if. you. don't know how. this history still keeps its secrets but now it's time to reveal this to the soviet files the canteen case ethanol and. a live in a country that don't understand that there's more violence in the streets of this country than there are in the streets in afghanistan or baghdad. this peroration. breaks or. as a. crowd gathers room in the. history of the.

feast for. fifty.

every month we give you the future the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world. join us for technology update on our jeep. with. this data data generated from an electrical grid. you can do to do it in california return folgers energy sources help person plug. let's go to support a planet. this is our t. others take a look at our main headlines as the us remembers the victims of a known eleven attacks those who gave you mentioned see adolf the tragedy say the

government has turned its back on the ideas on the hundreds of first responders health was doing the rescue operation. people across europe to protest against excessive surveillance by authorities in places that say big brother doesn't want to intrude on the problem something to protect the. russians republican areas. of the victims of those they suicide bombing the city of the top three people are going to take the books to. the next all special reports which reveals the truth behind the massacre of polish nationals in one nine hundred forty by stalin's regime which led to a sarin of relations between russia and poland for many years.

for decades this incident was rooted in speculation and fear the facts were either suppressed or cooped up in one nine hundred forty more than twenty thousand polish prisoners who disappeared and still be a territory without a trace to view it up to censorship control and accounting case in general under a strict ban. the catchin forest in the smolensk region this is where a mass grave of people in polish military uniform was first discovered that was in one thousand nine hundred three during the german occupation. and the poles lay in their graves in three all four rows side by side some were even layered on top of one another that. who ordered the execution of the polish prisoners of war when exactly would they kill all the witnesses have to say about it off the move than fifteen years of silence why would the details of the captain tragedy kept secret

for so long. in russia's north west lies among the straight on an island and lakes and again in one nine hundred forty it housed the prison camp where more than five thousand polish on the servicemen and police were in prison. was just a child at the time. she found out how the mona street had been turned into a prison camp for prisoners of war from a relative who was serving in the soviet even in secret police the n.k.v.d. . raging every day a special train was coming to the city a moustache gov should you put a polish prisoners of war barely had any roof over their heads therefore all. all of them on a street buildings were hastily adapted for their accommodation triple plank beds

were made for that purpose. polish prisoners of war were brought to the soviet union soon after the start of world war two german troops had altered by poland in the autumn of nineteen thirty nine and so obvious entered the country's eastern regions the poles were sent to prison camps in a stara belt and cars outside. the poles were held in order to prevent any potential riots or attempts to restore poland's territorial integrity among them was career officer vita the father of polish film director and j. vida yeah common his fellow on the servicemen were sent to the camp in the smolensk region to feel that it was a few that i mean unlike my father most of those taken prisoner when not korea offices rather they represented the polish intelligentsia. they were university

professors high school teachers actors and autists among them. in short all those who had been drafted into the army in one nine hundred thirty nine. in august that year the soviet union in germany signed a non-aggression treaty in moscow which later became known as the molotov rippon trial packed this covert document detailed the partition of eastern europe on september the first nine hundred thirty nine germany attacked poland by september the seventeenth soviet troops entered poland as well this rare footage shows a joint parade in the town of brest the soviet brigade commander chris shane and general good rianne of germany share a viewing platform the polish army had never ceased to exist. they. needed i never saw my father from that moment on there was no word from him until he. taken prisoner by the soviets. most of the police officers and

frontier troops were sent to the stash called camp one of three used for polish prisoners of war a down built by the poles to link the island to the lakeside still serves as a reminder of that time that the poles stayed for just over six months in april nine hundred forty the first groups of prisoners would then taken to an unknown destination the poles move to the nearby railway station across the frozen ice of lakes and. i knew our there were they were actually very joisting the guards told them that they were being sent closer to the polish border aboard so that they could be handed over to the polish government created when the time come that i meet your. secret from reporters dostum guards censor and kev a day headquarters. the prisoners of war are in good spirits it is apparent they have a strong desire to leave the camp ghost train behind are envious of the ones who

are badly they think they are going home she is proceeding in an orderly manner without incident. isabella sonnier scums because grandfather. worked to the polish prosecutor's office. when soviet troops entered poland on september the seventeenth one thousand nine hundred thirty nine she was arrested after being branded a suspect. when she was put in a p.o.w. camp she had only one opportunity to send a letter that was in late one nine hundred thirty nine years when once a week my granny sent to past college to the address of the prison camp my granddad had given her years. for some time the past god simply disappeared without a trace. but starting with the spring of one thousand four take the ascent back to the board the mark address on. nineteen

forty three the pickup between the soviet union and hitler's germany. it was then that secret burials were found in the village of canton near smolensk the german on his medical course at the bodies of more than four thousand polish army officers had been found seven ditches in a forest. they had been examined under the supervision of professor again brooks a well known anthropologist from breslin versity but slater told the international red cross committee about his findings. you know it's really on april thirteenth one thousand nine hundred forty three radio berlin announced that polish army officers and policemen had been shot and killed by the end of a day in one nine hundred forty the soviets refuted it two days later they claimed that the polish officers had been executed by the germans third in the autumn of

