Polish Greatness (Blog): Smolensk

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April 16, 2012

KATYN MASSACRE: SOVIET NKVD KILLING FIELDS

VEIL OF SECRECY

The Katyn Massacre was one of the most heinous crimes ever committed against the Polish nation by the infamous Soviet NKVD. Even after seventy-two years the tragedy of Katyn elicits little if any attention by the West. A veil of secrecy was cast upon Katyn during WWII, by Anglo-American politicians in an effort to maintain and nurture the tenuous alliance or collaboration of their Soviet counterparts. Their objective was to win the war against the Nazis at whatever cost. Extraordinary measures were taken by Churchill and Roosevelt to portray Stalin as a friend of the West, going so far as to refer to him as "Uncle Joe". But there was nothing benign about Stalin. He was by far the most evil dictator and mass murderer, outranking even the perverted insanity of Hitler.

THE MOST EVIL MASS MURDERS IN HISTORY

Stalin decreed the deaths and execution of millions of people. Though statistics vary among historians, the total numbers are quite likely closer to 40 million, which included the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33, executions , purges, deportations, and deaths by starvation and overwork of prisoners held at gulag camps. Among the victims were Polish nationals - Jews as well as Christians, as well as Russians and other nationals.

Notebook: Great Names in Russian History

What is most disturbing is that there are many Russian people today who glorify Stalin. In a Russian survey, Stalin was ranked third by a television audience as one of the greatest men in Russian history. Particularly worrisome is the recent sale of school notebooks targeted to young Russian students, depicting the image of Stalin on the front cover - blatant propaganda.(Thankfully, many Russian citizens and ministers of government have voiced their opposition to this trend.)

NAZI-SOVIET INVASION

POLISH OFFICERS CAPTURED BY RED ARMY SEPT 1939

On September 1, 1939 the Nazis invaded Poland from the north, west and south and seventeen days later the Soviet Red Army invaded Poland from the east, partitioning Poland in two - the result of a secret pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop) signed on August 23, 1939 between Germany and Russia. Their objective was to eliminate the Polish state, beginning with its leaders, military and intelligentsia. While the Nazis inflicted their reign of terror against the Polish people in the west, the Soviets swept through eastern Poland arresting and deporting from 250,000 to 454,700 Polish soldiers, officers, and policemen to Russian gulags. Many Polish were able to escape but about 125,000 remained imprisoned in Soviet NKVD camps. By 1941 over 1.5 million Polish people, citizens and military men had been deported to the work camps and gulags. Hundreds of thousands were either executed, or perished from the severe cold, disease, and starvation.

VICTIMS OF THE KATYN MASSACRE

In March of 1940, upon the recommendations of the NKVD Chief, Lavrenti Beria, Stalin decreed the execution of thousands of Poles. About 20,000 Polish prisoners were massacred, including an admiral, 14 generals, 24 colonels, 79 lieutenant colonels, 258 majors, 654 captains, 17 naval captain, 3,420 NCO's, 200 pilots, seven chaplains, three landowners, a prince, 43 officials, 85 privates, 131 refugees, 20 university professors, 300 physicians, several hundred lawyers, engineers, teachers, more than 100 writers and journalists, priests, artists, judges, an Olympic athlete, and the Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army.

PHOTOS OF A FEW OF THE POLISH OFFICERS WHO WERE MURDERED AT KATYN

After decades of denial, on April 13, 1990 the Soviet Union finally admitted that the Stalinist regime was responsible for the massacres but it wasn't until April 2011 that declassified documents confirmed the gruesome statistics: 21,857 Polish internees were executed after April 3, 1940. Of the total number, 4,421 were from Kozelsk, 3,820 from Starobelsk, 6,311 from Ostashkov and 7,305 from prisons in Belarus and the Ukraine. Among the victims was one woman. About 8% of the victims of the Katyn massacre were Polish Jews.

