Katyń

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Twenty years ago, Allen Paul wrote the first post-communist account of one of the greatest but least-known tragedies of the 20th century: Stalin’s annihilation of Poland’s officer corps and the mass deportation of “bourgeoisie elements” to Siberia. These brutal events are symbolized by the word Katyn—a crime that still divides Poles and Russians. Paul’s updated account details Russian attempts to recant their admission of guilt for the Katyn murders, featuring recently translated documents from military archives, eyewitness accounts from two perpetrators, and secret official minutes that reveal a U.S. government cover-up continued long after the war. His narrative brings to life the daily experiences of three Polish families during World War II, from the treacherous Nazi-Soviet invasion in 1939 to a rigged election in 1947 that sealed Poland’s fate. Each family’s patriarch was among the Polish officers ordered by Stalin to be executed. One family faced daily repression under the German General Government, while two others were deported to Siberia, enduring forced labor, starvation, and neglect. Through meticulous research, the author reconstructs their lives, including miraculous escapes and a mother’s daring ski trek over the Carpathians to rescue her daughter. Central to the story is the Poles’ belief in “victory in defeat”—that their struggles fortified them and that freedom would ultimately be reclaimed.