one thousand nine hundred forty one forty or your were. in one hundred forty three dimitri was thirteen years old he's lived in the county in forest area all his life the german authorities took him and many other local people to the exhumation site . dmitri thinks the message was clear. nothing would have happened if the germans had uncovered anything it was a political matter a polish army had been formed insolvent territory so the aim was to show those poles that they had no business fighting on the russian side could see what they've done you'll be in for it to the wounded. in the polish capital walsall the so-called catalysts began to appear towards the end of spring one nine hundred forty three. people queued for hours in front of news stands to reason the new names were added to the list every day. when they still have said that the name of my grandad appeared on one of the lists shortly after such an estate were made

public and then gin my father often said he remembered the day when hello and that he had become an orphan after his father's death and his mother's death six months before. in late one nine hundred forty three soviet troops drove the germans out of the smolensk region soon another medical commission this time led by the well known soviet surgeon nicholai banker started work in the captain's forest it's time to find evidence that the polish prisoners had been killed by the germans in nine hundred forty one after they'd invaded the soviet union. or war when a german made a water pistol was found there that became the main argument in support of the claim that it was the germans that executed the polish officers of the theory that it was the nazis that killed them was based on this discovering when you're.

on top of saying is a former political prisoner whose father belonged to lenin's in a circle. he sent up a goon like museum commemorating the victims of political repressions. a friend who worked at the institute of forensic studies told how evidence in the counting case had been faked in the soviet union in one thousand nine hundred forty four. are not the woman was on duty at that time me she saw the remains being hauled out of boxes in the pockets being stuffed with newspapers and letters bearing falsified dates the aim was to create the impression that all that had happened in one nine hundred forty one rather than in one nine hundred forty all the evidence it was supposed to demonstrate that nobody but the germans were to blame. around the same time a man hunt was on the way to spot locals who believed that the poles had been

executed by the n.k.v.d. needless to say they also met a tragic fate yes but if you know and if i had believed the russians had killed them i would have been dead for sure. after the soviet medical commission led by but then could finished its work in one thousand nine hundred forty a memorial cross was erected in cutting the inscription read polish prisoners of war executed by hitler's troops in one thousand four to rest in peace here among those attending the unveiling were polish on the service because to speak division who were fighting in the soviet side. delegates in cotton represented various units including my fifth regiment of the second infantry division and everybody said they had no doubt that the crime had been committed by the germans.

after the end of world war two poland joined the socialist bloc from then on any discussion regarding cotton was to boot. in contrast to the official soviet memorial in canton people in poland flocked to warsaw to commemorate the. countrymen who died in captivity relatives of the dead had to hold a memorial services in secret but not any longer. hours on the floor it's in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven doos this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us the silence lasted nearly half a century many relatives of the executed polish prisoners of war didn't live long enough to learn the secret truth of the count in tragedy.

every month we give you the future we help you understand how will get there and what tomorrow brings the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world. join us for dick knology update on r g. if the many years the most senior economist officials had access to these colleagues for most of the documents a top secret in one thousand nine hundred solve it president mikhail gorbachev hold

of this folder containing reports on the counting executions to be removed from the archives and handed over to. the most valuable document is a memo sent to stalin by. the people's commissars of internal affairs in april nine hundred forty. eight stalin the polish prisoners are trying to continue their counterrevolutionary it is in the camps each of them is only looking for an opportunity to join this struggle against the soviet government then the us is so feels it's necessary it's applied to them as special procedure execution by a firing squad signed beriah people's commissar of internal affairs of the u.s.s.r. if. that was the first time that soviet leader mikhail gorbachev officially declared that the soviet government was to blame. he offered his

condolences and gave me a folder of documents containing a lists executed polish officers and asked them for the next day i went to cartoons. and paid tribute to the memory of those who were killed. now it was necessary to find the secret graves of the prisoners. the trial lead investigators to the town of a stash gulf where one of the concentration camps used to be. there was still a few surviving witnesses to help the team and it was proved once again that in april nine hundred forty the poles were taken away by railroad. and nobody saw them alive again what is care. is were brought here to listen railway junction. there were put into boxcars. and taken away in this direction my

trains. much later we found out. that they had been taken to the city one of. the train journey took twenty four hours in one hundred forty the communist official michelle conlin was among other high ranking officials in the execution of the poles. the building standing opposite the monument to calin in. the n.k.v.d. regional headquarters this is where the lives of the polish prisoners were cut short. more than fifty years later dimitri took around the local n.k.v.d. was interrogated by investigators from the military prosecutor general's office. afterwards showed me to talk or have archived documents proving his guilt realized that it was in vain to deny anything and gave a detailed true testimony. my men didn't shoot more than three hundred people

a day only once did they shoot as many. that had to be done under the cover of darkness because the nights were now too short. so they brought two hundred fifty people in a time and we shot them during the night. those about to be shot were taken to the basement one by one supposedly to have their papers checked but once that they were stripped of their personal belongings and valuables only then did it occur to the prisoners but they were never going to leave that place alive even. one questioned by investigators did to me treat talk or have told them the guns used for executions had been brought from moscow. and was the ex superintendent of the central directorate and had a trunk full of walther pistols with him if they gave them to the executioners just shortly before the axe then the guns were collected in order to prepare them for more shootings.