According to sources, the NKVD spared the lives of 395 Polish prisoners, although no mention has been made of their names other than that of Stanislaw Swianiewicz and Jozef Czapski, both of whom were transported first to camp Yukhnov and then to Gryazovets.

COLD-BLOODED MURDER

Katyn Executioner Vasili Blokhin

Under the command of Major General P.K. Sprunenko, head of the NKVD POW department, Polish prisoners were organized into "selections" or groups and were executed at various locations including at Katyn. One of the locations was at the NKVD headquarters in Kalinin, Russia (Tver). Thousands of Polish prisoners were summoned one by one to appear in the presence of Vasili Blokhin, Soviet Major-General and the official NKVD executioner. Blokhin was personally responsible for devising and carrying out the system of executing as many Polish prisoners as possible. In April 1940, the NKVD shot 300 Polish prisoners per night for 28 consecutive nights.

It was a scene from a macabre nightmare. The walls of the execution room were heavily padded to ensure soundproofing. The floor was constructed of concrete and tilted at a sloping angle and was installed with a drain and a hose. One by one the Polish prisoners were led to a small red antechamber which the Soviets referred to as the "Leninist room". There, each prisoner was subjected to a brief identification, after which they were handcuffed and led to the next room - where the execution would take place.

Each prisoner was shoved against a log wall and without any formalities, or reading of sentence, Blokhin, wearing a leather butcher's apron, cap and shoulder-length gloves, entered the room, took aim with his pistol and shot each prisoner once at the base of his skull. It was done very quickly and efficiently with no interruptions. Blothkin later boasted that he averaged one prisoner every 3 minutes.

To add to the horror, Blokhin carried around his own briefcase filled with pistols. He had particular preference for the German Walther Model 2 .25 ACP pistol, because he considered them more reliable under heavy use. As a matter of fact, this choice in weaponry provided the NKVD with a plausible argument in denying Soviet culpability when the grave sites were discovered by the Germans in 1943. It was fairly easy for the Soviets to convince everyone that the Germans were responsible, since the Walther pistol was standard issue to Nazi agents.

NKVD EXECUTION ROOM TVER

After each execution, the NKVD agents or guards would then drag the bodies of the Polish soldiers from the room and hose down the floor of all the blood. This scene was repeated continuously throughout the night until just before dawn the next day. The corpses were taken through the back door of the execution room and loaded onto covered flat-bed trucks. Twice each night these trucks drove to Mednoye where the bodies were dumped into large trenches that had been prepared in advance. Blokhin made arrangements for a bulldozer to be sent to the site with two drivers who dug up at least 24 trenches measuring a total of eight to ten meters. By daybreak the graves had all been covered up with earth. The NKVD worked this way without stopping for ten hours throughout the night and at dawn, Blokhin rewarded his accomplices with vodka.

Thousands more Polish prisoners were executed in Katyn forest. They had been told that they were being repatriated to Poland. The first group boarded a train, but strangely it was not travelling east but rather westward. Trains arrived at Gniezdowo station about 18 kilometers from Smolensk, others reached Smolensk, just outside of Katyn forest. From there the Polish prisoners were herded into black vans, with the windows blurred, and driven to a clearing in the woods. When they stepped out of the van, NKVD agents forced them to kneel at the edge of a huge pit. Their hands were tied behind their backs with rope or wire, and a choke knot tied around their necks and hands to prevent them from struggling. They were surrounded by dozens of NKVD agents, who systematically shot each Polish man at the back of the head, and dumping their bodies into the open pit. These massacres went on continuously throughout several weeks. By mid-May over 4,500 Polish officers had been executed and buried in eight large mass graves, the largest one containing 12 layers of corpses.

