What is Katyn massacre?
{{Infobox civilian attack | partof = the aftermath of the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] (during [[World War II]]) and [[Soviet persecution of Poles during World War II]] | map = {{Location map | USSR | caption = | width = 250 | label = | position = right | border = infobox | float = center }} |image = Trzy krzyze.jpg |image_size = |caption = Katyn-Kharkov-Mednoye memorial in Świętokrzyskie Mountains, [[Poland]] |date = April–May 1940 |type = Mass murder |fatalities = between 14,500 and 25,000 |injuries = |victims = [[Poles]] |perpetrators = [[Soviet Union]] ([[NKVD]]) |location = Katyn [[Forest]], [[Tver|Kalinin]] and [[Kharkiv]] prisons in Soviet Union |coordinates = }} [[File:Katyn - decision of massacre p3.jpg|thumb|Memo from [[Lavrenty Beria|Beria]] to [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] which proposed the [[execution]] of Polish officers, policemen, etc.]][[Image:Katyn Massacre - Mass Graves.jpg|thumb|Exhumation of the Katyn massacre victims, [[Mass murder|murdered]] in 1940 by order of Soviet authorities.]][[File:The Katyn Massacre, 1940 HU106212.jpg|thumb|Bodies of Polish [[Prisoner of war|prisoners-of-war]] by the [[Mass grave|mass graves]] of the Katyn massacre, awaiting [[Forensic science|forensic]] [[Forensic science|examination]], April 30, 1943.]][[File:Katyn Massacre - Mass Graves 2.jpg|thumb|[[Image|Photo]] from the 1943 [[exhumation]] of a [[mass grave]] of Polish officers killed by the [[NKVD]] in the Katyń Forest in 1940. Inside of one of the largest [[Grave|graves]].]] The '''Katyn massacre''' refers to a [[series]] of [[mass murder]] by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[army]] during [[World War II]]. Members of the [[NKVD]] killed between 14,500 and 25,000 [[Poland|Polish]] [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] in a [[forest]] near Katyn, about {{convert|20|km}} from [[Smolensk]].<ref> * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BDJvCwAAQBAJ&q=katyn+massacre+deaths|title=Death In The Forest; The Story Of The Ka