The Katyn Forest Massacre, was a war crime mass execution of Polish
nationals carried out by the Soviet secret police NKVD under the
orders of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Politburo in April–May
1940.The number of victims is estimated at about 22,000, the most
commonly cited number being 21,768. The victims were murdered in
the Katyn Forest in Russia, the Kalinin and Kharkov prisons and
elsewhere. About 8,000 were officers taken prisoner during the 1939
Soviet invasion of Poland, 6,000 police officers, with the rest
being Polish intelligentsia arrested for allegedly being
"intelligence agents, gendarmes, landowners, saboteurs, factory
owners, lawyers, officials and priests."
Nazi Germany announced the discovery of mass graves in the Katyn
Forest in 1943.The revelation led to the end of diplomatic
relations between Moscow and the London based Polish
government-in-exile. The Soviet Union continued to deny
responsibility for the massacres until 1990, when it officially
acknowledged and condemned the perpetration of the killings by the
NKVD.
The modern Polish investigation of the killings covered not only
the massacre at Katyn forest, but also the other mass murders in
surrounding areas. Polish organisations, such as the Katyn
Committee and the Federation of Katyn Families, consider the
victims murdered at the locations other than Katyn as part of the
overall massacre.
THIS PROPAGANDA STAMP SET WAS ISSUED BY THE POLISH UNDERGROUND
SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT AS A DIVERSIFICATION STATEMENT AGAINST MARTIAL
LAW WHICH HAD BEEN DECLARED BY THE COMMUNIST AUTHORITIES IN POLAND.
IT IS A VERY RARE AND COLLECTABLE ITEM . THE UNDERGROUND MEMBERS
WHO ISSUED THIS STAMP RISKED A LOT, BECAUSE IF CAUGHT THEY WOULD
HAVE BEEN IMPRISONED WITHOUT TRIAL.
THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO OWN A UNIQUE PIECE OF HISTORY. IT IS A
MUST FOR EVERY SERIOUS HISTORIAN AND COLLECTOR OF THIS PERIOD AND
WILL MAKE AN INTERESTING ADDITION TO YOUR COLLECTION.
General Wojciech Jaruzelski announced the introduction of martial
law in a speech first broadcast on radio and television at 6:00 am
on December 13, 1981. In order to isolate members of the opposition
(from the Solidarity movement), 52 internment centers were created.
A total of 10,132 internment orders were issued against 9,736
people during the period of martial law.
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