KATYN MASSACRE - HANDS TIED BEHIND BACK - CORPSE OF POLISH OFFICER

Corpses of Polish Officers Exhumed from Mass Graves April 1943 KATN FOREST

Sir Owen O'Malley, the British Ambassador to the Polish government-in-exile, described the grisly scene in his report:

"In the broad deep pit their comrades lay, packed closely around the edge, head to feet, like sardines in a tin.... up and down on the bodies the executioners tramped, hauling [the corpses] about and treading in the blood like butchers in a stockyard."

CORPSES OF POLISH OFFICERS PILED INTO MASS PITS - KATYN FOREST

Polish prisoners from Kozelsk camp were transported to Smolensk and executed in Katyn Forest. No fewer than than 4,410 prisoners were murdered.

Polish prisoners from Starobelsk camp were transported to Kharkov and were taken to the basement of an NKVD prison where they were executed by shots below the back of the head. Their bodies were buried in mass graves on the grounds of the NKVD sanatorium (region 6 of forest-park zone) approximately 1.5 kilometers from the village of Pyatikhatka (near Kharkov). No fewer than 3,739 prisoners were executed there.

Polish prisoners from Ostashov camp were taken to the NKVD prison in Kalinin, where they were killed by a shot at the back of the head. No fewer than 6,314 prisoners were murdered.

Map of Polish Deportations - NKVD prison camps - and location of KATYN MASSACRE April 1940

On July 30, 1941 the Sikorski-Maisky agreement was signed between Russia and Poland whereby Stalin agreed to the release tens of thousands of Polish prisoners from Soviet gulags, and granted them so-called "amnesty" - preposterous since the Polish were not guilty of any crime. Nevertheless, it was agreed upon that a Polish army would be created on Soviet soil to fight alongside the Soviets. Despite Soviet assurances of cooperation, the fledgling Polish army was plagued by starvation, and subjected to training with wooden rifles. After considerable pressure by Generals Anders and Sikorski, Stalin finally relented and agreed to the evacuation of Polish troops through Persia (Iran), Iraq, to Palestine. As evacuees began to arrive in Palestine, it became evident to General Anders that there were thousands of Polish officers unaccounted for, and whose whereabouts could not be explained. Despite intense inquiries by Polish authorities, Stalin remained unresponsive, providing only flimsy explanations as to what may have transpired. He claimed that they may have gotten lost somewhere in Mongolia. It remained an unresolved mystery for the next two years.

Acting on information provided by a local Russian peasant, the Nazi-occupiers found the mass graves at Katyn forest in April 1943 and it was apparent that the Soviets were responsible for the atrocity. It set off a series of virulent Soviet, and Nazi denials and counter-accusations - and a controversy which lingered for decades after the end of the war. Polish officials were all too familiar with Soviet deception and chicanery and made every effort to convince Churchill and Roosevelt of Soviet culpability in the massacre but to no avail. Though Britain and the United States were aware of the facts, neither wanted to acknowledge it for fear of offending Stalin. When General Sikorski called for an investigation of the massacre by the International Red Cross, Stalin broke off all diplomatic ties with the Polish government in exile, and proceeded to install a puppet government in Soviet-occupied Poland. The Polish government-in-exile was severely chastised by Churchill and made out to be the villain.

With the end of the WWII and throughout much of the Cold War, the subject of Katyn was kept secret and hidden. But it was not over by any means. By the early 1970s Polish emigres communities in the UK began to question the HMG about Katyn, and lambasted British officials for their complicity. Surprisingly, even three decades after the war, the Brits were still ill at ease to enter any discussion on the subject for fear of provoking Soviet wrath.

