Poland was invaded by Germany on September 1, 1939. Two weeks later, the Soviet Union attacked from the east. That 15,000 Polish officers disappeared was for a long time an unsolved mystery, but in the spring of 1943 the victims were found in a giant mass grave. The executions had come as a direct order from Stalin. But the full truth was hidden behind the Iron Curtain until the end of the Cold War. Katyn is based on stories, letters and diaries that all bear witness to one of Stalin’s most horrific atrocities. Director Andrzej Wajda’s father was one of those executed. |