The Polish media today decided to recall, what exactly 30 years ago, the Soviet leadership "recognized one of the most criminal acts of the era of Stalinism". We are talking about a statement, which was done 13 April 1990 by the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev about the Katyn events and which was published in the Soviet press.
Polish edition of Onet:
The period of the reign of Mikhail Gorbachev contributed to the disclosure of the truth about the crimes of the communist system. More and more dissidents and human rights activists demanded to remember and clarify the fate of millions of those killed in Stalin's time.. This topic is also increasingly appearing in the official press and media.. And then the statement (Gorbachev) considered a breakthrough in explaining the circumstances of the death of Polish officers. However, to date, the Kremlin has refused to fully disclose the Katyn dossier..
The publication reminds, what in 1987 Polish-Soviet commission was established, composed of historians. This commission was to investigate the circumstances of the death of Polish prisoners of war near Smolensk..
Onet:
In April 1988 during a closed lecture in the office of the Council of Ministers, Professor Cheslav Madajchik clearly rejected the version of Germany’s responsibility for the crime. In February and March 1989 Odrodzenie magazine published findings of Polish historians. The result of these publications was a statement by the official representative of the government, Jerzy Urban, that the crime was committed by NKVD officials. A few weeks later, in April 1989 of the year, The delegation of the Council for the Protection of the Struggle and the Memory of Martyrdom with its chairman, Major General Roman Pashkovsky, together with a group of families of victims of the tragedy, took an urn with earth in Katyn,a 18 April 1989 years she was solemnly buried in the Military cemetery in Povonki.
The material abounds with statements about “the fault of Joseph Stalin and Lawrence Beria” in the executions of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest.
The same material tells, as already in the Russian Federation, “the authorities recognized the findings of the commission from the late 1980s”. At the same time, claims are again expressed about allegedly “incomplete disclosure of archive data, that would help shed light on the events in Katyn ”.