On November 11, 1971, Poles in the UK created the Katyn Memorial Fund Appeal in an effort to raise enough money for the creation of a monument honouring the memory of the victims of the Katyn Massacre. The Katyn Committee proposed that a 20 foot high obelisk be erected at Cromwell Road Triangle. Though some British officials were favorable to the idea, the majority of them firmly opposed the plan for fear of long term negative effects on Anglo-Soviet relations. Those fears were magnified when on September 13, the Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister, S.P. Kozyrev, delivered the following message:

Attempts have again been made recently in Britain, with aims hostile to the Soviet Union, to propagate the slanderous invention of Goebbels propaganda about the so-called Katyn case... according to the British press, the initiators of this campaign have already received the approval of the local authorities to set up such a memorial obelisk in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea... The Ministry expresses the hope that the British Government will take all the appropriate measures for its part to oppose this provocative act, which can only bring damage to Soviet/British relations.

Former KGB Vladimir Putin

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and collapse of the communism, the truth about Katyn finally began to emerge. In 1990 Gorbachev made the first official statement admitting that the Stalinist regime was responsible for the Katyn massacre and released numerous documents to the Republic of Poland. Further evidence was released in 1991 and 1992 however full disclosure was never provided. In March 2005, the Polish Sejm voted unanimously in favor of an Act calling upon the Russian government to declassify all documents related to the Katyn massacre, and to admit that it was an act of genocide. Moreover, the Polish Foreign Ministry requested confirmation from the Russian government about the alleged film footage taken by the NKVD during the gruesome massacres in April of 1940. Apparently there was no response other than that given by Vladimir Putin, saying that the Katyn massacre was merely a "political crime" and not a genocide.

By 2007 several Russian politicians (pro-Soviet communists) began to deny Soviet guilt of the Katyn Massacre and claimed that the documents that had been previously released were fakes. By the end of the year several Russian newspapers (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and Nezavisimaya Gazeta) were printing stories that reiterated the time-worn refrain that the Nazis were responsible for the crime. Irregardless, on May 8, 2010, the Russian government released 67 volumes of de-classified reports and documents to Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski which referred to "criminal case No. 159", an investigation that was instigated in the 1990s regarding the Katyn murders. Then Russian president Medvedev pledged that the Russian government would continue declassifying documents about the Katyn Massacre. While this is regarded as a positive step towards improving Russian-Polish bilateral relations, the rate of declassification of such documents is eternally slow, intermittent and piece meal.

THE SECOND KATYN

In a cruel twist of fate, on April 10, 2010 the aircraft carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 87 high-ranking government and military officials, crashed near the Katyn Forest, near Smolensk, Russia. All aboard perished. They were en route to attend ceremonies commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. The news of the tragedy reverberated around the world plunging the entire nation and Polish citizens worldwide into national mourning. Not long afterwards conspiracy theories began to circulate. Though the crash was investigated and deemed an accident, some sources maintain that there was a sinister element which led to the tragedy. Tragically, one may never know the truth.

THE SECOND KATYN TRAGEDY

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria,

and government officials died in plane crash April 10, 2010

near Smolensk, Russia


Katyn-Kharkiv-Mednoye Memorial - KATYN MASSACRE SMOLENSK RUSSIA

April 10, 2011

Memoriale per il Presidente Lech Kaczynski

Un anno fa il Presidente della Polonia Lech Kaczynski era nell'aereo viaggiando verso Smolensk, Russia con 100 membri della sua delegazione per commemorare il 70 ° anniversario del massacro di Katyn. Il Presidente aveva progettato di consegnare un importante discorso a coloro che presiedono alla cerimonia, alla quale Putin sarebbe anche essere presenti. Il discorso non è mai stato ascoltato. In un batter d'occhio, la Polonia ha perso la sua Presidente e la crema di governo polacco - le loro voci a tacere per sempre. Ma le nostre voci continuamo, ed è con questo spirito che presento il Suo discorso in polacco et tradutto in italiano, francese ed inglese.

Io Dedico questo blog alla memoria del Presidente Lech Kaczynski, alla sua moglie Maria, ed ai membri della delegazione che perirono in un incidente aereo il 10 aprile 2010. Saranno ricordati per sempre.

Cari rappresentanti delle Famiglie Katyn, Signore e Signori!

