Evening star., 1952-11-16
The Price of Deception

Major General Clayton Bissell, retired chief
OF Army Intelligence, has given some Illuminating
testimony to the House committee investigating
the Katyn Forest massacre
Katyn Forest was the scene of the World
War II murder of thousands of Poles The
Germans blamed the Russians for that atrocty,
and the Russians blamed the Germans. But
the weight of the evidence, as recently developed,
points to Russian guilt.
General Bssell's testimony is Illuminating
because it indicates that this Government knew
In 1945, or had good reason to suspect, that the
Russians were the perpetrators of the Katyn
murders. In his capacity as chief of Army
Intelligence, on May "a, 1945, he received report
pointing to Russian guilt from subordinate who
had been to the scene of the massacre. That
report has disappeared from official files Cen
eral Bssell says he put "top secret" classifica-
ton on the report. He also says he thinks he
turned it over to the State Department, but
there is no record that this actually was done
What Is interesting is General Bisselrs
motive for suppressing the report. He said that
when he received it, Russia had just agreed at
Yalta to come into the Pacific war and that the
report contained great possibilities of embar-
rassment." And he added in response to ques-
tionS that he did not believe Russia would have
sat down with other nations to organize the
United Nations if this country had let the report
come out.
Perhaps the wartime aspect of this incident
can be passed over. It can readily be seen, with
the advantage of hindsight, that we paid too
high price for Russian participation in the
Pacific war-a price in which the suppression
of the truth concerning the Katyn massacre
was not overly important.
But there is, or there ought to be-, a vast
difference between methods employed in fighting
0vaN fN Affi ~s~A%;
the United Nations. General Bissell may have
been correct in his after -the-event thought that
Russia would not have joined in the U. N. enter
prise II we had made the Katyn Forest report
public. That is point of view, however, which
ignores the real questions.
The real question is whether anything is
gained by concealing the truth in order to bring
a nation like Russia into an organization dedi-
Gated to peace and decent world. General
BiSsell-and he does not stand alone by any
evidently thinks something is gained.
But those who are of this persuasion are deceiv-
ing themselves
A government guilty of such a monstrous
thing as the Katyn massacre-and this is only
one of many crimes against humanity that may
be charged against Russia-can hardly be
expected to work for peace and better world
in the U. N. It may be argued that the U. NJ,
without Russian participation, would be even
less effective than it is with Russia as an active
member. If there is any truth in this, however,
which may be doubted, it certainly does not
follow that Russian participation is worth the
price of fraud and deception. For in the long
run no amount of deception can conceal the
truth. And as the truth about Russia becomes
palmer, day by day. there is corresponding
growth in public disillusionment-due more
than anything else to unwarranted encourage
ment of false hopes.