page_title: Soviet Union in World War II
section_title: The division of Eastern Europe and other invasions
hierarchical_section_title: Soviet Union in World War II / The division of Eastern Europe and other invasions
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: SSSR Lidový komisariát vnitřních záležitostí " " března 1940 č. 794/B Moskva PŘÍSNĚ TAJNÉ CK VKP(b) Soudruhu Stalinovi Ve zajateckých táborech a věznicích v západních oblastech Ukrajiny a Běloruska se v současné době nachází velké množství bývalých důstojníků polské armády, bývalých zaměstnanců polské policie a zpravodajských agentur, členů polských nacionalistických k-r (kontrarevolučních) stran, členů podzemních k-r organizací, dezertérů apod. Všichni to jsou nesmiřitelní nepřátelé sovětské moci plni nenávisti k sovětskému systému. Zajatí důstojnící a policisté, kteří se nacházejí v táborech, se snaží pokračovat v k-r činnosti a provádějí aktivní antisovětskou agitaci. Každý z nich se po propuštění chystá pokračovat v boji proti sovětské moci. Orgány NKVD odhalily v západních oblastech Ukrajiny a Běloruska řadu k-r povstaleckých organizací. Ve všech těchto k-r organizacích hrají vůdčí roli bývalí příslušníci bývalé polské armády, bývalí policisté a četníci. Mezi zadrženými dezertéry a narušiteli stát- (podpisy - hlavní: Stalin, Vorošilov, Molotov, Mikojan; vedlejší na levé straně s poznámkou pro (ve smyslu souhlasu) umístěnou za podpisem: Kalinin, Kaganovič) English: The accepted proposal of Lavrentiy Beria to execute former Polish army and police officers in NKVD prisoner of war camps and prisons. March 1940. TOP SECRET From the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to comrade STALIN In the NKVD POW camps and in the prisons of the western oblasts of Ukraine and Belorussia there is currently a large number of former officers of the Polish army, former Polish police officers and employees of intelligence agencies, members of Polish nationalist c-r (counterrevolutionary) parties, participants in underground c-r rebel organizations, defectors and so on. All of them are implacable enemies of Soviet power and full of hatred for the Soviet system. POW officers and policemen located in the camps are attempting to continue c-r work and are leading anti-Soviet agitation. Each of them is simply waiting to be freed so they can have the opportunity to actively join the fight against Soviet power. NKVD agents in the western oblasts of Ukraine and Belorussia have uncovered a number of c-r rebel organizations. In each of these c-r organizations the former officers of the former Polish army and former Polish police officers played an active leadership role. Among the detained defectors and violators of the state- (Signatures: In favor - Stalin, Voroshilov, Molotov, Mikoyan) (In margin: Comrade Kalinin - In favor. Comrade Kaganovich - In favor.) Polski: Notatka szefa NKWD Ławrentina Berii do Józefa Stalina z propozycją wymordowania polskich jeńców z marca 1940 roku z podpisami: Stalina, Woroszyłowa, Mołotowa, i Mikojana. Kolorowy skan z oryginalnego dokumentu. Miejsce przechowywania: Rosyjskie Państwowe Archiwum Historii Społeczno-Politycznej (RGASPI), ul. Bolszaja Dmitrowka 15, Moskwa, sygnatura dokumentu: F.17 op. 166 sprawa 621 str. 130-133 (od 2003; w latach 1991 - 2003 był przechowywany w Archiwum Prezydenta Federacji Rosyjskiej w zbiorze "Zamkniety pakiet nr 1"). Tłumaczenie z języka rosyjskiego: ZSRR LUDOWY KOMISARIAT SPRAW WEWNĘTRZNYCH " " MARCA z 1940 r. Nr 794/B MOSKWA P 13 N 144 op ŚCIŚLE TAJNE z 5 III 40 r KC WKP (b) dla towarzysza STALINA W obozach NKWD ZSRR dla jeńców wojennych i w więzieniach zachodnich obwodów Ukrainy i Białorusi w chwili obecnej przetrzymywana jest wielka liczba byłych oficerów armii polskiej, byłych pracowników polskiej policji i organów wywiadu, członków polskich nacjonalistycznych k-r [kontrrewolucyjnych] partii, członków ujawnionych k-r [kontrrewolucyjnych] organizacji powstańczych, zbiegów i in. Wszyscy oni są zawziętymi wrogami władzy sowieckiej, pełnymi nienawiści do ustroju sowieckiego. Jeńcy wojenni, oficerowie i policjanci, przebywający w obozach, próbują kontynuować działalność k-r [kontrrewolucyjną]. Aktywną rolę kierowniczą odgrywali byli oficerowie byłej polskiej armii, byli policjanci i żandarmi. Wśród zatrzymanych zbiegów i osób, które naruszyły pań- (Podpisy: Stalina, Woroszyłowa, Mołotowa, i Mikojana; Na marginesie notatka protokolarna: tow. Kalinin-za, Kaganowicz-za).