Nel mese di aprile 1940, oltre 21 mila prigionieri polacchi dai campi di concentramento e nelle prigioni furono assassinati dalla NKVD. Il genocidio era la volontà di Stalin, su ordine delle più alte autorità dell'Unione Sovietica. Alleanza del Terzo Reich e l'Unione Sovietica, il patto Molotov-Ribbentrop e l'invasione della Polonia il 17 Settembre 1939 ha raggiunto il culmine nel terrificante massacro di Katyn. Non solo nella foresta di Katyn, anche i cittadini di Tver, Kharkov e altri luoghi conosciuti e sconosciuti di esecuzione sono stati uccisi della Seconda Repubblica, le persone che hanno costituito il fondamento della nostra statualità, implacabile al servizio del loro paese. Allo stesso tempo, la famiglia degli uccisi e migliaia di residenti sono stati pre confine sono stati inviati in Unione Sovietica, dove hanno segnato il cammino della sofferenza indescrivibile del Golgota polacco d'Oriente.

La stazione più tragico di questa strada era Katyn. ufficiali polacchi, sacerdoti, funzionari, polizia, guardie di frontiera e agenti di polizia penitenziaria sono stati uccisi senza processo o sentenza. Essi sono stati vittime della guerra non dichiarata. Sono stati uccisi in violazione delle leggi e delle convenzioni del mondo civilizzato. La loro dignità di soldati, polacchi e gente. Pits di morte nascose i corpi degli uccisi e la verità sul delitto. Il mondo non avrebbe mai saputo. Le famiglie delle vittime sono stati privati del diritto di pubblico lutto, per ricordare con orgoglio i loro cari. Terreno coperto le tracce del delitto, e le menzogne sono state perpetrate per cancellarlo dalla memoria umana.

Nascondere la verità su Katyn - l'effetto della decisione di coloro che hanno architettato il delitto - è diventato uno dei capisaldi della politica del dopoguerra in Polonia comunista: la menzogna fondazione del periodo comunista. E 'stato un momento in cui la memoria e la verità su Katyn a pagare un prezzo elevato. Ma i parenti degli uccisi e le altre persone coraggiose conservata la memoria, lo difese e passato alle future generazioni di polacchi. La prese per il momento il governo comunista e hanno assegnato connazionali libero, indipendente Polonia. Pertanto, tutti di loro, soprattutto le famiglie di Katyn, dobbiamo rispetto e gratitudine. A nome della Repubblica offerta grazie sincero al fatto che difendere la memoria dei loro cari per salvare una dimensione molto importante della nostra coscienza polacca e identità.

Katyn è diventata una dolorosa ferita della storia polacca, ma anche per decenni avvelenato i rapporti tra polacchi e russi. Facciamo Katyn ferita finalmente guarire .. Siamo già sulla strada. Noi, polacchi, i russi apprezzare negli ultimi anni. In questo modo, portando i nostri popoli, dobbiamo andare avanti, senza fermarsi né tornare indietro.

Tutte le circostanze del massacro di Katyn devono essere indagati e chiariti. E 'importante far conoscere l'innocenza delle vittime, e di tutti i documenti relativi a questo crimine. Per Katyn bugia scomparve per sempre dallo spazio pubblico. Chiediamo che queste azioni in primo luogo per la memoria delle vittime e il rispetto per la sofferenza delle loro famiglie. Ma ho anche la domanda in nome di valori comuni che deve costituire il fondamento di fiducia e di collaborazione tra le nazioni vicine in Europa.

Rendiamo omaggio alla assassinato e pregare sulle loro teste. Gloria agli eroi! Onorare la loro memoria!

Un mare di candele di fronte al Palazzo Presidenziale

Memorial to President Lech Kaczynski

A year ago, President Lech Kaczynski was on his way to Smolensk, Russia with 100 members of his delegation to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. He was planning to make an important speech to all those presiding at the ceremony, at which Putin would also be present. That speech was never heard. In the blink of an eye, Poland has lost it's President and the creme of Polish government - their voices silenced forever. But our voices carry on, and it is with this in mind that I reproduce that speech in Polish and translated to French, and Italian.

