ISSN 2073-2643
En Ru
ISSN 2073-2643
“We’re dealing with a staging.” Bulgarian doctor M.A. Markov about the German falsif cation of the study of the Katyn burials in 1943

“We’re dealing with a staging.” Bulgarian doctor M.A. Markov about the German falsif cation of the study of the Katyn burials in 1943

Abstract

The testimony of a participant of the international commission of forensic medical experts, Bulgarian doctor A.M. Markov, about his business trip to the Smolensk region, to the place of mass graves in the Katyn forest, where the German special services exhumed and identified the corpses of Polish officers shot, allegedly in the spring of 1940. The purpose that the German authorities set before this commission was to confirm the validity of the conclusions of German experts about the three-year-old execution and burial of prisoners of war, as well as the results of the identification of corpses.

Markov records the fact that he was forced to take part in the work of this commission. Informs about the personal composition of the commission and its relocation to the place of work in Smolensk, familiarization with the site of excavation of graves, the examination of corpses by German specialists and the working conditions of the commission.

At the site of the excavation of the graves, the German forensic expert Butz was in charge of everything. The exhumation and identification work carried out in the Katyn forest and the results of the inspection of the graves are described, the members of the commission are familiarized with the stories of a group of local residents presented as witnesses to the executions by the NKVD of the USSR, a visit to the premises where work was carried out with documents found with corpses that served as evidence of 3-year-old burials, which seemed doubtful to Markov. At the second visit to the graves, the members of the commission carried out studies of the corpses. At this time, doubts about the German version of the execution of Markov intensified, which was facilitated by Dr. Orzos' attempt to back up the conclusions of German experts with his own experience. The condition of the young trees presented to the commission from the burial site further reinforced these doubts. Czech forensic expert Gayek had similar doubts. As a result, A.M. Markov did not sign the protocol prepared by the German side and participate in propaganda events designed to confirm the German version of the Katyn graves.

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Keywords: Katyn; execution; graves; Butts; exhumation; identification; propaganda

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Issue 1, 2022