context_page_description: The Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany on 23 August 1939. In addition to stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included a secret protocol that divided territories of Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland into German and Soviet Union "spheres of influence", anticipating potential "territorial and political rearrangements" of these countries. In October and November 1940, German-Soviet talks about the potential of joining the Axis took place in Berlin, nothing came from the talks since Hitler's Ideological goal was Lebensraum in the East.
  Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 starting World War II, Stalin waited until September 17 before launching his own invasion of Poland. Part of the Karelia and Salla regions of Finland were annexed by the Soviet Union after the Winter War. This was followed by Soviet annexations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Romania. It was known at the Nuremberg trials the existence of the secret protocol of the German–Soviet pact regarding the planned divisions of these territories.
context_section_description: On 1 September 1939, the German invasion of its agreed upon portion of Poland started the Second World War. On 17 September the Red Army invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory assigned to it by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, followed by co-ordination with German forces in Poland. Eleven days later, the secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was modified, allotting Germany a larger part of Poland, while ceding most of Lithuania to the Soviet Union. The Soviet portions lay east of the so-called Curzon Line, an ethnographic frontier between Russia and Poland drawn up by a commission of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.
  After taking around 300,000 Polish prisoners in 1939 and early 1940, NKVD officers conducted lengthy interrogations of the prisoners in camps that were, in effect, a selection process to determine who would be killed. On March 5, 1940, pursuant to a note to Stalin from Lavrenty Beria, the members of the Soviet Politburo (including Stalin)    signed and 22,000 military and intellectuals were executed they were labelled "nationalists and counterrevolutionaries", kept at camps and prisons in occupied western Ukraine and Belarus. This became known as the Katyn massacre. Major-General Vasili M. Blokhin, chief executioner for the NKVD, personally shot 6,000 of the captured Polish officers in 28 consecutive nights, which remains one of the most organized and protracted mass murders by a single individual on record. During his 29-year career Blokhin shot an estimated 50,000 people, making him ostensibly the most prolific official executioner in recorded world history.
  In August 1939, Stalin declared that he was going to "solve the Baltic problem, and thereafter, forced Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to sign treaties for "mutual assistance."
  After unsuccessfully attempting to install a communist puppet government in Finland, in November 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland. The Finnish defensive effort defied Soviet expectations, and after stiff losses, Stalin settled for an interim peace granting the Soviet Union less than total domination by annexing only the eastern region of Karelia (10% of Finnish territory). Soviet official casualty counts in the war exceeded 200,000, while Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev later claimed the casualties may have been one million. After this campaign, Stalin took actions to modify training and improve propaganda efforts in the Soviet military.
  In mid-June 1940, when international attention was focused on the German invasion of France, Soviet NKVD troops raided border posts in the Baltic countries. Stalin claimed that the mutual assistance treaties had been violated, and gave six-hour ultimatums for new governments to be formed in each country, including lists of persons for cabinet posts provided by the Kremlin. Thereafter, state administrations were liquidated and replaced by Soviet cadres, followed by mass repression in which 34,250 Latvians, 75,000 Lithuanians and almost 60,000 Estonians were deported or killed. Elections for parliament and other offices were held with single candidates listed, the official results of which showed pro-Soviet candidates approval by 92.8 percent of the voters of Estonia, 97.6 percent of the voters in Latvia and 99.2 percent of the voters in Lithuania. The resulting peoples' assemblies immediately requested admission into the USSR, which was granted. In late June 1940, Stalin directed the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, proclaiming this formerly Romanian territory part of the Moldavian SSR. But in annexing northern Bukovina, Stalin had gone beyond the agreed limits of the secret protocol.
  After the Tripartite Pact was signed by Axis Powers Germany, Japan and Italy, in October 1940, Stalin personally wrote to Ribbentrop about entering an agreement regarding a "permanent basis" for their "mutual interests." Stalin sent Molotov to Berlin to negotiate the terms for the Soviet Union to join the Axis and potentially enjoy the spoils of the pact. At Stalin's direction, Molotov insisted on Soviet interest i
caption: Part of the 5 March 1940 memo from Lavrentiy Beria to Stalin proposing execution of Polish officers
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