I dedicate this blog to the memory of President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and the members of the delegation who perished in the plane crash on April 10, 2010. They will always be remembered.

Dear Representatives of the Katyn Families Ladies and Gentlemen!

In April 1940, over 21 thousand Polish prisoners from concentration camps and prisons were murdered by the NKVD. The genocide was the will of Stalin, at the behest of the highest authorities of the Soviet Union. Alliance of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and the invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939 reached a terrifying climax in the Katyn massacre. Not only in the Katyn forest, also in the Tver, Kharkov and other known and unknown places of execution were killed citizens of the Second Republic, the people who formed the foundation of our statehood, relentless in the service of their country. At the same time, the family of the murdered and thousands of residents were pre borderlands were sent into the Soviet Union, where they marked the path of indescribable suffering of the Polish Golgotha of the East.

The most tragic station of this road was Katyn. Polish officers, priests, officials, police, border guards and prison officers were killed without trial or sentence. They were victims of the undeclared war. They were killed in violation of the laws and conventions of the civilized world. Their dignity as soldiers, Poles and people. Pits of death hid the bodies of the murdered and the truth about the crime. The world would never know. Families of victims were deprived of the right to public mourning, to proudly commemorate their loved ones. Ground covered the traces of the crime, and lies were perpetrated to erase it from human memory.

Hiding the truth about Katyn - the effect of the decision of those who masterminded the crime - has become one of the cornerstones of policy in postwar Communist Poland: the founding lie of the communist era. It was a time when the memory and the truth about Katyn to pay a high price. But relatives of the murdered and the other courageous people kept the memory, defended it and passed to future generations of Poles. Took her by the time the communist government and have assigned countrymen free, independent Poland. Therefore, all of them, especially the families of Katyn, we owe respect and gratitude. On behalf of the Republic offer sincere thanks to the fact that defending the memory of their loved ones to save a highly important dimension of our Polish consciousness and identity.

Katyn became a painful wound in Polish history, but also for decades poisoned relations between Poles and Russians. Let's make Katyn wound finally heal.. We are already on the road. We, Poles, appreciate the Russians in recent years. In this way, bringing our peoples, we should go on, without stopping it or going back.

All the circumstances of the Katyn massacre must be investigated and clarified. It is important to make known the innocence of the victims, and of all documents relating to this crime. To Katyn lie disappeared forever from the public space. We demand these actions primarily for the memory of the victims and respect for the suffering of their families. But I also demand it in the name of common values that must form the foundation of trust and partnership between the neighboring nations in Europe.

Let us pay homage to the murdered and pray over their heads. Glory to the heroes! Honor their memory!

A sea of candles in front of the Presidential Palace

Remembering One Year Later: The Death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski

A year ago today, the plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and a delegation of 96 top-level government and military officials crashed near Smolensk, Russia. They were on the way to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. Shock and disbelief gave way to a period of national mourning for the President, a sorrow which still bears heavily upon their hearts and spirits of many Polish people - and Poles all around the world.

In the midst of domestic political disagreement over the issue, is the ever present public suspicion that Russia was responsible for the horrific plane crash that wiped out the President and the top creme of Polish government. Comparisons of this tragedy were made with that of the Katyn Massacre that occurred over seventy years ago near Smolensk, adding fuel to public anger. Yet again the insidious spectre of Russia looms over Polish sovereignty.

Despite attempts at rapprochement between the two nations, Russia and Poland are still as far apart as ever. At issue is the reluctance of the Russian government, ergo Putin, to fully disclose all secret information and documents relating to the Katyn Massacre. Russian-Polish relations were further strained by the enmity apparent between Putin and President Lech Kaczynski.

