http://www.newsvine.com/stalin-massacreNewsvine - stalin-massacreen-usCopyright 2013Mon, 10 Sep 2012 21:29:00 +0000Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:35:28 +0000http://www.newsvine.comhttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2012/09/10/13779776-ap-exclusive-memos-show-us-hushed-up-soviet-crimehttp://www.newsvine.com/_news/2012/09/10/13779776-ap-exclusive-memos-show-us-hushed-up-soviet-crimemassacreworld-newssilencingamerican-powsstalin-massacreMon, 10 Sep 2012 13:18:55 +0000http://activitystrea.ms/schema/1.0/posthttp://activitystrea.ms/schema/1.0/generic_post<p>A memorial to the victims of Katyn, the Soviet massacre of 22,000 Polish officers in 1940, in Warsaw, Poland pictured on Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. On Monday the U.S. National Archives is releasing about 1,000 newly declassified documents related to Katyn. Some shed further light on decades of suppression of Soviet guilt within the U.S. government. The cover-up began during World War II when the U.S. needed the Soviets to defeat Germany and Japan, and continued on some level long after. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)</p><p>A memorial to the victims of Katyn, the Soviet massacre of 22,000 Polish officers in 1940, in Warsaw, Poland pictured on Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. On Monday the U.S. National Archives is releasing about 1,000 newly declassified documents related to Katyn. Some shed further light on decades of suppression of Soviet guilt within the U.S. government. The cover-up began during World War II when the U.S. needed the Soviets to defeat Germany and Japan, and continued on some level long after. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)</p><p>FILE - This Feb. 4, 1952, photo, shows a view of a partially emptied mass grave in the Katyn forest where a massacre of some 10,000 Polish prisoners of war took place in May 1943, near Smolensk, Russia. Col. John H. van Vliet is shown in the group at the edge of the trench, and van Vliet is convinced that the Russians, not the Germans, were responsible for the massacre. The Obama administration is opposing a Jewish group's bid to levy civil fines against Russia for failing to obey a court order to return its historic books and documents — a dispute which has halted the loan of Russian art works for exhibit in the United States. In a recent court filing, the Justice Department argued that judicial sanctions against Russia in this case would be contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests and inconsistent with U.S. law. The Jewish group, Chabad-Lubavitch of Brooklyn, N.Y., has already persuaded Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court here that it has a valid claim to the tens of thousands o</p><p>FILE - In this May 1943 file photo, a group of American and British POWs being held by the Germans, including Lt. Col. John H. Van Vliet Jr. and Capt. Donald B. Stewart, look over a mass grave where murdered Polish officers are buried, near Smolensk, Russia. The Soviet secret police killed the Poles in 1940, hoping to eliminate an elite that would have resisted Soviet control of Poland. Van Vliet and Stewart were among a group of British and American prisoners forced to see the horrifying site by the Germans, who wanted word to get out to the world of the Soviet atrocity. Newly declassified documents being opened to the public on Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, by the U.S. National Archives show that Van Vliet and Stewart sent coded messages to Washington after their visit saying they believed the German account of Soviet guilt. It is credible evidence that Washington had relatively early on, but of which it still chose to ignore in order not to jeopardize the alliance with Joseph Stalin. (AP Photo/File)</p><p>FILE - In this Feb. 6, 1952 file photo, a masked former Polish soldier testifies on the 1940 Katyn Forest massacre to a house committee in Washington. Documents released Monday, Sept. 10, 2012 lend weight to the belief that suppression within the highest levels of the U.S. government helped cover up Soviet guilt in the killing of some 22,000 Polish officers and other prisoners in the Katyn forest and other locations in 1940. In a final report released in 1952, the committee declared there was no doubt of Soviet guilt, and called the massacre "one of the most barbarous international crimes in world history." It found that Roosevelt's administration suppressed public knowledge of the crime, but said it was out of military necessity. It also recommended the government bring charges against the Soviets at an international tribunal - something never acted upon. Translator Roman Pucinski is at center right. On the rostrum are committee members, from left, Reps. Timothy Sheehan, R-Ill., Alvin E. O’K</p><p>In this Friday, Sept. 7, 2012 photo, Franciszek Herzog holds a photograph of his father, also named Franciszek Herzog, in Hebron, Conn. Documents released Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, and seen in advance by The Associated Press lend further weight to the belief that sabotage within the highest levels of U.S. government helped cover up Soviet guilt in the killing of some 22,000 Polish officers and other prisoners in the Katyn Forest and other locations in 1940. Herzog's father and uncle both died in the massacres. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)</p><p>In this Friday, Sept. 7, 2012 photo, Franciszek Herzog looks at photographs of his father at his home in Hebron, Conn. Documents released Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, and seen in advance by The Associated Press lend further weight to the belief that sabotage within the highest levels of U.S. government helped cover up Soviet guilt in the killing of some 22,000 Polish officers and other prisoners in the Katyn Forest and other locations in 1940. Herzog's father and uncle both died in the massacres. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)</p><p>This 1938 photo provided by the family shows Franciszek Herzog. Documents released Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, and seen in advance by The Associated Press lend further weight to the belief that sabotage within the highest levels of U.S. government helped cover up Soviet guilt in the killing of some 22,000 Polish officers and other prisoners in the Katyn Forest and other locations in 1940. Herzog died in the massacres. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Herzog Family)</p><p>A man walks with a Polish flag near a memorial to the victims of Katyn, the Soviet massacre of 22,000 Polish officers in 1940, in Warsaw, Poland on Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. On Monday the U.S. National Archives is releasing about 1,000 newly declassified documents related to Katyn. Some shed further light on decades of suppression of Soviet guilt within the U.S. government. The cover-up began during World War II when the U.S. needed the Soviets to defeat Germany and Japan, and continued on some level long after. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)</p><p>In this Friday, Sept. 7, 2012 photo, Franciszek Herzog looks at photographs of his father at his home in Hebron, Conn. Documents released Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, and seen in advance by The Associated Press lend further weight to the belief that sabotage within the highest levels of U.S. government helped cover up Soviet guilt in the killing of some 22,000 Polish officers and other prisoners in the Katyn Forest and other locations in 1940. Herzog's father and uncle both died in the massacres. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)</p><p>FILE - In this Oct. 11, 1951 file photo, Lt. Col. Donald B. Stewart, left, locates the site of a mass grave near near Smolensk, Russia, to Rep. Ray Madden, D-Ind., during a special House Committee hearing in Washington. Stewart and Lt. Col. John H. Van Vliet Jr., were among a group of British and American prisoners forced by the Germans to see a horrifying site, a mass grave where murdered Polish officers were buried, near Smolensk. The Soviet secret police killed the Poles in 1940, hoping to eliminate an elite that would have resisted Soviet control of Poland. The Germans wanted word to get out to the world of the Soviet atrocity. Newly declassified documents being opened to the public on Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, by the U.S. National Archives show that Van Vliet and Stewart sent coded messages to Washington after their visit saying they believed the German account of Soviet guilt. It is credible evidence that Washington had relatively early on, but of which it still chose to ignore in order not to jeopardize </p>