals like Czech physician František Hájek, who initially participated in a Nazi-led investigation but later recanted under Soviet pressure. The text highlights the normalization of the Soviet lie about Katyn during the communist era in Czechoslovakia and the eventual acknowledgment of Soviet responsibility by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990.

  • Issue Year: XVII/2023
  • Issue No: 04
  • Page Range: 29-34
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Czech