That Russian authorities took control of all investigative procedures immediately following the plane crash compounds public suspicion and distrust. In an article written by S. Eugene (Gene) Poteat, a retired senior CIA Intelligence Officer, a number of strange events took place prior to and after the plane crash that point to a Russian conspiracy. The plane which transported the President and his delegation had been completely refurbished and upgraded (in Russia) just four months before the fateful crash - and, in the opinion of Poteat, most likely fitted with bugging devices - and who knows what else. No wonder the Russians wouldn't let Polish investigators come anywhere near the plane wreckage. Adding to suspicions are conflicting reports; for example, Russian authorities insist that the pilot of the plane could not communicate in Russian - when in fact he spoke Russian fluently. Stranger still is the fact that the Russian traffic controller with whom he spoke had suddenly disappeared right after the crash. The Russians claimed that he went on retirement. Many other strange occurrences have taken place that need to be investigated thoroughly but have not been dealt with.

Just a few days ago the Prosecutor handed the Polish government fourteen (14) volumes of documents compiled by the Russian government,detailing the Russian investigation of the plane crash. That it took a year for them to complete is of no surprise, less still their timing in its presentation. Sources indicated that certain "anonymous sources" confirmed that the crash was due to pilot error in trying to land in heavy fog. If that were the case, then why bother writing fourteen volumes?

Poteat referred to Putin as a "master who knows his craft" wasting no time in taking compete charge of the investigation. No surprise there - Russia's motto has always been "Maintain Total Deniability".

The following is a series of four videos entitled, "Letter from Poland", narrated in English, but is largely in Polish with English sub-titles. The film was produced by a public TV station in the Netherlands, Tegenlicht Vpro and is one of the most insightful, thorough documentaries I have yet watched on the subject of this heartbreaking national tragedy. To watch the same video with Dutch sub-titles you may log onto the link I have provided to the Tegenlicht website.

I invite you to watch these videos. But I request also that you share the information with everyone you know. There is much about Poland that the West, in fact, the world still does not understand. Part of the problem is that many countries, including Russia, continue to speak on behalf of Poland instead of allowing Poland to speak for herself. The world is still brainwashed by Russian propaganda. The West in particular has been so easily manipulated having been fed Russian pablum since World War II. Here is the opportunity to discover the truth.

Israeli newspaper, Maariv, called the plane crash, " A Smell of Liquidation ".

Global News, a Romanian portal, suspected that it was assassination and declared that the FSB (the Russian Federal Security Service, aka KGB) was directly responsible.

Wiktor Suworow, former agent of GRU (Russian military intelligence) also considers a very strong possibility of assassination, since the FSB took the black boxes immediately after the crash "as if they had something to hide."

In an interview with Jacek Przybysli, Andrey Iłłarionow, former advisor to Vladimir Putin revealed some interesting facts: (English translation follows)

"Shortly after the disaster, we heard that the pilot, four times as he approached for landing. Everyone at the airport knew that there was only one landing attempt. For several days, however, repeated the lie about the four samples. Then he began to spread disinformation that the Polish pilot was inexperienced. Only after some time it appeared that he had sufficient experience. It was said that he did not know Russian, and could not communicate with the tower. This too was a lie. Finally, time has proved to be untrue disaster. The cockpit was not there any women."

In an interview on August 26, 2010, Antoni Macierewicz, member of Polish Parliament and former Vice-Minister of National Defense, and former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Poland was asked if the crash was an assassination. Here is what he said,

"What we do know for sure, is that the controllers from the Smolensk control tower, after consulting with the Russian Central, and specifically, with the secretary of the General Staff of the Russian Transportation Aviation (I am saying that based on the testimony given by the controller) is that he allowed, and to be more precise, advised this plane, Tupolev 154M, to descend to the altitude below 50 meters. When they descended to this altitude, they only had 3 seconds until the crash. And this is known for sure."