after the biography of a polish prisoner of war was completely identified two men would say to him by the arms and lead him into a cell just like this one the walls of the cells were covered with health of cloth so obs orban noise a third man fired a shot from a walther pistol at the back of the head of the prisoner. when dmitri talkative was interrogated in one thousand nine hundred one he agreed to sketch a route leading to the site where the bodies of executed polish officers had been buried there was a building here where senior n.k.v.d. officials relaxed talkative dasha a country house was nearby. it's a very place by the riverside and candidates initials spent a lot of time relaxing here on the wives and children of minor officials live here

and large ditches only thirty meters. filled with thousands of. covering up traces of mass executions. down to the minute detail but in the. to do their job as they could the bodies of prisoners were tossed into large ditches and covered with earth. surrounding used to be the n.k.v.d. in the region was examined in the summer of one thousand nine hundred one the first horrific finds were uncovered a few days later the investigators job was made easier due to the fact that there is compact clay soil in the region which doesn't allow it to filter through. the bodies in that mass graves showed almost no signs of decomposition there was an easily identifiable polish military uniform some of them. in the uniform of polish

police their bodies were almost intact and this is listed fossilized remains. seventy three sixty five bring to downplays. polish forensic scientists joined counterparts in identifying the bodies many of the personal items and papers that once belonged to the dead prisoners were later taken to an. institute of forensic studies for further examination. helps me to realize many things when i study all these items lighters cigarette cases i imagine how they lived wrote letters misty play dice and smoke cigarettes each item reminds of a real person and i start to understand what life in the camp was like. there is a memorial museum in the forest it features documents and accounts of the poles

buried here and also of the soviets who died during stalin's reign of terror the death penalty was handed down to more than five thousand people in the callinan region their graves were found side by side with those of polish prisoners. it's impossible to identify the bodies of soviet prisoners soviet dims of oppressions were taken to the burial place in underwear or stark naked later in a bid to cover up their tracks and used a special acid and lime to dissolve human remains in the soil. for. several times a year activists from the med name memorial complex in northwest russia go on an expedition through villages in the very known in soviet times as cullinan they meet relatives of the locals like the poles were executed at medway are. these people in the relatives of dead polish offices have something in common. left of them

murdered loved ones or a few faded photos. i remember my father saw when i saw him in prison. you know i do order him and he loved me. many years have passed since the relatives of the victims of the repressions were first interviewed gradually historians came to the conclusion that the poles had no chance of escaping death stalin's terror machine was crushing friend and foe alike making no distinction between them and caught in just two cases in point. given that system of government many polish officers and men had no chance of survival any prisoner discussing poland's future was immediately classified as a suspect at the time of stalin's reign of terror when people of any other nationality would have been dealt with in the same manner if they had found themselves in the same situation.

twenty ten seventeen years since the execution of the polish prisoners of. a memorial service was held in the forest on april seventh the ceremony was attended by relatives of the dead and leading political figures. of the polish military cemetery in cotton on april the seventh the prime ministers of russia and poland put an end to us was standing nearby my father thought it was a historic moment when he started. but marking the anniversary was to take a tragic turn the plane carrying polish president lech kaczynski and many other senior officials crashed near as he tried to land the. relatives of the wartime prison victims heading for the memorial ceremony that they died along with the president. that was simply incredible our family couldn't believe it

when tragedy struck again this time on april the tenth two thousand and ten my mother kept saying this can't be true my granddad was murdered and my father was killed in an air crash almost in the same place the two sides are separated by only a few dozen committees. for many in russia the air crash was a personal tragedy for days people brought flowers to the polish embassy in moscow a russian state television channel showed on jay vidas poignant film. by the admits he had a hard time making it there was not a single collection of stories about canton for that reason in his works based on memoirs including his mother's recollections of the fine good as a young man in the movie i'm happy to know that the film caught him has been shown

to such a vile story it's war or so that they could evaluate it and hear what a polish film director has to say i'm fine quote all of those who made this possible that this is a good step forward towards reconciliation between us. a stash gulf at first sight nothing seems to have changed here over the years the great grandchildren of those who saw all the polish prisoners of war now play in the yards. morris carpet is eighty five he's been teaching in the local school of his working life for a long time he could not share his memories with enter and finally the days come when a documentary about the events of nine hundred forty will be shown on russian television several years ago film director came here in person to listen about how the polish prisoners were brought from the a stosh called camp to their place of execution

boris became blind two years ago now he can only listen to what the film has to say the more sort of lists are there. they give the names of people taken out of the camp up the city look at sort of people could easily go astray or their families and the army want to see them. i keep a diary. and ours don't catch fire no. buttons all that will be left of us is the buttons on our uniforms. which of course i feel sympathy with on j. ride and the polish people. as it turns out grief unites nations what we feel compassion for the polish people because of that tragedy. grief brings us closer together and. it's too soon to draw a line under the.