Tuesday, July 27, 2004

But you can't keep running away from what you're trying to find.
Godfuckingdamnit there is nothing to talk about. Nothing to say, just the same old bullshit. Ugh. I guess I could do a bloody history day piece. The following will be a boring essay only I find interesting. It is written by me for nobody's enjoyment. =P

Bloody History Day- The Katyn Forest Massacre

Alright, the Molotov-Ribbontrop pact. It was the non-agression pact signed between the Soviet Union and Germany in 1939 prior to the German's Polish invasion. Basically, it divided up Europe between the Germans and the Soviets- the Germans got the western half of Poland + the provine of Memel from Lithuania and the Soviets got it's previous territories it had under Czarist Russia, which included all of the Baltic states, parts of Romania, all of Finland and the Eastern half of Poland.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the Polish were shocked to find that, from the East, Communist troops were coming in- the already demoralized and beaten Polish army couldn't do much to stop them at all, so the USSR "inherited" eastern Poland- capturing a large portion of the Polish army while doing so.

Fast-forward to 1943, Operation Barbarossa- The German invasion of the Soviet Union. Obviously, to get to the USSR, you would have to go through Eastern Poland, and the Germans did just that- quite easily too, I might add.

As they advanced through Poland in 1941 they found massive grave sites in Katyn forest, thousands of Poles buried in large pits in the forest- stacked in rows, ontop of each other. All of them were members the Polish Army, in full winter uniform. The Germans immediately blamed the Soviets and, but of course, the Soviets denied any involvement- instead blaming the Germans.

Tired of being blamed, the Germans started exhumed the graves in Katyn Forest in 1943 and brought in an independant panel of scientists to tell when they had died. The scientists brought in were of different nationalities- one german, one american, one british and one polish each, to ensure the findings would not be said to be biased twards Germany.

As they studied, the scientists found there were several odd things about the Katyn massacre. The first thing was the way all of the Poles had died- each one was shot in the NKVD's favorite method of execution, but all of the bullets used were German bullets. So, all that was left to go on was the time they were killed- that would show who was to blame since, as I told you, Eastern Poland had changed hands rather quickly, from Polish to Russian to German in a couple of years.

The scientists estimated that the Poles had been killed sometime during the early spring of 1940, which would put it during the time the Soviet's had it. The Germans reburied the Poles, even as the Americans and British denounced the findings as a German attempt to put a strain on the anti-Nazi alliance between Communist Russia and the Democracies of the west.

Of course, the Russians eventually [with great effort and heroism, I might add] retook Poland in it's entirity and they brought in their OWN scientists. Unfortunately, once again, the dead were not left to rest in peace- and the graves were exhumed for a second time.

The Russian scientists discerned that the Poles were killed during the summer of 1942- placing them back into the German time of occupation. With this finding, the Russians started a massive propoganda spree on a world scale- inviting several high ranking people to Katyn forest to see the graves, and what the scientists had found.

One of the people invited was the daughter of the American ambassador to the USSR. As she toured the site, she asked a question of the Communist 'tour guide'- If the Poles were killed in the Summer of 1942 like the Russians say, why is it that they were dressed in full winter uniform?

The flustered Communist official couldn't find any answer, and quickly moved the group along.

There was a reason he had no answer.

In 1989 as the USSR fell, Gorbachev told the President of Poland that it was indeed the Soviet NKVD who had killed all the Poles. All of the Poles who were found to be "counter-revolutionary" or "Anti-Soviet" were placed in camps, [sound familiar?], and given a mock trial. Among those killed were civilian intellectuals, army officers, former land owners and priests- but the majority of those executed were officers of the Polish army.

21,857 innocent Poles were killed and buried in mass graves at there spots in western Russia and Poland.

What makes this even more outrageous is the fact that the western Democracies almost knew for sure that the Russians did it- but they didn't want to put pressure on their Ally, the one who was taking the brunt of the fighting against the Germans. They just smiled and nodded, leaving Katyn to be buried in history.

So, that is the massacre that occured in camps across western Russia and in Poland. As always, I wish to expose you to an unbiased view- Nazi Germany commited atrocities, yes. So did Russia, America and Britain. All of them did, it wasn't some holy, divine war to prove the power of democracy- it was just a war.

And in wars, there is no consideration for human life, be it civilian or military. Especially when the armed forces are in the hands of a psychotic dicatator like Hitler.

Or like Stalin.

So, as always, I hope you learned something. Don't be anti-American. Just remember that a nation is a nation. Nothing more, nothing less. They bloody their hands as much as anyone else, and they never are anything more than entities that men created.

Men are imperfect. Their creations are too.

Well, so long. I hope I have something more interesting to talk about next time. =)


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